Replace Gutters Before or After a New Roof? The Order That Works
The roofer's estimate is on the kitchen table, a start date is penciled in, and somewhere in the paperwork sits a line about the gutters: remove and reset, protect in place, or leave them for someone else. Your current gutters might sag at one corner, or they might look fine from the driveway. The question underneath is the same either way: does the gutter job happen before the new roof, after it, or somewhere in the middle? New gutters go up after the roof edge is finished, and the decision about them belongs before the roofer starts, because both trades work on the same narrow strip of house.
The table below matches what you might notice from the ground around a reroof with one possible cause and the trade that deals with it.
| What you notice from the ground | A possible cause | Whose job it is |
|---|---|---|
| The gutter line tips outward along its top edge | Soft fascia or loosened fasteners behind the gutter | Gutter crew, who checks the board and replaces rotted sections before re-hanging |
| Shingle scraps or roofing nails sitting in the gutters after the roof job | Tear-off debris that fell off the eave | Roofer, as cleanup of their own work |
| A bent front lip or a kinked run after roof work | Ladders or materials leaned against the gutter | Gutter crew, who assesses repair or replacement |
| Water falling between the gutter and the wall on a new roof | Eave metal and gutter back not lapped in the right order | Roofer and gutter crew together |
| Cut-off metal straps poking out under the first row of shingles | Old hangers that reached under the roofing were cut off in place during tear-off | Settled between both trades before tear-off |
How the Roof Edge and the Gutter Share the Same Few Inches
Gutters hang on the fascia, the board that caps the ends of the rafters directly under the roof's edge. On the roof side of that same edge, the roofer runs a strip of metal flashing along the eave, under the shingles, and lays the first course of shingles so it extends past the deck. Some roofers use a drip edge there and some use a gutter apron, a profile with little or no outward kick that steers water straight down.
The gutter's back flange has to sit behind and beneath that metal. When the parts are stacked in that order, water leaving the shingles slides off the metal and drops into the trough. When the metal ends up tucked behind the gutter back, water coming down the roof can hit the back of the gutter and run down between it and the fascia, soaking the board the gutter depends on.
That stack is why the order of work matters. Each trade needs the other's part in its final position: the roofer needs an open edge to set the metal and the first shingle course, and the gutter crew needs the finished edge to decide the height and pitch of every run. Swap the order and one crew ends up working around, or undoing, the other's finished work.
The Order That Works: Gutters Down, Roof On, Gutters Up
When new gutters are part of the plan, the cleanest sequence runs in three stages.
Old gutters come down first: Removing them before tear-off gives the roofer a clear edge. On some older installs, hangers or straps reach up under the first course of shingles. With the gutters already off, those pieces can come out whole when the old roofing is stripped, and nothing gets cut off and left in place.
The roof goes on, edge metal included: Tear-off, deck repairs, underlayment, eave and rake metal, and shingles are the roofer's full scope. With no gutters on the house during this stage, falling tear-off debris has nowhere to collect and ladders have nothing to bend.
New gutters go up last: With the edge finished, the gutter crew inspects the fascia, measures every run and forms the new gutters on site from coil stock, one continuous piece per run. Each run is set beneath the edge metal and pitched toward its downspout at 1/4 inch per 10 linear feet, checked with a level, with hangers at 30-inch intervals or closer and neoprene washer screws at every fastener.
The gap between the second and third stages deserves attention. A roof with no gutters sheds its water straight off the eave onto beds, walkways and the soil against the foundation. Lining up the gutter crew to start soon after the roofer finishes keeps that window short, and a forecast of heavy rain is a good reason to ask both contractors whether the dates can be pulled closer together.
Why a Reroof Is the Best Moment to Inspect Fascia
With the gutters down and the old roofing stripped, the whole length of fascia is exposed from its top edge to its bottom, including the strip that has sat hidden behind the gutter back for years. That strip is where water lands when a gutter overflows or a seam leaks, and it stays out of sight as long as the gutters are up. A soft section found during the reroof can be cut out and replaced before anything is fastened to it.
Finding the same rot after the new roof and gutters are on means taking the gutter back down, and on some roofs disturbing the edge metal that laps over it. Doing the repair while the edge is open saves both crews from undoing finished work.
The gutter crew's process starts with a fascia check before any measuring, and a rotted board is replaced before a single hanger goes in. A new gutter is only as secure as the wood its screws bite into, which is why the fascia check comes first in the sequence. Who covers fascia during a reroof varies: some roofers include it, and some leave it to the gutter contractor. Agree on it before the start date so the board is not left for the other trade to discover halfway through.
From the ground, your part is to point out what you have already seen. A corner where the gutter has dropped, or a stretch where water spilled over the front in a hard storm, tells the crew where to look first.
Who Handles What at the Roof Edge
Two contractors working the same edge of the house can leave a gap in responsibility if nobody draws the line. A clear split looks like this.
The roofer: Tear-off and disposal of the old roofing, deck repairs, underlayment, the metal along the eaves and rakes, and the shingles. If the gutters stay up during the job, the roofer clears out the debris their own work drops into them. Leaves and ordinary clogs are not part of that cleanup.
The gutter crew: Fascia inspection and replacement of rotted sections, measuring, forming the gutters on site, hand-mitered inside and outside corners, hangers, pitch, and downspouts sized for the roof and directed away from the foundation.
Shared between them: The line where the gutter back meets the eave metal. Ask the roofer which eave profile they plan to use and tell the gutter crew before they measure, so the height of each run is set against the metal that will really be there.
You: Stay on the ground. Walk the house with each contractor at the estimate, photograph the eaves from the yard before work begins so there is a record of the starting condition, and keep cars, children and pets clear of the work zone while either crew is at the edge. Ladder and roof work belongs to the crews.
When Keeping the Old Gutters Through a Reroof Makes Sense
A new roof does not automatically call for new gutters. If the existing gutters are sound, sized for the roof and pitched to drain, they can stay up during the job or be taken down and reset. Signs that point toward replacement are several sections leaking, sagging or pulling away at once, corners failing at more than one spot, or an undersized 5-inch system that overflows in hard rain, which gets upsized to 6-inch K-style when it is replaced.
Gutters that stay up through the reroof need protection. Roofers can cover them during tear-off and keep ladders off them, and once the roof is done the old gutters still have to sit correctly under the new edge metal, the same way a new gutter would. A short check of that lap by the gutter crew after the roofer leaves catches a misaligned run before the next storm finds it.
Partial replacement is another route. If one elevation has failed corners and the rest of the system is solid, replacing only the damaged runs during the reroof window keeps the sound sections and puts the open edge to work on the elevation that needs it.
Lining Up the Two Schedules
The gutter estimate belongs on the calendar before the roofer starts. An early visit gives the gutter crew time to flag fascia concerns, settle downspout positions and let you choose a color with the new shingles in mind, so the order can be ready when the roof edge is.
Give each contractor the other's name and number. Small unknowns cause friction between trades on a reroof: which day tear-off begins, whether the old gutters will be stacked in the yard or hauled off, and when the edge will be finished.
Tip: Before the roofer's start date, send both contractors one short note naming who removes the old gutters, who replaces any rotted fascia and the day the eave metal will be finished. That last date is the gutter crew's start signal.
Once the roof is done, walk the perimeter from the ground before the gutter crew arrives. Loose nails and shingle scraps on the ground under the eaves are worth pointing out to the roofer while their crew is still on site.
The roof and the gutters fail and get replaced on their own schedules, but they meet at a single edge that only one of them can be built on first. Settle the order, the fascia and the handoff date before tear-off, and both crews can finish their work once.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the roofer take down my old gutters and put them back up afterward?
Some roofers offer it. On a spike-and-ferrule system, where long spikes pass through the gutter and a sleeve into the fascia, driving the spikes back into their old holes can widen them, so a reset gutter may hold less well than it did. From the ground, those spikes show as a row of small round heads along the face of the gutter.
What if the roofer finishes the edge on a different day than planned?
Tell the gutter crew the new date as soon as the roofer gives it. The gutters are formed on site from coil on installation day, so a shifted finish leaves no pre-cut order to redo; the crew only needs a new slot on its schedule.
How long does the gutter job take once the roof is finished?
Plan on 3 to 6 hours for a one-story house, with every run formed on site and hung in the same visit. A second story or a roofline with many corners and bump-outs stretches the job to a full working day.
What happens to the old gutters if the gutter crew takes them down?
Removal and disposal of the old system are part of every replacement job. The crew hauls the old material away and removes all job debris from the property before leaving, so nothing from the old system ends up stacked beside the house.
Should gutter guards go on at the same time as the new gutters?
They can, once the gutters are sound. Guards are cut to length, secured to the gutter and fastened at the eave, so they belong after both the roof edge and the gutters are finished. The styles on offer are micro-mesh, aluminum screen and reverse curve.
Is there a warranty on gutters installed after a reroof?
New installations carry a 2-year workmanship warranty plus a 15-year manufacturer warranty on the aluminum. Repairs to an existing system carry no warranty, because the rest of that system has pre-existing conditions, which is one reason to weigh resetting old gutters against replacing them.
Schedule the gutter estimate before the roofer's start date — the crew can set the order of work and line up new gutters for the day the roof edge is finished. Joe's Gutters & Patios serves Gretna and the Greater New Orleans area. Call (504) 813-4293.
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