Repair

Roof Gutter Repair: Stopping Leaks Where Roof Meets Gutter

By Overland Park Roof Repair · October 25, 2026 · 8 min read

Roof gutter repair in Overland Park usually gets treated as two separate jobs — a gutter company for the gutters, a roofer for the roof — but many leaks start exactly where the two meet. The last eighteen inches of roof, where the shingles end, the gutter hangs and the fascia board holds it all up, is a common leak source on the older, lower-pitched houses north of I-435. It's also the one homeowners least expect, because from the driveway the roof "looks fine." Here's how eave leaks start, what a proper repair rebuilds, and who should do which part.

What's at the edge, from the inside out

From the attic outward, a well-built eave in Johnson County has:

The decking, running to the edge of the rafter tails
The fascia, the vertical board nailed to the rafter tails that the gutter attaches to
Drip edge, an L-shaped metal strip on the edge of the deck, over the fascia, under the underlayment
Ice-and-water membrane, a self-adhering rubberized sheet from the drip edge up the roof — ice forms along eaves here, and what the code requires depends on your city, so check with the City of Overland Park's building department (or your city's)
Starter strip, a shingle with adhesive at the edge, so the first course seals down
The first two courses of shingles
The gutter, hung on the fascia with hangers every two feet or so, pitched to the downspout

Take any one of those out and water finds the gap. On many older Overland Park roofs, two or three are missing.

How eave leaks start here

Ice backup. Snow on the roof melts from heat leaking out of the attic, runs to the cold eave, refreezes, and builds a ridge. Meltwater behind the ridge has nowhere to go but up under the shingles, and with no membrane it reaches the deck. The 1960s ranches on Nall and Antioch have low pitches, shallow overhangs and often no soffit intake, which is the exact recipe.

Gutter overflow. A gutter clogged with maple leaves, pitched wrong or pulled loose overflows at the back edge — straight down the fascia and onto the top of the wall. Years of that rots the fascia and the first foot of decking.

No drip edge. Older roofs were often laid with the shingles simply hanging past the deck. Water wicks back under the shingle edge and into the end grain of the decking. You'll see it as a soft, dark strip along the edge of the deck in the attic, and as staining on the fascia below.

Fascia rot from the gutter side. Gutter spikes pull out of soft wood, the gutter tilts, water pools, the fascia gets wetter. It cascades.

Shingles starting short. No starter strip means the first course has no adhesive at the edge, and wind lifts it. This is common on the west-facing eaves of the 1990s two-stories.

A roof and gutter inspection: the signs to look for

A roof and gutter inspection — from a ladder, or from the ground with binoculars — catches most of this before the ceiling does. Look for:

Peeling paint or dark staining on the fascia
A gutter that has pulled away from the house or sags in the middle
Icicles all along the eave in January, not just at the downspouts
A ceiling stain within two feet of an exterior wall, or at the top of the wall itself
Water running down the inside of a window on the wall below
A soft spot when you press the fascia from a ladder

Any one of those at the eave is worth a closer look; two or more usually means the edge needs opening up.

Roof gutter repair in Overland Park: rebuilding the eave

The repair that actually stops eave leaks does the whole assembly, not just the part that's visibly rotten:

Take down the gutter section and remove the first two or three courses of shingles.
Cut out rotted decking back to the nearest rafter — usually one strip along the edge, sometimes a full sheet or two.
Replace the fascia. Most roofers use primed wood or PVC; either way it gets painted or wrapped in aluminum.
Install new drip edge.
Run ice-and-water membrane from the edge up the roof, at least as far as your city's code calls for.
Starter strip, then re-lay the courses with matched shingles.
Re-hang the gutter on hidden hangers screwed into solid wood, pitched to the downspout, and add a downspout if the run is too long for one.

Gutter and roof repair Overland Park homeowners book as one job runs $600–$1,400 per eave for a typical 30- to 40-foot run, more if the whole deck edge or a long fascia run goes. If the gutter itself is shot — rusted steel on an older house, or aluminum bent by ice — a new seamless run is $9–$16 per foot. The cost page has the neighboring numbers.

Fascia repair: roofer, gutter company, or both

Gutter-only work — new gutters, gutter guards, or re-hanging a sagging run on solid fascia — is a job for a gutter company, not a roofer, and a gutter company can usually do it in an afternoon. If the fascia is solid and the leak is purely a clogged or mis-pitched gutter, do the gutter and leave the roof alone.

Fascia repair is where it gets shared. A fascia that's already soft won't hold new hangers for long, and a deck edge rotted behind it needs the shingles lifted, which is roofer's work. Some local companies handle both roofing and guttering repairs; if yours doesn't, schedule the roofer first and the gutter company right behind. A roofer and a gutter company will each sometimes say the problem is the other's. It's often both, and the fix is one job that covers the assembly from decking to downspout.

The prevention half

Gutters cleaned twice a year — the second time after the leaves are fully down in November
Soffit intake open and a ridge vent or adequate exhaust, so the attic stays cold and snow doesn't melt at the eave
Attic insulation at 12 inches or more, and air sealing around the top plates
Trees trimmed back from the roofline
On any replacement, ice-and-water membrane at every eave — the roofer who skips it is saving a couple hundred dollars and handing you this problem in a few years

The fall roof prep checklist covers the seasonal side. If you already have a stain near an exterior wall, the roof repair page covers repair options, and the eave is the first place to look.

Common questions

Why does water get behind my gutters?

Usually because there's a gap between the back of the gutter and the roof edge with nothing to bridge it. Drip edge is meant to carry water off the shingles and into the gutter; without it, or with a gutter hung too low, water runs down the fascia instead. A clogged or mis-pitched gutter overflowing at the back does the same thing. Fixing it means adding or correcting the drip edge and re-hanging the gutter, not just caulking the seam.

Should a roofer or a gutter company fix rotted fascia?

If only the fascia board is soft and the decking behind it is solid, either can, and a gutter company often does it when re-hanging the gutter. If the rot runs into the deck edge or under the first shingle courses, it's roofer's work, because the shingles have to come up. Press on the fascia and look at the deck edge from the attic before you decide who to call. When in doubt, have the roofer open it up first.

Can overflowing gutters cause a roof leak?

Yes, though it often shows up as a wall or window leak rather than a ceiling stain. Water spilling over the back of the gutter soaks the fascia and the top of the wall, and in winter a full gutter freezes and pushes meltwater up under the first course of shingles. Clean gutters, a correct pitch and a downspout that can keep up prevent most of it. If the stain is within a couple of feet of an exterior wall, check the gutter before the roof.

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