Gutter Guards in Ridgewood, Canton, OH

What makes Ridgewood gutters different from the rest of Canton?

Ridgewood was laid out as a showpiece. The allotments were platted in stages between 1918 and 1927 on former farmland about twenty blocks north of downtown, and most of the houses went up between 1919 and the Depression. Many were designed by architects, among them Charles E. Firestone, who was Canton's leading architect for decades. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 19, 1982. The Register describes its bounds as Gibbs Avenue, Frazer Avenue, 19th Street and 25th Street.

For gutters, that history means three things: tall walls, complicated roofs and big trees. A typical Ridgewood house is a two-story or two-and-a-half-story Tudor Revival or Colonial Revival, with Georgian Revival and French Norman houses mixed in. The rooflines have cross gables, dormers and in a few cases turrets. Every one of those features adds a valley or a corner, and corners are where gutters clog first.

Which trees load Ridgewood roofs?

The houses sit well back from the street, and the district is known for mature trees that hang over both the brick pavement and the roofs. Trees planted when the lots were new are now far taller than the houses. On streets like University Avenue and 22nd Street NW, which were drawn with curves to vary the views, a single house can have large trees on three sides.

That canopy produces debris in every season. Seeds and flower tassels come down in May. Leaves fall from October into late November, with oaks holding on longest. Twigs come down in every wind. Open gutters under that kind of cover can fill twice in one fall. A coarse screen stops the leaves but lets the seeds and tassels through, which is the argument for fine mesh here. The post on when Canton street trees drop has the month-by-month detail.

Will a guard work with a slate roof?

Slate is part of the district's character, along with tapestry brick and leaded glass. Slate tiles are brittle and should never be pried up to slip a gutter cover underneath. The guard installed through this site does not need that. It fastens to the fascia and to the front lip of the gutter, and the roof is not touched. The same applies to an older asphalt roof whose first course has gone stiff with age.

What does the owner look at first on a Ridgewood house?

• The kind of gutter. The guard fits 5 inch and 6 inch gutters. Some houses of this era have half-round gutters or gutters built into the cornice, and those need a separate judgment.
• The fascia. Hundred-year-old trim that has been kept painted is often sound. Where water has run behind the gutter, it may not be.
• Height. Most runs here are at two-story height or above a steep pitch, which is priced at the higher of the two per-foot rates.
• Valleys. Each one is noted, because a steep valley in a downpour is where water can overshoot.
• Downspouts. On a house with long runs and few downspouts, each outlet is flushed and checked.

All of it goes in the photo report the same day. The page on guards for older Canton houses explains what happens when a check turns up soft wood or a failing run.

Will guards change how a historic house looks?

Very little. The guard lies flat across the top of the gutter and sits below the roof edge, so from the sidewalk the visible part is the thin front edge of the frame. It comes in white, black or mill. Black tends to disappear against the dark trim of a Tudor, and white suits the painted cornice of a colonial. Nothing is fastened to the roof, the brick or the stone.

How does pricing work for a Ridgewood house?

The same way it does everywhere else: by the linear foot, after a free measurement, in one written price good for a year. Ridgewood houses tend to have more footage, more corners and more height than the Canton average. Footage and height move the price. Corners do not, because they are included. The gutter guard cost page shows how the number is built, and the installation page shows what the work involves.