Gutter & Downspout Repair in North Vancouver
Water is finding its way down the outside wall instead of into the pipe that's supposed to carry it away.
- Google rating
- 5.0
- Verified reviews
- 104
- Service in
- English
A downspout is only as good as what it ties into below grade, and that's usually where the actual fault is — a disconnected joint, a crushed elbow, or a line that was never tied into anything at all. Before anything gets patched at the fascia, the run gets traced from the gutter to wherever the water is supposed to end up, because a downspout dumping straight onto the foundation is doing more damage than the clog that's visible from the ladder.
Their level of courtesy and professionalism was of the highest standard. And the way they conducted the post job clean up (each day and at the end of the project) left my property looking better than when they started. In sum, I would strongly recommend Modern Drainage to anyone.
What to check, and what to ask
General guidance for homeowners, not specific to your system — worth knowing before you book anyone, including us.
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Where it overflows tells you what is wrong
Water spilling over the front edge along the whole run usually means the gutter itself is clogged or pitched wrong. Water shooting out of one seam or corner points at a joint that has failed or separated. Different symptom, different fix.
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The downspout’s job is not finished at the bottom
A downspout that empties straight onto the ground next to the foundation has moved the water three metres, not solved anything. An extension or a splash block that carries it further away is doing the second half of the job the gutter cannot do on its own.
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A gutter that is clean but still overflows has a pitch problem, not a leaf problem
Gutters need a slight, continuous slope toward the downspout to actually drain. One low spot — from a sagging hanger, a bent section, or settling — holds water even with nothing in it, and no amount of cleaning fixes that.
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Ignored long enough, this stops being a gutter problem
Water that overflows the same spot season after season eventually finds the fascia board behind it, and from there the roof edge or the siding below. What starts as a five-minute fix becomes carpentry if it sits long enough.
Try these first
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1. Watch it during or right after rain, from the ground
Note exactly where the water leaves the gutter — the whole front edge, one seam, or the corner nearest a downspout. That location alone tells a lot before anyone climbs anything.
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2. Check where every downspout actually discharges
Walk the perimeter and look at where each one ends. If it empties within a metre of the foundation, or the splash block or extension has come loose or points back toward the house, note it.
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3. Look for staining or sagging on the fascia below the gutter
A dark streak, peeling paint, or a section of gutter pulling away from the roofline shows where the overflow has been happening longest, even if it is dry right now.
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4. Note whether it is one gutter run or the whole house
A single overflowing section points at a local clog or a pitch problem there. Overflow on every run at once, in the same rain, points at something upstream — like a downspout that cannot keep up.
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5. Photograph it while it is actually raining, if you can
A dry gutter tells a stranger nothing. Water actively leaving the wrong spot is the single most useful thing you can hand to whoever comes to look.
Before you call
- The downspout looks fine — why is water still running down the wall?
- Because the part you can see is rarely the part that's broken. Downspouts usually fail underground, at the elbow where they tie into a buried line, or where that line was never properly connected at all. The fix starts by tracing the run, not by replacing the visible pipe.
Tell Mike Hartman what's going on
604-984-4343Mike Hartman will call you back on the number you left.
- Address
- 165 Amherst Avenue, North Vancouver, BC V7H 1S5
- Service Area
- North Vancouver · Burnaby · Vancouver · Coquitlam
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, from 8am