Learning how to install gutter flashing is an appropriate project for a homeowner who’s confident on a ladder. Gutter flashing is a product that directs water off your roof into the rain gutter. This product is roughly L-shaped. One branch of the L goes under the shingles at the eave. The other branch extends down the front of the fascia and into the gutter. It has a little outward lip to kick water into the center of the gutter more effectively. Gutter flashing is installed before you attach the gutter.
How Gutter Flashing Protects Your Home
Gutter flashing is also commonly known as a gutter apron. Gutter flashing provides more protection than a drip edge. It has a wider surface that fully covers the fascia. It serves as a barrier between rainwater and the fascia boards. Without the flashing, water will get between the gutter and the fascia. At a minimum, the moisture will rot the fascia boards prematurely. At worst, you’ll get water penetrating into the interior walls. Stormy, wet climates, like the Delaware Valley, need gutter flashing for peak protection.
How to Install Gutter Flashing Step by Step
1. Measure the roof lines of your home.
2. Write down the length of each roof line and add them up. This is how much gutter flashing you’ll buy. It normally comes in 10-foot lengths, but you may encounter 12-foot pieces. Buy a little extra to account for overlapping seams and cutting errors.
3. Determine how wide you need the flashing. The product comes in a few different widths of 2-1/2 to 6 inches. Buy flashing of a width sufficient to cover the fascia completely and extend into the gutter.
4. Starting at any corner of the house, place your ladder on stable ground.
5. Gently pry up shingles along the eave.
6. Work down the length of the roof line until all the shingles are pried loose from the edge.
7. Slide the ribbed flap of the gutter flashing under the shingles.
8. Every 16 inches, drive a 1-inch roofing nail through the flashing into the roof deck. Do this under the shingles.
9. Let shingles flap back into place as you nail down the flashing.
10. Working along the fascia, drive roofing nails every 16 inches through the lower flap of the flashing. This is the flap with the little lip that hangs inside the gutter.
11. When you need to make a seam between flashing pieces, overlap them by 4 inches.
12. When you need to cut flashing, measure and mark your cut line with a pencil.
13. Cut the flashing with tin snips.
14. When you install the final piece of flashing, make sure to overlap the end cut by 4 inches.
