The exterior system
How your exterior protects your home
Your roof, gutters and siding are one system with one job: move water off and away from your house. Here’s how each part hands it to the next.
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Rain hits the shingles, runs over the underlayment and flashing, off the drip edge into the gutter, down the downspout and away from the foundation, while siding sheds whatever the wind drives sideways. A leak is almost always one handoff in that chain failing. That’s why BNH installs the whole path: roof, flashing, drip edge, seamless gutters and siding, done by one crew.
- Shingles & underlaymentThe first line of defense. Underlayment and ice barrier under the shingles catch what gets past them.
- FlashingMetal at chimneys, walls and pipe boots, where most leaks actually start.
- Drip edgeSteers water off the roof edge into the gutter instead of behind it and into your fascia.
- Seamless gutterOne continuous run, rolled on site to the exact length, so there are no seams to drip.
- Downspout & extensionCarries it all down and away, so it doesn’t pool against the foundation.
- Siding & trimSheds what the wind blows sideways and keeps the wall behind it dry.
1. Shingles and underlayment
Shingles shed most of the water. Underneath them, underlayment and an ice and water barrier at the eaves and valleys catch what gets past, including water that backs up behind ice in a hard freeze.
2. Flashing
Anywhere the roof is interrupted (a chimney, a wall, a skylight, a plumbing vent), metal flashing bridges the gap. Most leaks start here, which is why flashing gets the closest attention on every roof we install.
3. Drip edge
A metal edge along the bottom of the roof that kicks water out into the gutter. Without it, water curls back under the shingles and soaks the fascia board behind the gutter.
4. Gutters
Gutters collect everything the roof sheds. Ours are seamless: one continuous piece per run, rolled on site to the exact length, so there are no seams along the run to drip.
5. Downspouts
The last handoff. Downspouts should carry water far enough from the house that it doesn’t pool against the foundation; that’s how basements get wet.
6. Siding and trim
Wind drives rain sideways. Siding sheds it, and where a wall meets the roof, it laps over step flashing so the joint stays dry.
Why one crew matters
When the roofer, the gutter company and the siding contractor each do their part, the handoffs between them belong to nobody. We do all three, so the drip edge lines up with the gutter, the step flashing works with the siding, and one person, Houston, answers for the whole thing.
Questions
Common questions
Why does it matter if one company does the roof and the gutters?
Because the drip edge on the roof and the gutter below it have to line up. When two companies each do their half, the gap between them is nobody’s job, and that’s often where water gets behind the fascia.
What’s the most common place a house leaks?
Where something interrupts the roof: chimneys, walls, skylights and plumbing vents. That’s flashing territory, and it’s where we look first on every inspection.
How often should my roof and gutters be checked?
Once a year, and after any big storm. Most problems are cheap to fix when they’re caught early.
Houston Kincaid
President
Let’s take a look at your roof.
Houston comes out, looks it over, photographs what he finds and gives you an itemized price. It’s free, and there’s no obligation.