Whenever I give a potential customer an estimate, drip edge is part of the checklist. Does the home have drip edge? If it does, I usually don’t have any further discussion with the homeowner about it. If it doesn’t have drip edge, the homeowner usually wants to know if they need it and how much it costs.
To answer the question, do you need drip edge? The answer is no. Do I highly recommend drip edge? The answer is yes. And please know, this is not just my attempt at selling drip edge. Truth be known, I’d rather not install it because it can be a pain to do so.
If you have a steeper pitched roof, water draining from your roof is less likely to track back up the underside of your shingle (surface tension) and get behind your gutter. Low pitched roofs tend to have more issues with surface tension and water getting behind the gutters. Also, roofs that have a small shingle bleed (the amount of shingle overhang) are more likely to get water behind the gutter. There should be between 1 and 1 ½ inches of shingle overhang.
Drip edge serves to protect the exposed edge of your roof deck and to direct water from the roof into the gutter.
Ideally, drip edge is installed by the roofer when the roof is put on because it should be put under the roofing felt (except on the rake where it goes on top of the felt). If a drip edge is put on as an afterthought, sometimes it is difficult to complete the installation without tearing the felt and shingles. It will also cost more to install after the fact because your installer must gently pry up nails and work tediously beneath shingles to nail down the drip edge. This is something that might take a roofer an hour to do during the original roofing (or re-roofing) process but will take several frustrating hours to do if the roofing is already done.
If a roofing job is in your near future, don’t forget the drip edge! It will be cheaper to have your roofer do it and a drip edge is not the place to cut the budget.
Alaska Premier Gutters will be happy to come out and assess your needs, contact us today.
“When It Rains-We Shine”
