What Is a Super Gutter? Signs Yours Needs Replacing

If your home has a screened pool cage, look at the roof edge where the cage meets the house. The gutter running along that edge is bigger and boxier than the gutters on the rest of the house. That is the super gutter. It catches the rain off your roof, and the top beams of your pool cage are fastened to it.

It is easy to forget about until it sags, drips on the pool deck, or starts to pull away from the house. This guide covers what a super gutter does, the signs it is failing that you can check yourself from the deck, why it is not a quick ladder fix, and what to ask before anyone replaces it.

What a Super Gutter Does

A regular gutter has one job: carry water off the roof to a downspout. A super gutter has two. It still carries the water, and it is also where your pool cage connects to the house. The cage’s aluminum roof beams are fastened to it, and the super gutter itself is fastened to the fascia board at the edge of your roof.

That makes it part of the cage. Think of a screened pool enclosure as one frame: posts in the deck, beams across the top, and the super gutter tying the whole thing to the house. When that connection is sound, you never notice it. When it is not, the problem shows up in the gutter, in the cage, and in the wood behind them.

The location also makes it a hard working gutter. It sits under a wide stretch of roof, often the back of the house, and every drop that lands on that slope runs into it. In West Central Florida, the rainy season runs from about May 25 to October 10, starting with almost daily showers and thunderstorms (National Weather Service, Tampa Bay). A super gutter that is a little out of level or a little loose gets tested hard all summer.

Signs Your Super Gutter Is Failing

You do not need a ladder to spot most of these. Stand on the pool deck after a good rain and look up.

• It sags. Sight down the length of the gutter. A dip in the middle, or one end lower than it should be, means it is holding water instead of sending it to the downspout.
• It leaks at the seams. Drips from the joints or the corners, with stains or algae streaks on the deck below them.
• Rain pours between the house and the cage. Instead of going down the downspout, water sheets over the front or back of the gutter and lands on the deck, often right where you walk.
• It pulls away from the house. A gap opening between the back of the gutter and the fascia board, or screws backing out.
• The fascia behind it is soft or stained. Water that runs behind a gutter soaks the wood. Dark stains, peeling paint, or wood that looks swollen along the roof edge are warning signs. We cover this in more detail in fascia rot from gutters.
• The hardware is loose, worn or corroded. Look where the cage beams meet the gutter. Rust stains, missing screws or a beam that has shifted are all worth a closer look.
• Water stands in it a day after the rain. If you can see a line of water sitting in the gutter long after the storm, the slope is wrong.

The usual causes are loose or worn hardware, corrosion, rotted fascia behind the gutter, or a slope that holds water. Often it is two or three of these at once, because each one makes the others worse. A sagging gutter holds water, standing water finds its way behind the gutter, and wet fascia holds screws poorly.

See one of these signs on your pool cage? Call (727) 857-3714 or get a free estimate. Chris will look at the gutter, the cage and the fascia, and give you a price in writing.

Why It Is Not a Quick Ladder Fix

With a regular gutter, a sag or a leak can sometimes be fixed by adding a hanger or resealing a joint. A super gutter is different, because the cage is attached to it. To take the old gutter down, you first have to take the load off it, and that means taking part of the cage apart.

Patching it in place usually treats the symptom. Sealant over a seam does nothing about rotten wood behind the gutter or a slope that holds water. And screws driven back into soft fascia will not hold for long. That is why our approach to a failing super gutter is a full change out, done by one company that handles both the gutter and the cage, from Spring Hill down to New Port Richey.

It is also why the job needs the right license. In Florida, the certified specialty structure contractor license covers screened enclosures and pool enclosures, along with soffit, fascia and gutters, under rule 61G4-15.015 of the Florida Administrative Code (Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute). That one license covers every part a super gutter change out touches. Rain Storm Solutions is a Florida Certified Specialty Contractor, license SCC131154760.

What a Super Gutter Change Out Involves

Here is the whole job, start to finish, the way we do it.

What comes off: the screen, the aluminum beams that sit on the gutter, the old super gutter and the downspouts.

What goes on: a larger super gutter, new downspouts, the pool cage rebuilt, and new screen on the cage. The new screen is Phifer screen, made by a company whose primary manufacturing is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Phifer). Because the screen has to come off anyway, the cage leaves the job with new screen.

The fascia: once the old gutter is down, the wood behind it is in plain view. If it is rotten, we write it up as a change order and replace it once you approve. Nothing changes on the price without your OK. This is the only thing that changes our price after the visit, and it rarely happens.

The permit: we pull it, before any work starts. You do not have to go to the county yourself.

Time on site: most change outs take 1 to 2 days.

Clean up: the job site is cleaned and the debris is hauled away.

The warranty: 1 year, and it covers the cage work too.

If you also want gutter guards on the new super gutter, ask at the visit. We install those too, and Chris will go over which guard fits your trees.

Questions to Ask Any Contractor

Whoever you hire, these questions will tell you a lot in a few minutes.

1. Does your license cover pool enclosures? Ask for the license number and look it up yourself on the state’s license search. A gutter installer without the right license may not be able to rebuild the cage.
2. Who does the cage work? If the gutter company hands the cage to someone else, you have two companies pointing at each other if something goes wrong.
3. Who pulls the permit? You want the contractor to pull it. If they ask you to pull it yourself, ask why.
4. What happens if the fascia is rotten? A clear answer is a written change order with a price, approved by you before the work. A vague answer is “we’ll see when we get up there.”
5. Does the cage get new screen? The screen comes off either way. Find out whether the price includes new screen and which brand.
6. What is the warranty, and does it cover the cage? Get it in writing.
7. How long is the price good for? Ours is good for 30 days.

When to Call, and What Happens Next

Do not wait for a storm to decide for you. A super gutter that sags or leaks this month is likely to be worse after next summer’s rainy season, and the fascia behind it keeps soaking up water in the meantime. If you see any of the signs above, it is worth having someone look before the wood gets worse.

We work all over Hernando, Pasco and Citrus counties, including 55+ communities like Timber Pines, Seven Hills and Sugarmill Woods, and we help with the HOA paperwork when your community asks for it.

Here is how it goes. You call or send the form, and Jennifer gets back to you to set up a visit. Chris comes out and looks at the super gutter, the cage and the fascia, then gives you an honest price in writing. Every cage is different, so we price it in person, not over the phone. If the screen is the only problem, a pool cage rescreen may be all you need.

Want the full picture of the job first? See our super gutter change out page. Ready for a look at yours? Call (727) 857-3714 or get a free estimate.