"Jay-T" wrote in message
...
I just had new soffits, fascia, and seamless gutters installed on a
3-story house I own. I had this done after a new roof (with all new
plywood decking, etc.) was put on a few weeks ago.

My question is about how the gutters get attached to the house. Since it
is an old house, some parts of the fascia are aluminum wrapped contoured
would trim, and other parts are flat fascia. Where it could be done, the
contractor screwed the new gutters directly into the fascia with no
overhead hanging straps. But, for other areas, the contractor needed to
use hanging straps that get attached to the roof.

For the areas where hanging straps needed to be attached to the roof, how
should that be done?

I always thought that the hanging straps should be attached by lifting the
first row of shingles and then nailing or screwing the straps to the roof
underneath that first row. However, this contractor just placed the metal
hanging straps on top of the shingles and screwed them in through the
shingles into the roof decking.

A neighbor of mine who owns a number of properties that he has had
rehabbed said that's how they do it now. When I said I thought that could
cause roof leaks he said that they use clear caulk where the screws go in
to prevent leaks. In my case, the contractor didn't use any caulk - he
just screwed the straps through the shingles and into the roof decking.

So, how should these hanging straps be attached to the roof?

There is no way that I would accept gutter support straps screwed on top of
and through the shingles, caulk or no caulk. That is a lazy shortcut. The
bottom edge of the shingles should droop into the gutter to deposit the
water into the gutter, how does the shingle do that if the gutter support
strap is mounted over the shingle. Sounds like water damage coming in short
order.