Roofing and gutters in Baton Rouge.

The housing stock in Baton Rouge

The median Baton Rouge house was built around 1976, and better than one in ten predates 1950. Broadmoor was established in 1950, Sherwood Forest in the same era, Shenandoah went up through the 1970s and 80s. That is a lot of mid-century brick ranch on original 5-inch gutters that were undersized when they went on, hung on fascia that has now taken seventy Louisiana summers.

Storms and water in Baton Rouge

In August 2016 the city-parish mapped roughly 48,000 damaged structures — about 30% of every building in the parish — concentrated in the eastern ZIP codes, 70814, 70815 and 70816. But for roofs specifically, the reference event here is still Hurricane Gustav in September 2008: around 85% of the city lost power and roughly a thousand trees came down onto homes and vehicles. Plenty of roofs in this city have a Gustav repair on them somewhere.

The trees here

Here's the thing about Baton Rouge that most contractors will not tell you. The 1950s through 1970s neighborhoods were planted heavily with water oaks. LSU AgCenter is blunt about that species: a water oak stays healthy roughly thirty to forty years and begins rotting around fifty. It has weak wood, shallow roots, forms trunk cavities, drops leaves all winter rather than in one clean fall, and is “particularly susceptible to wind, snow and ice damage.” Past fifty years the AgCenter says branches start falling more frequently. Do the arithmetic on a neighborhood planted in 1965 and you can see why we get so many limb-damage calls in this city. The live oaks lining Highland Road are a different tree entirely — those outlive all of us.

What we do in Baton Rouge

• Roof replacement — full tear-off through final cleanup
• Roof and leak repair — the repairs a lot of companies won't take
• Gutter cleaning — cleared by hand, debris hauled off
• Gutter system repair — cleaned, re-sloped and reinforced
• Seamless gutter installation — starting at $500
• Gutter guards — only on the runs that need them

How a Baton Rouge quote works

I come look at it myself. I measure, check what's behind the gutter, look at your roof, and photograph anything I find. That evening you get a written price by text — good for 30 days, and it doesn't change.