Leaking gutters still leaking

Yet another project from last winter that I was determined to get fixed before this winter was the leaks in the gutters, which had formed huge icicles and left my sidewalk icy. So like the boiler work, I called someone in early October and waited a few weeks for them to schedule a time to come.

It sucked that $900 of my quote was just for the lift to give them access to the gutters, but I just wanted it fixed for good by a professional so that I won't need to worry about it any time soon... So they cam and did the work, but unfortunately they must not have sent a professional roofer.

Before I could even get on the roof to check their work, my neighbor called furious about what had been left on his parking lot next door. As you can see from this picture, it's just down wind of the gutters;

It had rained debris from the gutter work and worst of all there were pieces of scrap sheet metal in an area that his dog roams freely. Luckily it wasn't hurt, but I was made clear of the ramifications if it had been...

After cleaning up his yard, I thought I ought to check mine, and I ended up collecting all this:

Needless to say, after a weekend of organizing a neighborhood clean up, I wasn't very happy to have my own contractor trashing my own yard. My neighbor says it's a chronic problem in a neighborhood like ours where contractors treat it differently than they would a suburban neighborhood. After what I'm seeing, it's hard to disagree.

Then I started to inspect their work, which from the ground looked ok. They replaced my rusty downspouts and seamed gutters with new downspouts and seamless gutters.

However upon inspection from above, they didn't seal the end of the seamless gutters all the way and the next day when it snowed they were leaking and forming icicles already. Essentially just moving the leak to a different place...
























On the other side of the building was my cornice and box gutter, which had given me the most trouble. They were supposed to install flashing up under the last row of shingles and repair the cracks that had formed in the asphalt coating then put a membrane over top of it. I was surprised that they missed some really obvious cracks that I could have shoved a couple pennies into and there wasn't anything resembling a membrane.

They had also put inserts into the downspout so that it wouldn't leak inside the cornice, and they didn't even cover their own screws all the way with caulking.

Frankly after seeing their work, I wondered how long it would last. When I had repaired it myself a year and a half ago, it had lasted about a year before it started to leak again. When it snowed the next day, I got my answer. Icicles formed in all the usual places and seemed to actually spread to new ones. Thankfully I hadn't paid them yet. And they say they'll be aback to finish the job right, but I'm still waiting....

It looks like it's going to be another icy winter on East Clifton.