Gutters for a Detached Garage, Shed or Workshop in Cincinnati
Plenty of houses in Norwood, Oakley, Northside and Covington have a detached garage on the alley, built sometime between 1915 and 1955, and many of those garages have never had a gutter. The roof sheds onto the alley on one side and onto the neighbor’s fence line on the other, and after enough years the sill plate rots, the slab heaves, and somebody asks whether it’s worth putting gutters on a building that isn’t the house. Usually, yes. Here’s what it costs and what to think about.
Why a small building still needs gutters
A 20-by-22-foot garage roof is 440 square feet. An inch of rain on it is 270 gallons, and on an alley lot all of it lands within a foot of the walls. On a block or frame garage that means:
- Water against the slab edge, which heaves it in the freeze-thaw and cracks it at the door
- Splash-back rotting the bottom foot of siding and the sill plate
- Ice on the alley apron every winter morning, which on a shared alley is your problem and your neighbor’s
- Water running under the door and pooling on the floor
A shed or workshop is the same math at a smaller scale. A 10-by-12 shed sheds 75 gallons per inch of rain, and it all goes to the two long sides.
What it costs
Small jobs have a minimum charge, because the crew, the machine and the coil have to come out whether the run is 20 feet or 200. Seamless aluminum priced per foot on a house is $9–$14; on a stand-alone garage the same work is priced as a job.
| Building | Gutter | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Single-car detached garage, gutter on one eave | 20–24 ft, one downspout | $350–$550 |
| Two-car detached garage, both eaves | 40–50 ft, two downspouts | $550–$850 |
| Garage with a rear addition or lean-to | 60–80 ft, three downspouts | $750–$1,100 |
| Shed or workshop, one eave | 10–16 ft, one downspout | $250–$400 |
| Any of the above with a rain barrel hookup | add a diverter and overflow | $60–$150 |
Those figures include hidden hangers, a 2x3 or 3x4 downspout with an extension or splash block, and haul-away of anything old. Add fascia repair at $8–$20 per foot if the board is rotten, which on a 1930s garage it often is at the low corner. The cheapest way to do a garage is on the same day as the house — the crew is already there — and then it’s priced per foot with the rest. The installation page covers what’s included.
Measuring a garage or shed yourself
Measure the eave on each side you want covered, add a few inches at each end for the end caps, and note the height of the eave from the ground. Measure the roof depth from ridge to eave as well; that tells you how much roof drains into each run. With those numbers and a photo of each side, a contractor can usually give a rough price over the phone and confirm it on site.
Which side gets the gutter
On a gable garage the water comes off two eaves. The side facing the alley is the one that ices the apron and the one the neighbor sees; the side facing your yard is the one rotting the sill. If the budget only covers one, pick the side that drains toward something that matters — a foundation, a walkway, a property line — and put a downspout at the low corner. On a shed with the door on the gable end, one gutter on the eave above the path to the door does most of the work.
Where the water goes on an alley lot
This is the part that gets skipped. An alley garage sits on a lot line, and a downspout that discharges toward the neighbor’s garage is starting an argument. A downspout that discharges onto the alley freezes into a sheet that the city plow won’t touch. The options:
- Downspout to the yard side with a rigid extension carrying water 4 feet onto the lawn. Simplest and usually right.
- A rain barrel on the downspout. A 440-square-foot roof fills a 55-gallon barrel in a fifth of an inch of rain, so the overflow matters more than the barrel; it needs an overflow hose to the lawn, and the barrel needs draining and disconnecting before the freeze.
- A dry well or short buried line to a gravel pit under the lawn, for lots where the yard is all patio and there’s nowhere for the water to go. $300–$700.
Don’t connect a detached building’s downspout to the sewer without checking first: in the older parts of the city that’s a combined sewer, MSD sets the rules on connections, and any sewer work needs a plumber and usually a permit.
Hangers on a small building
A garage or shed eave carries the same freeze-thaw load per foot as the house, so it deserves the same hidden hangers screwed into solid wood every 24 inches. On thin or rotted trim, the board needs replacing first. On a metal-roofed shed or pole building, the brackets need something solid to fasten to, sometimes a fascia board added for the purpose; ask how the contractor plans to attach them.
Snow and metal roofs
Metal roofs on newer garages and workshops shed snow in one slide, and a gutter in its path can be flattened or torn off. The usual answers are snow guards on the roof above the eave, or a gutter set lower on the fascia so the slide passes over it. Ask what fits your roof before the gutter goes up.
The old garages
The 1920s–40s garages in the older neighborhoods are worth a note. Many have a decorative rake and eave with no fascia board at all, just exposed rafter tails. A gutter still goes on — with roof-strap hangers under the shingles rather than screws into a fascia — and it looks fine. Some of the larger carriage houses in Clifton and East Walnut Hills have a small box gutter built into the eave, same as the main house; that’s a box gutter job scaled down, and it’s usually lined in EPDM for $35–$75 per foot.
Mistakes on small jobs
- Vinyl gutters from the home center on a building that sits in full sun and full freeze. They turn brittle and crack at the joints.
- A downspout running onto the alley or the neighbor’s side.
- No extension, because “it’s only a shed.”
- A new gutter hung on rotted fascia to save the cost of a board.
- A rain barrel left connected through the first freeze.
Doing it yourself
A single short run on a shed is a reasonable weekend project for a handy owner: a seamless piece cut to length by a supplier or a sectional kit, hidden hangers into solid wood every 24 inches, a quarter inch of fall per 10 feet toward the outlet, and a downspout with an extension. Seal the end caps on a dry, mild day. Anything over one story, or any building on a lot line, is worth handing off.
Questions to ask for a small job
- Is there a minimum charge, and what does it cover?
- Can this be done on the same day as work on the house?
- What hangers, and how far apart?
- Where will the downspout discharge, and what happens to the water after that?
Whether it’s worth doing
For a garage you use, yes, without much argument: a $500 gutter beats a $2,500 slab repair or a rotted sill. For a leaning shed you’re planning to replace, no. For a workshop with tools in it, the gutter and the extension are the difference between a dry floor and a wet one every spring, and the rain barrel on the downspout is a bonus for the garden. Call it a morning’s work, done the same day as a gutter repair on the house if you want the best price.
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