Copper & half-round
Copper and half-round gutters in St. Louis
Tower Grove, Shaw, Compton Heights, the Central West End, Kirkwood and Webster Groves are full of brick homes that still carry their original half-round gutters, many of them copper. They're worth keeping. Most gutter crews will only quote you K-style aluminum to replace them.
Why St. Louis has so much of this
The city was built in brick, block after block, from the 1890s through the 1950s, and the builders hung half-round gutters on it — galvanized on the modest streets, copper on the better ones. Copper doesn't rust, so a hundred-year-old copper half-round on a house in Compton Heights is often still doing its job. What fails is the soldered seams, the outlet where the downspout meets the gutter, the iron brackets that rusted, and the sections a previous owner "fixed" with roofing cement.
What we repair
Soldered seams and outlets. Copper is joined with solder, not sealant. When a seam opens we clean it to bright metal, flux it, and re-solder. Caulk on copper is a six-month fix that makes the proper repair harder. Copper gutter repair St. Louis-wide is mostly this: two or three seams and an outlet, $250–$600 depending on access.
Brackets and straps. Half-round hangs from brackets — into the fascia, the roof edge or the mortar joints — with a strap over the top. The originals were steel and they rust through. We replace them with brass, stainless or copper-coated brackets on 24-inch centers, reset the pitch, and the gutter that has been sagging for a decade drains again.
Sections beyond saving. A run that was hit by a ladder or split by ice gets replaced in matching copper, soldered in. Copper darkens to brown within a few years; new sections stand out for a while and then don't.
Downspouts. Round copper downspouts, the elbows that got crushed at the bottom, and the leader heads on the grander houses. We match the profile, and we get the outlet at the bottom away from the foundation, which on a city lot with a five-foot gangway usually means a buried line rather than an extension.
Replacing a half-round system
When the whole system is done — usually galvanized half-round that has rusted through, not copper — there are three ways to go:
| Option | Installed price per foot | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminum half-round, 5" or 6" | $12 – $20 | Same profile, 25+ colors, no soldering; the sensible choice on most streets |
| Copper half-round, 16 oz | $35 – $60 | Soldered, lasts longer than the house; quoted after a look |
| K-style seamless aluminum | $9 – $16 | Cheapest, and it changes the look of the house |
On a 1920s brick home in Tower Grove South with 120 feet of gutter, aluminum half-round runs about $1,500–$2,400 installed; copper, $4,200–$7,200. We'll quote both.
Historic districts and what your city says
The City of St. Louis has local historic districts — Soulard, Lafayette Square, Compton Heights, Shaw and others — where exterior changes visible from the street can need review by the city's Cultural Resources Office before work starts, and swapping copper half-round for white K-style is the kind of change that gets questions. Kirkwood, Webster Groves and Clayton each have their own building departments with their own rules. Missouri has no state contractor license and no statewide permit rule for gutters, so we ask the relevant city hall before the job rather than guess.
The scrap problem
Copper is worth money, and every few years the city sees a run of copper downspouts stripped off houses at night. If a contractor quotes you a replacement in aluminum and offers to "take the old copper off your hands," understand that your gutters may be worth more than the job. We weigh removed copper in front of you and credit it against the invoice, or leave it for you to sell.
Related: gutter repair for aluminum systems, gutter cleaning for how we clean copper without scratching it, and the Kirkwood page for where most of this work outside the city happens.
Other gutter services
Gutter Repair
Leaking corners, sagging runs, crushed downspouts, missing straps and the rotted fascia behind them — fixed in a morning with a written price.
Gutter Repair →Seamless Gutter Installation
Seamless aluminum run on site to each wall, sized for St. Louis thunderstorms, with 3x4 downspouts and hidden hangers into the rafters.
Seamless Gutter Installation →Gutter Guards
Micro-mesh, screen and reverse-curve guards, with an honest opinion on which ones survive St. Louis sycamore, oak and maple debris.
Gutter Guards →Gutter Cleaning
Every foot cleared by hand, downspouts flushed, debris hauled, and a ladder check of corners, hangers and fascia — the visit that tells you what's actually wrong.
Gutter Cleaning →Questions we get asked
Is it worth repairing old copper gutters?
Almost always. Copper doesn't rust, so a hundred-year-old half-round is usually sound metal with failed seams, brackets or an outlet — a few hundred dollars of soldering and hangers. Replacing it with aluminum K-style costs more, changes the look of the house, and the copper you removed was worth money.
Can you put half-round gutters on a house that has K-style now?
Yes. Aluminum half-round at $12–$20 a foot fits any roof edge and comes in the same colors as K-style. It holds a little less water than a K-style of the same width, so on a big roof we go to 6-inch half-round or add a downspout.
Do I need approval to replace gutters in a St. Louis historic district?
In the city's local historic districts, exterior work visible from the street can need review by the Cultural Resources Office, and a like-for-like copper or half-round replacement is generally the easy case. Rules differ in the county municipalities. We find out before quoting rather than after.
Need gutter work in St. Louis?
Call for a free estimate. Mon–Sat 7am–7pm.