Box gutters
By Gutter Report Editorial. Last reviewed August 2026. How we research this.
In brief
Two different things are called box gutters, and they need different answers. A historic built-in gutter, also called a Yankee gutter, is a trough built into the roof structure and lined with metal or membrane. A modern box gutter is a deep rectangular gutter hung on the outside, mostly on commercial buildings. If you are searching this term, it is almost always the first kind, and it is almost always because it leaks. Modernize prices box gutters at $15 to $40 a foot installed against $9 to $30 for K-style. HomeAdvisor gives $20 to $50 a foot to repair or replace one. The thing to understand before you get a quote: a built-in gutter leaks into the building, not down the outside wall, so the damage shows up in the eaves, the soffit and the framing rather than on the siding.
1.0Which kind do you have
| Built-in, or Yankee | Modern box profile | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Inside the roof structure, at or behind the eave | Hung outside, on the fascia or on brackets |
| Typical house | Nineteenth and early twentieth century | Commercial, and some contemporary houses |
| What holds the water | A liner over a wooden trough | The metal gutter itself |
| What a leak damages | Roof deck, eaves, soffit, framing | The outside wall, like any hung gutter |
| Who repairs it | A roofer, usually, not a gutter installer | A gutter contractor |
This Old House describes the modern kind as large rectangular systems installed beneath the roofline. It says they handle higher volumes of water than other types. That is the commercial profile. InspectAPedia describes the historic kind as an on-roof, site built system. A board sits at right angles to the roof slope, 8 to 10 inches above the lower roof edge, on wood or sometimes metal brackets. That board and the roof deck form a V-shaped channel.
The quick test from the ground: if you cannot see a gutter but water clearly leaves the roof at a defined point, you have a built-in gutter. If you can see a deep square gutter hanging on the outside, you have the modern kind, and most of the advice on the K-style page applies to it.
2.0What box gutters cost
| Source | Figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| USD / FT | ||
| Modernize (Aug 2026) | $15 to $40 | Installed. Its K-style is $9 to $30 and half round $13 to $35 |
| HomeAdvisor (2026) | $20 to $50 | Repair or replacement |
| This Old House (2026) | $12 to $62, average $37 | See the caution below |
| This Old House, materials only | $1 to $8 | Vinyl and aluminum, excluding installation |
| This Old House, materials only | $9 to $18 | Copper and zinc, excluding installation |
The caution on the This Old House row. Those three figures, $12 low, $37 average and $62 high, are the identical figures it publishes as its overall gutter installation range for gutters of every type. So its box gutter page is not pricing box gutters separately. We print it because you will meet it, and label it because it is not what it looks like.
Modernize is the useful comparison, because it prices all three profiles on one page with one method. Box costs about $6 to $10 a foot more than K-style there, and about $2 to $5 more than half round. HomeAdvisor's higher band reflects that most box gutter work is repair on an old house, which is slower than hanging new gutter.
HomeAdvisor explains the premium plainly. Box gutters are a rarity today, found mostly on period homes where the owner wants to keep the original features. The common repair is relining or patching, which takes time and material. And old box gutters are often lined in expensive metals. None of that is about the gutter being harder to buy. It is about the work being custom.
For context on the alternatives, HomeAdvisor puts the national average gutter repair at $399, in a usual range of $194 to $642, across all gutter types. Our repair cost page carries the fuller picture.
3.0How a built-in gutter is made, and how it fails
The construction explains every failure mode, so it is worth 30 seconds. A board runs at right angles to the roof slope, 8 to 10 inches up from the lower edge, held on brackets. The roof deck and that board form a V-shaped trough. The trough is lined, and the liner is the only thing between the water and the wood.
Original liners were terne metal, lead plated tin, or copper, with soldered joints. Every one of those has a service life, and on a house built in 1890 the original liner has usually been replaced at least once.
The failures InspectAPedia names, in the order they matter:
- The downspout penetration. Where the outlet passes through the roof structure or the eave. This is the most common leak point, and the usual result is water and rot damage to the soffit.
- Rotted gutter boards and brackets. The wood the whole thing sits on. Once it goes soft, a new liner has nothing sound to sit on.
- Leaking seams in metal liners. Solder joints that opened, usually from movement rather than corrosion.
- Thermal movement. Metal expands and contracts along a long trough, and the stress goes into the seams and the fasteners.
Bracket spacing is one thing that changed with modern practice. Older roofs used brackets at 24 inches on center. Modern rebuilds use 16 inches for extra strength. This Old House gives a similar rule for the hung box profile: mounting brackets no more than 30 inches apart, and downspout brackets no more than 6 feet apart.
4.0Liners, which is the whole decision
Repairing a built-in gutter almost always means dealing with the liner. There are three modern answers, per InspectAPedia.
| Liner | What it is | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Copper | Sheet copper, soldered, the traditional answer | Historic accuracy, and the longest life. Costs the most |
| EPDM | Rubber roofing membrane | The common modern reline. No soldering |
| Modified bitumen | Torch applied roofing membrane | Also common. Torch work on an old wooden roof edge is a real consideration |
Modern rebuilds also replace the gutter board and brackets in treated lumber before the liner goes back. That is the part quotes differ on: a liner over rotten wood is a repair that fails again, and a proper rebuild prices the carpentry too.
We could not verify a published national figure for relining specifically. The cost guides price box gutters by the foot, at $15 to $50 depending on the publisher, and none of the major ones we could read breaks out a liner price. Treat any single number you find for relining as unsourced until the contractor quotes your own trough.
What the copper specification says about built-in gutters
Relining in copper has a reference document, and your contractor should be working from it. It is the Copper Development Association Copper in Architecture Design Handbook, publication A4050-8/24. Three points in it bear directly on built-in work.
- Heavier copper. The handbook specifies 16 oz copper for hung gutters and downspouts, and 20 oz for built-in gutters. Built-in work gets the heavier sheet because replacing it means opening the roof edge again.
- Expansion joints. A long straight run gets joints no more than 48 feet apart, and no more than 24 feet from an inside or outside corner. Thermal movement is one of the named failure modes above, and this is the detail that absorbs it.
- Slope. Not less than 1/8 inch per foot, which is 1.25 inches of fall per 10 feet. That is five times steeper than the 1/4 inch per 10 feet that Amerimax, Englert, This Old House and Modernize all give for ordinary hung aluminum gutter. A built-in trough that holds standing water is a liner that fails early.
The material standard is ASTM B 370, minimum temper H00 cold rolled. More on the metal itself on the copper page.
5.0Why a leak here is a different problem
This is the one thing to take away from this page. A hung gutter is outside the building. When it overflows or drips, the water lands on siding, on a foundation, on a walkway. It is a nuisance and, over years, a foundation problem.
A built-in gutter is inside the building envelope. When its liner fails, water goes into the roof deck, the eave framing and the soffit, where nobody sees it. By the time a ceiling stain or a soft soffit shows up, the wood has been wet for a while.
Two practical consequences. First, do not defer this one the way you would defer a drippy hung gutter, because the meter is running on structure rather than on paint. Second, clean it on schedule: This Old House says box gutters should be cleaned at least twice a year, and a trough that holds debris holds water against the liner.
6.0You may not need to replace it
Built-in gutters get replaced more often than they need to, usually because the person quoting installs hung gutters and does not do liner work. Three options exist and they are far apart on price.
- Reline the existing trough. Keeps the roofline and the original detail. The right answer when the wood underneath is sound.
- Rebuild the trough, then reline. New gutter board and brackets in treated lumber, new liner. Costs more, and it is what rotted wood actually needs.
- Remove it and hang conventional gutters. This is roofing work, because the roof edge and the eave detail have to be rebuilt. It also changes the look of the eaves from the street, which on a period house is not a small thing.
Get the trough inspected before you accept a quote for any of the three. Specifically, ask whether the gutter board and brackets are sound, and ask what happens at the downspout penetration, since that is the most common leak point. A contractor who answers both has looked at your gutter. We can say all of this plainly because we do not sell gutters and we do not install them.
If you do end up converting to hung gutters, price the profile and material on the materials pages and the size on the 5 inch against 6 inch page. A built-in gutter usually carried a lot of water, so a 5 inch replacement may be undersized for the same roof.
Get a box gutter quote from a licensed contractor
Built-in gutter work is roofing work. Ask whether they reline or only replace. Tell us your ZIP code and we will pass your details to one licensed contractor who works there.
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Common questions
How much do box gutters cost?
Modernize gives $15 to $40 a foot installed, against $9 to $30 for K-style. HomeAdvisor gives $20 to $50 a foot for box gutter repair or replacement. This Old House gives $12 low, $37 average and $62 high, but those are the same three numbers it publishes for gutters of every type, so read them as a general range that happens to appear on a box gutter page.
What is a box gutter?
Two different things share the name. A historic built-in or Yankee gutter is a trough built into the roof structure itself, lined with metal or membrane, on houses from roughly the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A modern box gutter is a deep rectangular gutter hung on the outside, common on commercial buildings and some contemporary houses. The repair problem is almost always the first kind.
What is a Yankee gutter?
The same thing as a built-in gutter, named for where it was common. InspectAPedia describes it as an on-roof, site built system: a board set at right angles to the roof slope, 8 to 10 inches above the lower roof edge, supported on wood or metal brackets, forming a V-shaped channel with the roof deck. The channel was lined, originally in terne metal, lead plated tin or copper, with soldered joints.
Why do built-in gutters cause so much damage?
Because they sit inside the building rather than outside it. A hung gutter that leaks drips down the outside wall. A built-in gutter that leaks drips into the roof structure, the eaves and the soffit. InspectAPedia names the downspout penetration through the roof structure as the most common failure point, and water and rot damage to the soffit as the usual result.
Can box gutters be relined instead of rebuilt?
Often yes, and it is usually the cheaper path. Historic liners were terne metal, lead plated tin or copper with soldered seams. Modern relining uses copper, EPDM rubber roofing membrane, or torch applied modified bitumen. Relining keeps the original trough and the roofline, which matters on a period house where the built-in gutter is part of the design.
Should I convert box gutters to regular gutters?
It is a real option and it is not free. Removing a built-in gutter means rebuilding the roof edge and the eave detail it was part of, then hanging a K-style or half round run outside. That is roofing work, not gutter work. On a house with any historic character it also changes the profile of the eaves, which is visible from the street.
- Rev
- RevAugust 2026
- Source
- SourceModernize, HomeAdvisor, This Old House, InspectAPedia, CDA (read 2026-08-21)