Water behind gutters

[commander2004]

The shingles on my house do not hang out far enough for the water to
run into the gutters. Instead it runs behind the gutter to the ground. What
is an easy and inexpensive way to fix this problem?

[HayZee518]

the edges of your roof should have a galvanized "drip edge" installed "before" the shingles are installed. its a little difficult, now, after the fact!

[pushkins]

Go to Lowe's / HD and get a piece of flat galvanized metal 4" wide and I think they sell it in 8' long lengths (either that or you can cut it down to manageable sizes), push this up under the bottom row of shingles making sure you leave enough hanging out over your gutter. Do not push it back too far or try to force it as you don't want to cut/damage the shingles.
This is by far not the best fix but it's cheap and effective at least for the shorter term.

[commander2004]

Thanks for your reply!

[commander2004]

Pushkins thanks for the quick reply. What would be a long term solution?

[pushkins]

Long term and best solution would be to remove the bottom and starter course of shingles and reapply them as they should have been done to start with. The real issue with this is that all the remaining courses of shingles are set off the first course. You could add a wider starter course, this would buy your an inch or two.
Are your gutters fastened flat to the facia ? if the water is flowing behind it that would make your shingles stop right at the sheathing edge, simply adding drip edge would stop most of your issue. If the gutter is off the facia, can you fasten it to the facia, if not then see previous answers.

[commander2004]

My gutters are attached to the facia. So I hope the sheet metal extension will work.

[HayZee518]

might be better if you double up the sheet metal by folding it in one half and hammering it flat. this way if someone were to put up a ladder, the edge won't get squished.

[pushkins]

I was suggesting the sheet metal to go under the first course of singles (part way) and then out to roughly the middle of the gutter, should be no way a ladder can smash it there.
But if the gutters are hard against the facia a simple addition of the drip edge would probably solve the problem, it would stop the water lapping around the shingles and behind the gutter.