Schoolhouse, your gutters are probably doing more harm then good with a standing seam roof. Leaves or other blockage is probably causing the end of the roof to sit in some water. In the winter the gutters may prevent the snow from completely sheding off the roof creating the same problem as it starts to melt. When our roof was installed they extended it 2 inches beyond the drip edge and even though the roof is 20 years old its good as new including to wood boards below the metal sheets.

I would NOT tear off my standing seam roof and put a layer of shingles down, that was my point. I agree with you about the gutters,,because I'm sure gutters were never even put on the building until the 1950's. So, you installed a new metal roof over a shingled one?
Any ideas of what if anything I could do to correct the roof so that the edge isn't sitting in water? That totally makes sense. This is where it would be so nice, and it's been said plenty of times on this forum, to be able to find contractors and workers who were sensitive to older homes and buildings.

Wow, schoolhouse, I totally agree with you about the contractors!! See the soapbox I just wrote in my post about radiator colors. It's so frustrating when people just don't get the whole "old house" thing.

Mount the gutters in a different way: i.e well below the plane of the roof. I had to have some guttering put on in an emergency. It was apparently installed to correct "modern standards", but they were much too high and caused more problems than they solved. I have remounted them correctly, for the time being, but as soon as we are ready to make the necessary repairs to the slate roof, the gutters with their ugly profile are outta there. Meanwhile they look peculiar, but at least they are not trapping water against the roof edge.

Molly~

"So, you installed a new metal roof over a shingled one?"
Sorry Schoolhouse, I don't get to this forum that often. Yes they did install to metal over the shingles,,, kind of. They ran a grid of firring strips over the roof,which was a little wavy, to get a good firm level surface to attach the metal sheets too. We don't use any gutters at all. What I did was use my tiller to gently scrape and slope a 2 foot wide path around the entire perimeter. I then lined that with about 5 layers of roll plastic sheeting and had several tons of crushed stone delivered to lay into the shallow path. The water hits the stones, doesn't make a mess and drains away from the house and has been working fine for about 7 years now.
In the winter those metal roofs should shed snow in giant sheets. If you have any at all trapped on the edges its probably caused by the gutters and the constant thawing and freezing in affecting the wood.

With a standing seam metal roof you should have snow guards, or "ice eagles" to keep the snow from shedding in huge sheets.

My parent's house had a standing seam metal roof. Roofers did some work on it and didn't put the ice eagles back down. The next winter the snow pulled free and cleaned the gutters off that side of the house.

As for how to keep the water from ponding, you can go to one of the helmeted gutter systems which will help keep debris and the like, including snow, from clogging the gutters.

As for your gutter guy telling you to put shingles up in place of the metal?

I'd find a new gutter guy.

Hey,thanks for the replies. Ever since I signed the contract for the aluminum gutter guards, I've been feeling a little nervous. To begin with, they're kinda cheap looking; but I can't afford the top of the line. So far, I haven't phoned the company to give them a date for installation.But, they did say they will see about moving the gutter out and away from the roof edge some more.
When I moved in here in 1978, the house (school) had the old type gutters that were slightly rounded and hung from the roof edge by wire hangers.There were no problems with drainage and the dirt basement stayed dry. A bad storm tore them off the back of the house one year; so, of course, I went all modern when it came time to replace them. This and some other factors beyond my control (i.e. road in front widened and blacktopped,road level was raised)was the start of some water issues.
I intend to "supervise" and ask questions when the work crew comes back, even tho they'll probably take offence to a woman trying to tell them their job. Ha. Thanks again, you've mentioned some good points, I wouldn't have thought about before.

Schoolhouse, I live in NH where winters are tough and never a lack of snow. There are also a large quantity of buildings with standing metal roofs. I kept this conversation in mind as I was traveling about today. Of all the houses, etc. with this kind of roof not a one had gutters.

When the gutter was blown off by the storm, there was a period of time before I got it replaced. The rain came off the roof like a waterfall. If I could get away without gutters on this building, I surely would, if anything for asethics sake; but the lay of the land now is very different then it was when the school was built in the 1870's."Housification" has changed most of it. Run-off water doesn't "run off" in the other direction anymore. I do agree with you about not having gutters with an old standing seam roof, but it wouldn't work on my place, at least not now.

I guess you'll just have to go with repositioning them and hope for the best when the snow flies. Maybe invest in a snow rake to help keep them clear. I hope it works out for you.

Our eavesthrough do not work. They drip everywhere. I just saw an advertizing about RAINHANDLER that sounds pretty good. Does anyone know if they really work as good as they say?