On a Ladue lot the front walk is long, the drive loops back to the garage, and the steps by the side door are usually the first thing cleared after a freeze. Ice melt goes down in the hard cold of January and often again in February, and a good share of it lands within a few feet of the house. That strip of ground is where the roof sends its water. The eave, the drip edge and the gutter apron sit right above it, and they are the parts of the roof exposed to salt for the longest time and the parts that show salt damage first.
Town roofing
St. Louis winters work on the metal at the eave without any help. Freeze and thaw cycles push water in and out of the shingle tabs, and ice damming holds meltwater against the drip edge for days at a time. Add a salt product that dissolves into that water and the metal sits in a chloride solution every time the sun warms the roof and the thaw runs back down to the edge. Most ice melts sold for home use are sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride or a blend of those. All of them speed corrosion in steel and in the zinc coating on galvanized metal. Products labeled pet-safe or gentle on concrete are often still chloride blends under a different label, so the bag is not a reliable guide to what will reach the eave.
The walk and the bed along the foundation carry the rest. Meltwater from a salted walk runs toward the house, collects under the eave line, and drains into the mulch and soil beside the foundation. A homeowner who spreads a light layer on the walk and a heavier one by the steps can send more salt to the roof edge than the walk itself ever holds. A roofer on a standard walkaround will not see that, and the homeowner usually does not see it either, because the damage is on the underside of the metal.
The damage is slow and it hides well. A drip edge that has been bathed in salt water for several winters can look fine from the ground, with the finish still on and no visible holes. The problem shows when someone gets a ladder up and finds white or rust-colored crust along the bottom flange, a lifted seam at a corner, or a fastener head that has rusted through. By then the corrosion may have reached the underside of the first course of shingles, and the repair is bigger than a strip of new metal.
What it costs
Replacing a drip edge by itself is not a large line item, but it is rarely done by itself. To reach the metal, the roofer has to lift or remove the lowest courses of shingles, check the underlayment at the eave, and lap the membrane correctly over the new edge. On a Ladue roof with a long eave line, the cost depends on how many linear feet are affected and whether the corrosion stops at the first course or runs up onto the deck. A bid that says replace drip edge, with no length, metal type or gauge written beside it, is not yet comparable to another bid.
Gutters belong in the same count. If salt has reached the gutter hangers or the bottom of a downspout, a section may need replacing, and that is cheaper to decide while the roof is open than on a second trip. Keys Roofing documents the eave condition with photographs and measurements as part of a written scope, so the homeowner has a dated record of what was there before any work started. That record is useful whatever the homeowner decides about the salt or the metal.
Ask whether the eave check is part of the roof price or a separate visit, and ask for it to be written into the scope either way. A verbal note that the roofer looked at the edge does not give you a record you can compare against the next season.
What to ask
Ask each roofer what metal is at the eave now, and whether they can identify it from the ladder or only from a sheet they brought. Galvanized steel and aluminum behave differently under salt, and a roofer who can name the metal and its gauge is describing the actual roof. Ask whether the bid replaces the drip edge along the full eave or only where it is visibly damaged, and ask what the crew does with the underlayment at the edge when the old metal comes off.
Ask how the condition will be recorded before any shingle comes off. Dated photos of the lowest course, the drip edge flange, the gutter apron and the fasteners give both sides a fixed starting point. Ask who keeps the photo set and whether you receive it as a file. A roofer who says the photos stay internal has not answered the question.
Ask what the new edge metal will be and whether it is listed in the spec in writing. A line that says drip edge included, with no metal type, finish or length, is the kind of line that gets argued over later. Ask where the crew will stage material, where the old metal goes, and how the walk and the foundation beds will be protected while the crew works the eave. A bid that does not mention the ground is leaving a question open.
What to do before the next freeze
Before January, walk the eave line with a phone and take a few photos of the drip edge from below. Look for crust, rust streaks on the fascia under the edge, and any corner where the metal has lifted. If salt has already landed along the eave, sweep it up with a broom instead of rinsing it down, since rinsed salt goes straight into the foundation bed. Keep the spreader on a light setting along the walk and keep the bag a few feet back from the house, where the roof water lands. Sand gives traction without chloride, and it does not touch the metal, which makes it the safer choice for the steps and the strip nearest the eave.
If you want the eave checked before the cold sets in, call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333 and ask for the drip edge and gutter apron to be included in the look. Bring the photos you took, and say which side of the house gets the salt. That one detail tells a roofer more than any description of the metal.