Gutter System

I am planning to replace my gutter system since we have been using it for year's now. Can you give me a tip what material that is best to use in a gutter system except from wood because it absorbs water.

thanks, your comments will be appreciated.

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Reply to
yellowranger
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The Canadian government has a good factsheet for gutters here;

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They like concrete. Seems like a good plan, what with the cows stepping on them and all.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Continuous Aluminum is the gold standard. Folks come to your house, measure, and build continuous gutters from a big roll of the the stuff in their van. The only joints are at corners and downspouts.

The process is fast and foolproof. The resulting gutters are sturdy and long-lived. The material used is not in any way flimsy; it easily supports a leaning ladder without bending.

Regrettably, this technique does not lend itself to DIY inasmuch as you need the humongous roll of the flat, pre-painted stock and the machine that bends it into the required shape.

We paid $3.00/linear foot (downspouts included) several years ago.

Reply to
HeyBub

Call a pro. They come to your house with a machine, have the metal on a coil, and make the gutters 12, 21, or 31'6" long, however long they need to give you a perfect ONE PIECE gutter for the whole run. They will have all the fasteners, hangers, spouts, joiners, everything. They are worth it, and if you shop around, not a lot more than DIY, and no climbing on 16' ladders to ruin your summer. I got a good gutter guy, and I'll cheap out on a lot of stuff, but when I need gutter work, I call him, and if there's a problem, there's no problem because he comes and fixes it. He's made me up some pieces for sheds and such that I hang, and he did it for free. Well, I know he probably rolled it into his other price, but you know what I mean. And I only had to call him once on a problem, and it really was something the roofer did, but he fixed it no charge.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

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Reply to
Steve B

Typically, they suck. Not that a good job isn't done. But the damn thing goes straight across, so it is likely to hold water and breed mosquitoes. Now, if they would just stop in the middle and slope to the corners, I would heartily approve. But they, and the customer, want those straight lines, and don't see the water standing in it after a few years of grit and leaves composting.

Reply to
Michael B

I've never seen a "gutter guy" run it level. Always a good slope to the drain end. Usually about an inch in 20 feet ot so. I did my own on my last house and would never do it again. I'll bet the custom made and installed stuff on my current house cost less, and is twice as good as the "gutter system" I installed on my old place (which was considerably smaller) For my shed I had the "gutter guy" spit out the 2 peices and a friend who works /worked for an aluminum installation company installed it for me in exchange for work I did replacing the hood and fender on his car after he hit a deer.

Reply to
clare

The continuous-form stuff is flexible enough the long way to nail your high and low spots with no problem, even if you need 'center high' for corner downspouts like on a typical cheap cookie cutter house. Not a problem with the material, a problem with the installer.

Problem I have with mine, is previous owner cheaped out and had installer re-use the previous too-small downspouts, and they love to clog up on me. The several screwpoints in each one don't help. Calling a gutter guy to swap them out, and add one in an inside corner of deck (with a long tail leading out under the deck) has been on my list for awhile.

But even with a proper install, and the nice slick interior, ya still gotta clean them. Failing inner ears or not, once a year I drag out the big ladder, and get up there with the leaf blower, and blow them out. And I still have to run out there in the rain with a step ladder to reach up and unclog that one problem downspout a couple times a year. Good thing I'm tall. (If I don't unclog the downspout immediately, the gutter overflow creates a ponding situation over the buried patio slab under my deck, and it finds its way into my basement.)

Reply to
aemeijers

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Speaking of doing it on the cheap, I'm considering cutting a length of hardware cloth a bit wider than the gutter and letting it stay in place with its own pressure to serve as a leaf guard. Any thoughts?

Reply to
Michael B

Might work, but the aluminum gutterguard can be purchased for about a buck a foot, made to fit and do the job. You screw it on every 6 feet or so - I got mine in 20 foot lengths, some places carry it in 10 footers for DIY - easier to carrty home.

Reply to
clare

-snip-

My fiberglass ladder is too damn heavy [it must have gained 100 lbs since I bought it 20 yrs ago] and my aluminum is a little wobbly. [or maybe that's me]

So now I drag out 15' of 3" light pvc- a length of shop-vac hose, the handy gutter blower from sears [ Shop Vac 9197000 Gutter Cleaning Kit], my Stihl blower, a roll of duct tape, some Fernco fittings, and a sturdy pool extension pole. [took longer to type than do-- most of the rig hangs under the ladder in the garage]

I crank up the Stihl- sit it on the ground and walk down the gutter.

I do 100' of gutter in less time than it used to take me to set up the ladder for the first blow-- after which I would need a nap before moving it 20 feet.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Correction. I just used the current version- that was ver3.0 or so. Now we have; Gutter blower and 2 lengths of vac pipe; fernco to 2" pvc; fernco to flexible vac hose; fernco 2" to 3" adapter to Stihl blower.

In ver5.0 I might put handles on the pvc- and wheels on the blower so I can drag it without it tipping over.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Raises hell with the shrubbery and I can't get the lift I need.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

I only set up the ladder once, and do the blowing from above. But I carry the ladder around and set it up on the deck now, and only have to extend it a couple of feet, mainly to make getting back down easier. I used to do it from the driveway right by where the ladder lives in the garage, but that means I have to extend a good chunk of the second segement, and that 24' class 1A fiberglass ladder seems awful bouncy when I get to the 18 foot level, now. (I can't do branch trimming from halfway up the ladder leaned against the chimney stack any more.) It is still good for earning favors from the neighbors, though. Most of them have pole barns, and I think I have the youngest longest ladder on the street. When they need to get topside on those, they come knocking at my door. As little use as it gets, and stored out of the sun and weather, that ladder will easily outlast me. I'd like to get a single-section

12-foot, but they apparently don't sell those any more, now that everyone buys the swiss-army-knife ladders. I know I could split the 24' in half, but that is a pain, and hard on the fittings.

Once I hit the lotto and build my dream house, the roof will have walkout access.

Reply to
aemeijers

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yellowranger wrote: thank for sharing dude. i hope i could immediately replace our gutters. I check on your link as soon as i can. i also found something from here and its really a big help
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Reply to
yellowranger

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yellowranger wrote: thanks a lot dude! it'll help a lot. right now im checking on
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:)

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Reply to
yellowranger

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