3 Tips For Installing Your Own Gutters

Do you have gutters that need to be replaced because they are cracked and leaking water? If so, you may be tempted to do this home repair on your own. Here are a few tips that can help you out with a gutter replacement so that you do it right the first time.

Measure Your Gutters

The first step is to measure your existing gutters to figure out how much material you need. Thankfully, you do not need to make a plan about where the gutters are going to go since you are only replacing the gutter material that is there. Keep in mind that your local home improvement store might sell gutters in long lengths, such as around 10 feet long, so you should figure out how 10-foot sections will work with replacing your existing gutters. It may not be as simple as totaling up the length of your gutters and buying the proper amount since you may need a bit more.

Determine How You'll Join Multiple Gutter Sections

One of the challenges of installing your own gutters is that those 10-foot sections need to come together to form a continuous length of gutter material. You need to decide how you want to join them together since you may have to buy or rent the right tools to get the job done.

You can use slip joints to join two sections together, which are the small connection pieces that both gutter sections slide into. Silicone is used to create a seal so that water doesn't seep through the seams. If you are getting aluminum gutters, you can use metal screws to join the two sections together. However, a rivet gun is the ideal tool to use. You can just overlap two sections and join them together with rivets. 

Count Up Your Additional Hardware

Buying all the additional hardware should be easy as well since you can also look at your existing gutters to get a good idea of what you need. This includes end caps, corner pieces, elbow joints, slip joints, and things like that. You should be able to buy more than you need and then return the extra hardware that you do not need. You'll also want to have extra silicone on hand since you'll likely go through a lot of it.

Does all this seem too difficult to do on your own? Then reach out to a professional gutter installation company to do it all for you.