Vinyl gutters?

[Pilot]

Built our house 19 years ago and the gutters are getting tired. Had the Leafguard guy out today and he quoted me $7,100! Ouch! Well, we won't go that route. When I told him that, he said they also offered their "Rainpro" line and he quoted $2,161 for that, for house and barn.

But I am thinking I could install vinyl gutters for a few hundred bucks (DYI). The Leafguard guy says they leak at the joints after expansiona nd contraction has worked them and that of all the gutter systems out there, vinyl is the poorest choice. And he says I would be replacing vinyl in just a few years.

So, is that all just salesman's blather? If you have had vinyl gutters, are you happy with them? How long have you had them? Do they leak?

A couple things I liked about the Leafguard and Rainpro gutters is their size. If the ones I have are 4" wide, these must 5 1/2 or 6" at the top. Downspouts are also large and on the downspout they have a cleanout basket which they mount about 4 ft. above the ground. You just lift the thing out of the downspout and dump out anything that's in there.

Our trees are all firs and they throw cones about 3" long and maybe 1.5 inches in diameter. They would probably go down the downspouts of these larger ones, but with my old gutters, they just clog the gutter at the downspout.

So, what do you guys know?

 

[EarPlug]

Leafguard is a franchised product dealership. I believe it is a "patented" product and they charge a premium for the "name". There are alternative product out there that will work nearly the same.

As for the size, any seamless gutter contractor can provide the size you need.

 

[SandburRanch]

I posted this on another site and may as well share my feelings here too.

Guttering is STUPID and my house has 180 ft. of STUPID. I'll never own another house with STUPID.

Gutters don't prevent basement leaks. The appropriate choice of a building site, construction techniques and proper landscape drainage prevent basement leaks.

 

[Scrambler82]

I put Plastic gutters on about 25 years ago, they have faed but are holding up well.

No leaks, clog with leaves easily.

Only problem I had was my drip edge wasn’t wide enough and I had to add a strip of metal along the entire length to run the water in.

All it took was mount some mounting brackets and drain spouts and cut the Gutter to length and snap in place; all of the joints had rubber gaskets.

I would do it again.

 

[Bird]

I helped my brother install the vinyl gutters when we built his house in the mid-90s, but then he only lived there 4 or 5 years before selling the place. I later installed vinyl gutters on an aluminum awning on a mobile home we had and on the aluminum awning on a daughter's mobile home. We never had a leaking problem, but they definitely do shrink and expand in the temperature changes, so they need to be installed properly to allow for that. But of course, we didn't own any of those long term. I'd guess the guy was right that the vinyl won't last as long as the others, but they're cheap and easy to work with. The vinyl ones we used were also not as big as the seamless aluminum on our current home. I think vinyl is pretty good for the do-it-yourselfer, but certainly not comparable to the two brands you mentioned.

 

[EddieWalker]

Best choice is from a seamless gutter contractor that makes them for you on site.

If you want to do it yourself, but the metal ones. Overlap them as you install them and use the gutter glue to seal them. NEVER use the joints that they sell for this. They are guranteed to leak.

Plastic are the worse. They are very hard, if not impossible to not leak. I used silicone where they overlap to get as good a seal as I can, but I will not gurantee my work. Plastic moves quite a bit in the heat. You need to put a ton of fasteners on them to hold them up, and even if you go 2 feet, there will be waves and bows between the fasteners because that's just what plastic does.

I like and I hate gutters. I can argue for them and against them. On my house, I have them. I hate them, but going with out is even worse at my place.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[Mike Costello]

I installed vinyl gutters on a new home I purchased. I lived there for 12 years and experienced no problems at all. Nothing broke or leaked. They are probably still on the home after all these years. As I recall, they were pretty easy to install using basic hand tools. Best of all, they were inexpensive. When I built my log home, I paid a professional "gutter guy" to install seamless metal gutters, and quite frankly, I didn't think they were all that much better. Mike.

 

[CurlyDave]

I had vinyl gutters on my house for 20+ years until it burned down.

I installed them myself and was careful to follow the directions. Used lots of the silicone lubricant. Never had a problem except for the disparaging comments from people who sold metal gutters.

The plastic ones never leaked and never rusted.

 

[2manyrocks]

I think it is an appearance issue. The seamless aluminum gutters that are installed with hidden brackets are really nice looking to me. The DIY gutter that have seams --they have seams. The plastic ones I've seen also have a visible mounting bracket. Maybe there are some that mount differently.

I'd be looking for a different gutter installer. Unless you have miles of gutters, it shouldn't be that bad. Some of the gutter guys are going to give you as much price as they think you'll pay. You've got to find the one that's reasonable.

 

[KTurner]

Had the Leafguard guy out today and he quoted me $7,100! Ouch! Well, we won't go that route. When I told him that, he said they also offered their "Rainpro" line and he quoted $2,161 for that, for house and barn.

We had our local (Southeast VA) Leafgaurd people out day before yesterday. We have a single story with a hip roof. 282 ft of leafgaurd gutter, 9 inside miters, 5 outside miters and 135 ft of 3x4 downspouts. $6922, but there was a discount dropping it to $5365. Same company but 5" K style open seamless metal gutters with 2x3 downspouts was $1461. 5" K style with 3x4 downspouts was $1866. Add micro screens to the K style for an additional $987.

Had a second company out yesterday. They said, 5" open seamless metal w/3x4 downspouts for $1932 and 6" open seamless metal w/3x4 downspouts for $2272.

Both of these companies were listed with BBB and the sales people were nice, not pushy. I might call a third company on Monday. I'm fine with open gutters as there's only one tree (maple) close and tall enough for anything to get in the gutter.

Anyone have any comments on downspout size, as I'm pondering that currently as well.

Forgot to mention - the Leafgaurd people were proud of their lifetime warranty. They said it was the only one that transferred from home owner to home owner when the house was sold. And that if the gutter ever clogged, it would be cleaned free. And, if they went out of business, the warranty would be covered by someone else in Leafgaurd.