Before we bought our house, we had a home inspection to check for any major flaws. And while nothing too major was found, the inspector did see water damage around the brick moulding on the back door. Why? Because the builders decided they weren’t up for installing gutters on the back of the house, apparently. Lazy builders!
The previous owner had the damage fixed before we moved in, but to prevent this from happening again, we decided to install gutters ourselves. The process was surprisingly easy. We followed tutorials from here and here.
1. Measure Gutters, Cut Gutters to Length
This is pretty straightforward. Our roof length was 22′, so we had to attach two long pieces together. The tutorials linked above explain that more. Basically, you rivet the two pieces together with a connector between.
2. Attach Caps, Including Downspout Extension
The end cap attaches with a rivet. Just align the pieces, drill a hole, and rivet.
3. Seal All Joints
This is basically waterproof caulk. We applied it wherever two pieces met. Here, you can see the bracket that connected two gutter pieces.
4. Attach Brackets
The brackets go in 24-inch increments. They simply clamp on. They have holes on the back side – that’s where you drill to connect the gutter to the house.
5. Screw Brackets Into House
Gutters are surprisingly light, so Ryan had no problem holding it up on his own in the center to attach it to the house.
Fun fact: you’re supposed to hang your gutters slightly crooked. The side with a downspout is lower than the capped end. Simply physics!
6. Attach Downspout to Gutters, Cut To Length, Attach To House
We sized the downspout where we wanted it (it’s short because we’re going to put a rain barrel beneath it).
The gutter is held to the house by a bracket. We trimmed it, screwed it into a stud, and caulked around the stud to protect it.
Last bit of work…
7. Test!
We tested the gutters by running some water through them. We wanted to make sure they didn’t leak and that they were angled enough to make the water flow toward the downspout.
We have a few other places around the house we need to tackle. This was a surprisingly easy project. But, fair warning, Ryan did a good deal of research and reading before tackling this. We recommend doing the same!