Project details
Skill
3 out of 5Moderatecutting and connecting the aluminum parts isn’t too difficult, but climbing up and down ladders all day can be exhausting
Cost
$1.50-$2.50 per foot for gutter, $12-$15 for downspout, $1-$2 for elbows
Estimated Time
10 to 12 hours to install gutters and downspouts on an average-size one-story house
In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva shows how to install an efficient rain-handling gutter system.
Aluminum gutter installation steps
- Measure along the house fascia to determine the length of each piece of gutter.
- Apply a bead of silicone sealant along the inner edge of an aluminum end cap. Tap the end cap onto the end of the gutter, then secure it with a crimping tool.
- Cut the gutter to length using a hacksaw and tin snips.
- Fasten pre-mitered aluminum corner to the gutter end using sealant and aluminum pop rivets.
- Attach an end cap to the second length of gutter, then rivet it to the mitered corner to create the L-shaped gutter assembly.
- Use a hole saw to drill a 3-inch-diameter hole through bottom of the gutter. Attach an outlet fitting to the hole using sealant and rivets.
- Hold the L-shaped gutter assembly in place against the house fascia.
- Use a level as a straightedge to position the high end of the gutter. Be sure the front edge of the gutter doesn’t protrude above the roof plane.
- Slip a gutter-mounting bracket into the high-end of the gutter, then drive a screw through the bracket and fascia and into a rafter tail.
- Adjust the pitch of the gutter so that rainwater will drain down to where the downspout will be installed.
- Slip brackets into the gutter and drive the screws through the brackets and into the rafter tails. Place one bracket at each rafter tail.
- Place two elbows onto the upper end of a length of downspout, and secure them with short sheet-metal screws.
- Screw two aluminum wall brackets to the house corner boards.
- Slip the elbow on the upper end of the downspout over the outlet fitting protruding down from the gutter above.
- To hold the downspout in place, drive short sheet-metal screws through the wall brackets and into the downspout.
- Dig a shallow trench from the lower end of the downspout out away from the house. 17 Use PVC primer and cement to assemble a rainwater drainpipe made from 4-inch-diameter PVC pipe and assorted fittings.
- On one end of the drainpipe attach an elbow and rectangular downspout fitting. On the other end, glue on an elbow and drainage cap.
- Slip the bottom end of the downspout into the rectangular downspout fitting attached to the end of the PVC drainpipe.
- Lay the drainpipe in the trench, then backfill.