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Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
We’ve been having trouble with the gutter over the back steps since we moved in, which was more than three years ago now.
Twice already, Darwin has installed temporary fixes to delay the inevitable gutter replacement, but for the past few months whenever it rains, it pours - literally. Right out of the split seam of the rotting, rusting, green-tinged bottom of the gutter, right onto the brick steps.
This is a bad situation for many reasons:
1. You get dirty water dumped on your head when you try to enter or exit the house after any rainstorm.
2. The mortar is being pummeled out from between the bricks.
3. All the moisture is causing a layer of fuzzy green to grow on that side of the steps.
4. It’s a rotting, rusting, green-tinged piece of metal right over the main entrance - not pretty.
5. Water + foundation = very, very bad.
It’s to the point where this gutter could spell doom for our entire house if we don’t replace it. And with the warm, wet Alabama spring already well underway, it’s high time we did something about this mess. Trouble is, we’re being our usual indecisive selves - should we hire a company to come out? Will they even come for one little gutter? Should we hire a handyman? Should Darwin attempt to replace it himself? How does one even replace a gutter? Can one be bought? How much does it cost?
I need to do some research, but with what time? I’m already working essentially two full-time jobs, an issue which is about to come to a head. Maybe one day soon I will be able to concentrate again and finish up some projects around this hovel.
I’d replace it myself if I were you though I’m sure there is someone out there who’d be willing to do it for you - for a price.
Is the problem with the gutter that it’s broken or is it because of the amount of water running off the roof here? I only ask because of the that weird gutter-extender (?) projecting from the top of the existing one. If that is the issue, replacing the gutter might not be the fix you’re looking for.
I would definitely do this myself. Gutters are not too hard…especially if it’s a small one. I replaced some recently and I just screwed them into the fascia board with some drywall screws and then sealed it off with some sil. caulk…the work just fine. Just be careful up on that ladder!
Unfortunately gutters are one of the most underrated maintenance projects on a house. It takes very little effort to keep them cleaned out and leak free but left to themselves they can literally cost thousands of dollars in damage.
I would call a small roofing repair company to replace it.
I don’t think the falling-off-the-roof risk is worth a back injury for my husband, so we paid about $200 to have 50′ of gutter replaced on a different house.
Well worth having it done in an hour–and you know I’m cheap!
I’m not sure what’s up with that extra flashing above the gutter. I haven’t actually been on the roof to check it out, though Darwin has. The gutter is at the end of a channel between two steep sections of roof gable, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a LOT of water running right here.
The gutter had a split in the bottom when we moved in, and the previous owner gave us the number of a handyman who he’d pay to fix it. But the handyman was really busy and never got out to fix it. Darwin put a U-shaped piece of metal in the bottom to cover the crack, and that worked for a while. I can’t remember what his second fix was, but it’s clearly no longer working!
Delurking to say that gutters was one of the only projects that we hired that actually went from start to completion perfectly (I just typed seamless - har, har). We have a steep roof though and neither of us was willing to perch from it for the project.
Gutters are easy. Parts cam be bought at the HD or the big Lo’s for not much. You need a sharp hacksaw blade and some caulk. Be glad to help, since I got Darwin help me reset mine.
I had all the gutters replaced on our 3 story brick twin victorian last year and I hired a gutter specialist company they replaced all of the gutters which wrapped crazily around the peaks of our roof away from our foundation. It was well worth it. I also had seamless gutters installed which won’t split like the others. It cost $1000.00 bucks but was well worth the money spent. I also have a lifetime guaranty for the new gutter system. If it’s one piece you need to replace, you can purchase it at a home store and install it yourself with a little guidance from the staff or you can hire a handyman to purchase the section and install for you. If you have steep pitches in your roof (which I assume you do with a Victorian) I would recommend the pros to do it. Small job or not. Good luck!
I paid $600 not $1000 and we also had some fascia board replaced that had rotted out. Not a bad deal for about 1200 ft. of gutter on steep pitched roofing.
I had the same problem on my back gutter. Rather than repairing it now, I did a temporary fix with a tube of sealant that I got at Lowe’s…but I’m sure any home improvement place has it. you just load it in your caulk gun and squeeze a bunch over the crack in the bottom of the gutter, then smooth it out with your finger to make sure it gets into the crack. Mine’s been working good for 3 weeks now…but when the weather’s nicer and I have access to a big ladder, I will replace the whole thing.
Vinyl gutters are easy to install too. We did that on our garage 2 years ago and it took an hour. They have all sorts of pieces that just snap together. Just tell Darwin to look at it like it’s legos or something
We had our gutter replaced when the roof was redone. Yours doesn’t seem that high up. It shouldn’t be very costly for that and I like Meredith’s suggestion to use a small roofing company. Good luck!