After getting the fascia rot issues sorted in January 2018, we were all set to put gutters on the house–something that hadn’t been done since it was built. Instead of gutters, we had strips in front of the sliding doors to keep rain from pouring down in front of them, and small drains on the south side of the house. That was it. This meant that in winter, when it rains an inch or so in one go, we would end up with a small pond outside the front door. While we don’t use our front door that often, it was still rather annoying. Also, all that water meant the crawlspace under the house would get somewhat damp.
Enter the guys from Commercial Gutter. After the long wait for me to get the dry rot issues sorted, they arrived and got to work. They made all the gutters with the machine (first pic) that molds the aluminum to the shape and specific lengths needed.
Some of the lengths weren’t so long, but a few were rather epic. Below are pics of the same gutter from different angles.
Then there was getting the gutters to where they needed to be. While they were fairly light, they weren’t actually incredibly portable. The guys handling the install had to take a creative approach to getting the really long ones around to the back of the house. The last shot below was taken from my office–you can see the guys took the completed gutter off its supports and walked through the garden to get it safely around to the back of the house.
We’re quite happy with the upgrade, as it’s helped keep water away from the house during our very wet winters.
Below are before and after shots of the south end of the house. We got flexible plastic hosing to see us through the winter instead of big downspout extensions. This gets the water away from the house, and the reason we went with such a cheap option is that we will start work this spring on re-landscaping most of the garden areas, but not the new north garden just outside my office. As part of that project, we’ll set up a rainwater collection system or three. Getting gutters on the house was the first step of that very mega-project.
One problem we discovered after the gutters were in place is that really tall people often smack their heads on the downspouts. I found a simple solution to help with that problem: some pretty little garden spinners. We only needed two of them as only the south side’s downspouts were an issue.
This is our second winter with gutters and they have really made a difference. They have taken some getting used to though, especially the one on the northeast corner of the house. My office desk sits just a few feet away from it and I’ve had to accustom myself to the sounds of water falling through it and the occasional drips that echo when things are drying off.
One last note: we were smart and went with Commercial Gutter’s gutter guards. They’re these nice fine mesh screens that are attached to the tops of the gutters and keep leaves and pine needles out. They’re so awesome that we had the gutters on the garage replaced during this project so that it could have guards as well.