On 4/28/2011 10:29 PM, mm wrote:
On Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:29:53 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Greetings everyone,

I am hoping to get a second opinion from gurus out there. I just
replaced my gutters. My old gutters were held in by 'spikes'. That's
what the contractor called them.

That's what I call them too. That's what my friend Spike calls them.

Just to clarify these spikes are
basically big long steel nails that pass through a collar. My new
gutters were installed with these 'hangers' and screws. He told me
that spikes were the old way of doing things and that the hangers were
better. Is this true?
My concern is snow. Despite the problems of my old gutters those
spikes held up well against the weight of snow. Those 'bigger' spikes
make me feel better than these little screws, which look like 3
inches.

Don't the screws point down, into the plywood roof? So that the snow
weight is perpendicular to the line of the screw? Maybe I'm confused
about this.

He told me the hangers will hold. This is what I like to
ask. Will the hangers and those smaller screws do as good as a job
holding up against the weight of snow as the spikes?
Thank you

On the south side of my house, my spikes lasted 20+ years but then I
had to replace them with gutter screws, just a little bigger than the
spikes, because of the screw threads. Go into the same holes.



Depends on the brackets they use. Around here, gutters go up after
shingles, so nobody is real keen on prying up the bottom course of
shingles to nail things. Brackets screw to fascia board. Lifespan and
grip of screws versus spikes has many variables- species and condition
of wood used for rafters and fascia board, weather anomalies,
diameter/length/surface of screws or spikes, proper installation, etc.
I've seen old spiked gutters last 50 years before they let go, and
installs on old houses into mushy wood that fell down in a year.

--
aem sends...