"peter p." wrote in message
news

Here's my story of gutter woe.

I have a small-ish Cape Cod style house with an extension built
on the back of it. Whoever built the extension didn't do a good
job and so there is no soffit overhang, just a straight wall
leading up to the roof.

Originally there was a gutter lining the side of this extension,
leading rainwater away. Ice dams combined with the need for a new
roof took away this original gutter. When the roofer put the new
roof on, he installed a drip edge, so now at least the water
doesn't trickle down the siding.

However, there are two windows on this wall. The drip edge is not
long enough to extend past these windows, so water collects on
the upper edge of them. With one window in particular, water was
entering the house through the window and damaging the plaster
inside.

I went to the home supply store and bought a couple of pieces of
aluminum rain gutter, and took a day to install everything. It
all went well and was reasonably inexpensive except for one
thing: I could only buy 10-foot lengths. Now, the spot on the
gutter where I joined the two 10-foot lengths happened to be
right above the problematic window. And, wouldn't you know it, no
matter what kinds of sealants I used, I couldn't get the joint to
stop leaking. Water would continue to seep out of the joint and
onto the window and into the house. I did some research, talked
to some contractors, and it turns out that it's somewhat common
knowledge that because of expansion and contraction of the two
pieces of metal, these sorts of joints typically DO begin to leak
at some point or another.

For various reasons, among them being the leakage, I took the
gutter down.

Now I am considering two alternatives:

1. hiring a pro to do it. Apparently they can get aluminum
gutters in long enough sections so that they can put one up
without the need for a joint that can possibly leak. This option
is expensive. I got a couple of quotes and they want $360 to
install what basically is a 20-foot section of gutter.

2. Installing a PVC gutter myself, as opposed to aluminum. I
liked this idea because I can do it for maybe $30 tops. Having
worked with PVC pipe, I know how well PVC cement can weld two
pieces of plastic together. However, I just read online that PVC
is also conducive to expansion and contraction and thus to
leakage at joints. So now I am not sure that is the better route
to take.

Any advice?

Take the exact measurement you need to a seamless gutter company and ask
them to roll out a piece for you. I'd be suprised if the cost exceeded
50.00. Bring a long 2x4 with you to give the piece some rigidity when you
cartop it home.