- Hey guys, my name's Aaron Massey
from mrfixitdiy.com, and welcome back
to another episode of homeschool'd.
It's been an extremely wet winter here
in Southern California, and while that's great for a state
that's been battling a severe drought for a number of years,
it's not so great for a house without gutters.
So today, I'm gonna show you
how to install gutters on your house.
Gutters are an extremely important part of your house,
because they collect and divert rain water
away from your foundation.
Without gutters, the rain water falls directly down
along your foundation walls,
and can cause problems over time.
Eroding some of the soil,
or undermining the foundation entirely,
which can lead to failure.
And if that happens,
your talking tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
It can also lead to flooding of your basement,
or your crawlspace if you have one,
so adding gutters to your house
is a relatively inexpensive way to protect your investment.
I rate these projects by how many f-bombs you're likely
to drop while tackling the project.
This one is not to f(drilling) difficult,
but it does require a few tools you may need to buy
or borrow from a friend or family member
to help knock it out.
Step one is to measure the sections of roof you need
to install your gutters on and determine a rough layout.
Now if you were
to have your gutters installed professionally,
you would probably get a seamless gutter.
What that means is, one solid piece of gutter per section,
and the reason why that's beneficial
is because it's one solid piece.
And so there's not really weak points where water can drip
and leak and stuff like that.
The big box stores typically sell gutters
in aluminum and vinyl, and several different colors,
but only in 10 foot length.
So you're either gonna be stuck with prefab sections
of 10 foot lengths, and put your whole thing together,
or you're gonna have to get your gutters made.
But at that point, you might as well pay
to have somebody do it for you.
Depending on your rough layout, you'll likely need to buy
a combination of a bunch of different pieces including:
endcaps, inside and outside corners, downspout connections,
45 degree elbows, strapping, slip joints,
and downspout and gutter sections.
I recommend just buying more than you need of each thing,
and then returning any unused pieces when you're done.
It makes things a lot easier,
and you don't have to go through and count each piece.
When laying out your gutters, plan to install a downspout
around every 30 feet.
You can always check local codes as well to make sure
that you have adequate spacing.
Next, start to assemble your gutter
based on the measurements you took previously.
In this case, this section of gutter is just shy of 28 feet,
so I'll make it outta three pieces.
At each joint you'll need to connect
the two pieces of gutter.
Now, you can use these slip joint connectors,
where one piece of gutter slides into each end,
but I find it really difficult to make them watertight.
Even after adding a bunch of sealant in here,
and I also find that they become a really weak point
of the gutter because they don't overlap.
What I choose to do instead is to actually just cut back
a few inches on the front lip of the gutter,
and then slide the other piece inside,
in the direction that I need the water to shed.
So the piece that you cut, is always the outside
of the two pieces you're joining together.
To secure them together,
make sure to put a nice thick bead of sealant.
I'm using this DAP clear sealant,
which is specifically made for this application,
but you can also use silicone if you choose to.
And then you can use multiple ways to fasten them together.
If you have a rivet gun, this is the perfect time to use it.
Predrill a hole, and then place the rivets in.
And then tighten 'em and snap 'em on.
If you don't have a rivet gun,
you can also buy gutter screws
to secure the pieces together.
I find two screws or rivets on each side,
on the top of the gutter,
work well for holding everything together.
I find it gives the gutter a lot more strength this way,
and because it overlaps, you have a watertight seal.
To cut the gutter to length, I use a speed square
to mark out my cut line.
And then I like to use a thin, metal, cut off wheel
on my angle grinder to make a nice, clean cut.
I find this is way easier than using metal snips
or a hacksaw, and it gives me a cleaner cut.
At the ends of the gutters, you'll need to install
your gutter caps.
They come in left and right ends, and to install them
you just add a nice bead of sealant on them,
and then slide them on the end.
Now, I'm using a crimping tool to hold these caps in place.
This tool puts a little divot on one side of the metal,
and presses it into the other piece
to create a really tight hold.
Now if you don't have one of these,
which I'm assuming many of you don't,
you can just predrill and use the same gutter screws
or rivets to hold it in place.
Finally to install the downspout connections,
you have a few options.
They sell these prefab downspout pieces you can use.
To attach them, you flip the piece upside down
to lock the metal lips together,
and then spin it down into place.
The same thing applies to attaching it as the other pieces.
Make sure you add a lot of sealant, and then use screws
or rivets to hold it in place.
Another option for downspouts, and the option that I prefer,
are these downspout inserts.
These can be placed anywhere along the gutter length.
And to install them, just trace them out,
and then cut the piece out.
I prefer to start with a hole saw,
and then snip out the rest to get a nice fit.
Add some sealant all the way around it before installing
this in place as well.
Now that the gutter is complete,
I like to loosely space out the hangers for the gutter.
These hangers slip under the front lip
and then slide over the back of the gutter,
so trying to get them to go under the front lip
once on the house can be very difficult
with the roof and the drip edge in the way.
So I like to do it on the ground,
before I actually lift the gutter in place.
The other thing to consider,
is you don't wanna hang the gutter to high.
I like to use a level on the roof
to extend the roof edge out.
The front of the gutter on the high side
should start just below that level,
and slope towards the downspout from there.
One thing you can do to help you install your gutter
is to set a nail and then use a string level
and a chalk line to make sure
that you have a nice clean line to follow,
so when you go to install the gutter
you can just follow that line.
Or you can also start at one end, and use a four foot level
as you go to make sure that you keep the slope
that you need.
You want your gutter to shed in the direction
of your downspout, and the rule of thumb
is to have it drop about a half inch
for every 10 feet of gutter length.
The idea is that you just need to maintain adequate slope,
so that the water sheds towards your downspout.
To secure the gutter to the fascia,
I slide the gutter hangers in place
to line up with the rafter tails of the house
and then screw them down.
I always like to test the function of the gutter system
with a hose to make sure everything is water tight,
and there are no leaks before wrapping it up.
Lastly, it's time to install the downspout.
Typically, you'll use a combination of elbows
to bring the downspout back towards the exterior wall
of the house, and then secure a length of downspout
down the side of the house with some strapping.
At this point, you could also add
a rain barrel collection system, if you choose to,
which I've added in some areas of the house.
Or you can just make sure that the water sheds down
away from your foundation.
And that is it.
You are done with this project.
That's it for this episode of homescool'd.
I hope you guys enjoyed it,
and I hope you learned something.
Installing gutters can take a little bit of time,
but once you get the hang of it,
it's a project you can relatively easily tackle
on your own and hopefully save yourself some money.
If you guys did like this episode,
please hit that like button, and leave a comment down below.
And let me know.
Also, if you wanna check out more of my home improvement
or DIY project videos, I'll post links to those right here.
Or you can always follow all of my content on my website
at mrfixitdiy.com.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I'll see ya next time.
(energetic music)