One of my home improvement projects this summer is to paint my house and while I’m doing that I figured I would also replace the old aluminum gutters that I currently have installed on my home. Gutters are an essential part of most roofing systems because they collect all the rain that hits the wide area of a home’s roof and directs the water away from the foundation of a home. I’m probably going to replace the gutters myself, but I’ve been trying to decided whether I should use aluminum gutters or vinyl gutters.
The gutters I have now are seamless aluminum gutters which are probably 10 years old or more. They are still holding up, but they are dented and bent in a number of places, the downspouts are prone to falling apart and they are held up with those lousy aluminum nails that regularly “slip” out of the wood fascia. About twice a season I now have to go up to bang in the existing gutter nails and to try to knock out any sagging or bends which may have occurred from the rain. Most of my gutters also don’t have any gutter toppers at the moment because they are bent so much that none of the gutters adequately fit.
So now I’m faced with the prospect of installing my own gutters. It isn’t an awful job, but it will take a fair amount of time and planning because even though my home is a ranch some of my gutters are still a good 15 feet off the ground and will require a lot of ladder work. Copper gutters sound wonderful, but they’re too “fancy” for my home in it’s current state and steel gutters seem to have some rust issues and aren’t as readily available to me at the moment. This means I’m faced with two options: putting up my own aluminum gutters or putting up my own vinyl gutters.
Differences Between Vinyl and Aluminum Gutters
| Vinyl Gutters | Aluminum Gutters | |
| Installation | Easy for DIY handyman to install. Easy to cut and the pieces snap and/or glue together for the most part. Several different bracket options are available. |
Can be installed by a do-it-yourselfer, though sometimes a little more difficult than snap and go. Several different bracket options are available. |
| Seams | Will have seams about every 10 feet with a visible vinyl connector or sleeve. | Will have seams if you install yourself. Seamless aluminum is available, but they’re generally only installed by professional contractors with the right fabricating tools. |
| Weight | Lightweight and easy to lift and slide around in brackets while installing. | Slightly heavier than vinyl but still fairly light depending upon thickness and size of the gutter piece. |
| Durability | Sometimes bends under heavy rain and loads, will sometimes turn brittle and crack in environments with excessive heat, cold and sun. Expands in heat. | Fairly study in all weather, but prone to dents and dings. Expands and contracts much less than vinyl. |
| Look and Colors | Mostly available in white and brown at retail stores. Vinyl gutters can be painted, but you may want to use paint formulated for plastic or vinyl. Some people report vinyl gutters turning yellow in high sun or heavily polluted areas. | Available in a variety of custom colors, but those colors generally have to be custom-ordered. You can paint aluminum gutters without too much difficulty. |
| Maintenance | Very little, other than the typical cleaning and removing debris. There are a variety of gutter toppers available. If they crack or break you can try glue and sealant, but you’ll probably have to replace them. | Very little, other than the usual gutter cleaning and debris removal. Dents and dings can be ignored or hammered out, though they can rarely be hammered back to new condition. |
| Cost | Relatively inexpensive, with prices ranging from 60 to 90 cents per foot without considering mounting brackets. Brackets and other connecting pieces can bring the price up to several dollars per foot. | Inexpensive with prices ranging from 70 cents to a dollar per foot without mounting hardware. Brackets and connecting pieces are cheaper than vinyl pieces used for the same purpose. |
Of course, the third option is to simply have a professional put install seamless aluminum gutters, which might end up being only marginally more expensive than buying all the gutter parts and accessories at a retail home improvement store and having a professional do the work would eliminate the need for me to spend a weekend on a ladder. I’m not afraid of heights, but I know that working on ladders and roofs is one of the more common places to have a home improvement accident.
The extra money might be worth the convenience and peace of mind of having all my old gutters torn down and having all new gutters put up by a professional.
Update: In the end I decided to install my own vinyl gutters and it wasn’t really all that bad. It took some time and some planning, but overall the job was very do-able and affordable.
If you’re going to install gutters I think it is worth it to consider a gutter cover or gutter guard. It is less of a hassle to just do it at once. Here is some more info on gutter guards: http://gutterhelmet.com/gutter-guards.cfm and you could google “gutter guards” and find some good sites too. Thanks!
What is the purpose of a ‘Do It Yourself’ article if at the end it just says to hire a professional? Kinda defeats the purpose of doing it yourself. Especially if it’s not a large job and hiring a pro is a lot more expensive.
Mario:
Here’s why I included the “hire a pro” option… Most people, like yourself, make the assumption that a pro is going to be much, much more expensive than doing it yourself. Also, many “do-it-yourself” guys and gals (myself included) sometimes get so caught up in “doing it” themselves that they forget that a pro could actually be a much better, and ultimately cheaper option….
Take, for instance, gutters. I had four professionals give me quotes on seamless aluminum gutters for my house about a year ago. The estimates all ranged from $400 – $600 and the job would be completed in about 4 to 5 hours.
I haven’t written this up yet, but I actually chose to skip the aluminum gutters and I chose to install my own vinyl gutters. In the end I spent about $350 on materials (including a few pieces I broke or screwed up). That’s pretty good savings, but that doesn’t factor in the 12+ hours I spent doing it (made a few mistakes, had to figure out how to do a few things and I didn’t have any help). I didn’t need any specialized tools, but on many jobs and projects you often do need to buy new tools (that’s often part of the fun!)
Let’s say I have a job where I can work an extra day and make $20/hour. For those 12 hours I spent mucking around on a roof and ladder in the hot sun I could have worked my job and made about $240.
$240 + $350 = $590. Which is just about the same thing it would have cost me if I hired a pro in the first place :-)
I also have to remind myself that I’m not a pro at everything and sometimes it’s quicker, easier, and even cheaper to have someone else do it. I wanted to present all the options. Often, deciding to do home improvement project yourself is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in the entire project.
I don’t like “one size fits all” solutions because in the real world there are no definite answers. Some people might find that doing their own gutters is a snap and totally worth the time spent. Some people might read this article and figure that it’s easier (and safer) to have someone else replace their gutters. Me? I just want to present the options…
Vinyl and aluminum are great for the weight and for self installs. However, my preference is copper gutters for its great looks and class. Oh yeah it’s pretty weird to have a DIY article that calls for a professional.
I bought my house about 2 years ago and the previous owner had put vinyl gutters on. They are pretty and clean up very nicely but our first winter ice would form and cracked all of them. They are horrible and am currently getting quotes to have them replaced with aluminum.
Thanks so much for this information. I’m trying to make the same decision and this article including the comments will be very helpful.
I was about to go with the vinyl but after hearing about the ice I’m a little worried. I’m a do-it-yourself type of person but may talk with a professional on this one.
Like most people, the main reason I choose to do a home improvement myself instead of hiring a pro is to save a significant amount of money. If the savings are not that much then I would definitely consider hiring a pro so I appreciate the pricing info you provided comparing the two.
I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with the ice comment. We’ve had some absolutely awful winters here in New Jersey for the past three years (since I put up the vinyl gutters) and at several times each winter I had my gutters completely, 100% filled with ice to the point where I was actually afraid the gutters would fall because they were looked so heavy. At one point I had a four-foot long icicle flowing over and down from the vinyl gutters over my garage.
After the thaw my vinyl gutters look absolutely great. My neighbor behind me who has all aluminum gutters had to replace his after one particularly icy winter. Here’s why:
Ice expands.
Vinyl will hold it’s shape after it’s been stretch by ice for a long period of time. Aluminum actually BENDS out shape and needs to be replaced.
Try this: Take a hammer and give a moderate hit to a vinyl gutter. Do the same with an aluminum gutter. I guarantee you’ll never get that aluminum gutter to look perfect again. Don’t want to use a hammer? Fine, use your hand and bend a vinyl gutter in and hold it there for 10 seconds. Let go and it will expand back out. Aluminum gutters will stay bent.
I have no idea why vinyl gutters would crack. My guess is that they were not true “vinyl” gutters at all, but cheap plastic.
Installing my own gutters was a long day but it wasn’t difficult. That was three years ago and my vinyl gutters are still just as white (no yellowing) and just as flexible (no cracks) as they were the day I put them up. I know this because I saved some left over pieces and stored them in my cool, dark basement. Every so often I take a little piece out and compare the whiteness and I have yet to see any sort of color or flexibility change.
If you’re going to install your own gutters, vinyl or aluminum, you are going to save money on the labor. I found that if you shop at the big box hardware stores for supplies then your costs between the two gutter types are minimal, depending on your gutter style and home’s design.
Good luck, let us know what you decide!