Anyone do their own gutters?

[dmalbone]

Well... guess gutters were just something we never thought about lol! Had a ton of rain here the past few days and now there are 2' deep holes around the posts. I was looking at Lowes and the actual gutters and "stuff" don't seem expensive so at least it didn't send me into a panic. :) But... we've never put gutters up. The fathers are pretty handy and we think they've done some gutter work and would be able to help us, but I don't want to count on NEEDING them to do the entire barn. Anyone? I've seen it both ways, but would you do a dk. gray to match the color of my roof if I can find those (and assuming they cost more) or just plain contrasting white (which both our doors are and the dutch doors will have white on them also. pics in blog below.

[subk]

Because the surface area of our barn roof is so big we decided that no gutter was going to be big enough to contain the runoff or large enough to catch the water at the speed it comes off the angle of the roof. We put in french drains at the drip line and they are wonderful.

[ThirdCharm]

Did my own gutters on the side of the barn by the ring, been planning on doing the side away from the ring.... About $200 in materials from Lowe's, half the day to install, and three years later the joints keep popping apart despite being installed EXACTLY as per the instructions regarding expansion room etc. And my father-in-law just had one-piece aluminum gutters done on BOTH SIDES of his house (which is the same length as my barn, but with 5x the downspouts) for _$500_ and it took about two hours. I looked at my husband and said "the heck with DIY, we're having that guy do the whole barn".

Jennifer

[nightsong]

In addition to (or instead of) gutters, you may want to put something that rain won't wash away, like gravel, at the points where water drains. Keeps area from being MUDDY, also.

[JanM]

Considering the skill it takes to properly do gutters that drain well, and the speed the commercial guys work at I would hire someone. It will take half a day and be done. Plus you can get wider gutters than the house ones-the ones at work on our building are very wide and handle the Alabama thunderstorms very easily. You'll get your best deal going to an independent gutter person instead of a big company.

[SLW]

They just finished our barn yesterday and we will have a local guy put up the gutters. We did the gutters on our old barn- a 36' long building- that had a low enough roof line we could reach the roof edge with a 10' step ladder. Not the case with the new barn- 60' long with a 14' high roof edge.

As Thirdcharm & JanM pointed out, dollar for dollar, it is one of those details that is often cost effective to farm out. Good luck.

[MistyBlue]

I did kind of a dry well all around my foundation...about 3' all aroound the exterior of my foundation was backfilled with medium stone and topped with crushed. Water coming off my roof sheets into this, the lowest corner has a drain path away from the barn. In front of the barn door is a 5' deep, 8x8' dry well so I can dump buckets right outside the barn door.
It's a pretty convenient system, but not sure about putting something similar in after the building is up.
I may do gutters on the front eventually or at least a rain barrier...because if it's raining I get soaked walking in and out of the barn door.
When you do gutters, consider the gutter guards so you never have to get up there and clean the gutters out. Cleaning gutters is my *least* favorite job on the property, I hate heights and ladders and avoid both as much as possible.

[Tom King]

If you do your own gutters there is a special caulking availble for just that purpose. It keeps the joints leak free but I don't think anything else will work. I use gutters but haven't used a downspout on anything around here. I just leave an open end on the low end. Most stuff just flushes out the end but every 4 or 5 years I have to blast them out. At the house, I moved a granite boulder under the downspout that has an angled top so the water splashes away from the house and doesn't dig a hole. Gutters are easy to clean with an attachment for the pressure washer but downspouts are a pain.

[shakeytails]

I think it's best to pay somebody to do it. It's not worth the aggravation, and seamless gutters can't come apart.

I have one piece gutters on my barn (84') with downspouts on each end attaching to pipe underground that empties into my pond. That pipe is laid in a bed of gravel so it also catches some groundwater.

[Obi]

not sure if you want to go this route but my dad used pvc piping (cut in half) to save money. They look great (believe it or not). He had two down spouts that drain into two separate 100 gallon water tubs, which have a drain holes with an attached hose drilled into the side to direct the overflow. It has helped the mud that used to be all around my barn. The pvc gutters cost about $60 total, and they do not leak, have been up for over 2 years!

[MistyBlue]

Tom, try a leafblower to clean the downspouts. It's worked for me even when the downspouts were jammed with twigs and acorns and beechnuts.

I remove the angled bottom and then I stick the end of the backpack leafblower in the downspout. I then used vet wrap to "seal" the opening around the neck of the leafblower. Turned leafblower, used it on high and within 30 seconds everything exploded out of the top. :eek: :D

However, do wear a hat or helmet. :winkgrin: I hate heights so wouldn't try it from the roof down myself, and there was an issue with everything blowing out of the top and scattering back over the roof again...and on my head...but the downspouts stayed clear for another year or so after that. :yes:

Redneck Remedy #234. :cool: :lol:


Ooo, never thought of using a pressure washer for gutter cleaning. Didn't know they had gutter cleaning attachments. I bought the gutter cleaning attachment bendy pipe thing (not the actual brand name) for the garden hose...the attachment part supposedly had a pressure tip to give more pressure but all it did was get the gunk in my gutters wet. *sigh* Waste of money.

[Tom King]

http://www2.northerntool.com/pressure-washers/accessories/item-1573211.htm

That on top of a telescopic wand will do the trick. It blasts everything out away from you if you use a long enough wand and direct it at a bit of any angle. I have telescopic wands that go up to 24' but it takes real arms and back to hold it.

I just don't like downspouts anyway and since everything we have has a big overhang, just the open ended gutter works fine. At the barn I let the water dig a hole and then filled it with fairly large round river rock. The horses avoid stepping on it so it works fine. It's been there for 28 years and I don't think I've ever cleaned that gutter. The one on the house is under some large hardwood trees, so it does need blasting out every few years.

I always put the gutters up as part of finishing the side of a building while I have scaffolding set up. People used to think the houses I built looked funny while they were under construction because I would completely finish one side before moving to the next one after the framing was up. I always used the 10 or 20 foot sections of gutter and never had to replace one or repair a leak.

[Wanderluster]

Boy timely thread, thanks for starting it. I plan to tie in some rain gutters in the outside pipe stalls to the existing drains. The winter is supposed to be wet, does anyone have a good waterproofing material for use on metal shelters ?

[ReSomething]

. . . . .. And my father-in-law just had one-piece aluminum gutters done on BOTH SIDES of his house (which is the same length as my barn, but with 5x the downspouts) for _$500_ and it took about two hours. I looked at my husband and said "the heck with DIY, we're having that guy do the whole barn".

Jennifer

Basically exactly what the DH did with the old house. (after fighting it out with the carport/storage gutters)

[Drive NJ]

If you DO put up gutters and leaders, make sure you use the commercial ones - even on a house. From what the handy-guy in the paper AND everyone else I've talked to says, you won't need to put up the leaf guard or blast them out or clean them because they are big enough they flow so much more freely, they just flow through without clogging.

We just put them on our little ranch house and they look fine. Cost a bit more, but worth it.

[Frank B]

Go with the seamless rolled-on-the-spot commercially-installed gutters! And get BIG ones! Also make sure they route the water WAY away from the house once it leaves the downspouts.

[Wanderluster]

How can I seal leaks in metal roofs ? Is there a roll on roof sealant that works ?