I always have a lot respect for a person that can do anything themselves with a little guidance! These days, taking home repairs into your own hands can not only be fulfilling, but you can also save thousands of dollars in some cases. I don’t know about you, but at my house, that money can always go to something else!
Gutters are honestly not that hard to do, with respect to they are a bit hard to handle in some cases. Going up ladders with a long piece of gutter is not always easy although the gutters themselves are not heavy, even up to around 80 feet being that they are only around half a pound per foot of gutter. A gutter 80 feet long would be around 40 pounds unless you have the clips inside the gutter already. You would add weight for the clips.
You would need to consider that most gutters are 10 to 30 feet off the ground, so you would need the proper ladders to be safe at that height. You will also need various other tools, a drill with a (6 inch long 1/4 inch driver) that will reach across diameter of gutter, a level, tape measure, tin snips, a square with a marker, to cut inside and outside miters, a caulk gun, along with a hole drill to make a hole for the downspout.
Take into consideration: If you have long runs of gutter over say, ten feet, You will more than likely need a person with a seamless gutter machine to come to your home. You will have a hard time finding anything over ten feet in your basic supply store. You can however attach two pieces together for a DIY job. You will just have extra seems than normal, if the job were done with a machine on site.
Is Doing It Yourself Worth the Cost Savings?
It really depends on several factors.
- Job Size. In my estimate, you can save on average around 2 dollars a foot by doing it yourself, so at two dollars a foot savings, the bigger the job the better.
- Tools Available. Do you have the tools needed to do the job? If you do not have the tools, unless you plan to use the tools for other projects, you may not come out so well.
- Color of Material. At the local supply store, they will probably only carry white, where as a professional service would have lots of choices.
- Limited Length of Gutter. Most supply stores that carry gutter supplies are limited to shorter lengths of gutter. If you have any runs over 10 feet, you would have to attach several 10 foot runs to make the length long enough. This will make extra seams that will leak eventually.
- Supply Cost. You may use up your up front two dollar a foot savings if the supply houses prices are too high.
ALSO READ: Gutter Cleaning and Maintenance – The Dos and Don’ts
To Sum This Up With My Expert Opinion….
Get three bids from professionals, compare to what you can do same job for using parts from your local supply house. You may find that it is just better to get a professional and just watch from the sidelines on this one.
Now that being said, a lot of companies will not take jobs under 1,000 dollars. In this case, yes it would be better for you to tackle the job. Also, if the job has lots of short runs under ten foot, and if you can find the supplies needed for around $3 to $3.50 a foot.
In most cases you can find a quality company to do complete systems for around $7.50 per foot around the top, and the downspouts. You may want to add accessories, like covers, or splash blocks. Each company and job are different as to how they charge. The area of the country you are in may have an influence on the price also.
If you happen to decide to go ahead and DIY, my hat is off to you! I am always around if you have any questions that you need help with on this issue. Please by all means, shoot over any questions, and I will do what I can in order to answer.
John Weems
AmeraPinallc@gmail.com
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