Best Way to Hang Gutters

Learn the best way to hang gutters. Find out about a special lag bolt designed for gutters that allows you to take the gutters off when you have your roof replaced.

LESLIE: If you’re in Chicago you can find The Money Pit on WYLL, just like Naomi does. What’s going on at your house?

NAOMI: Hi. Thank you. During the early part of the year our old Chicago bungalow, which had sheet metal gutters, ice and snow melted and froze in the gutters and then, at one point, the gutter fell to the ground …

TOM: (chuckling) Oh, no.

NAOMI: … and the other part was still up there. My problem is I want to, you know, replace the gutters – the sheet metal gutters – by having a workman or two come and sodder it back together. Can I do that? I can’t find them in the telephone book.

TOM: I think, Naomi, this is a job for a gutter repair company …

NAOMI: Uh-huh.

TOM: … that perhaps is accustomed to working with these. I think that you may be hard pressed to find someone that knows how to sodder but they may be able to do a mechanical connection.

LESLIE: Are you interested in keeping the sheet metal ones because of a historical aspect? Because it might be more cost effective just to get completely new gutters.

TOM: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking as well.

LESLIE: Well, I don’t want to replace the roof at this time and I think it would be difficult to replace the roof after getting new gutters put up, so …

TOM: Why do you have to replace the roof to – why does it – why does that …

NAOMI: No, I just meant when I am ready to, in a few years.

LESLIE: But you don’t have to touch the roof to put new gutters up.

NAOMI: Oh no, I know that. My thought is if I put up the new gutters then the roofing will be difficult for the men without damaging the new aluminum gutters.

TOM: Well, not necessarily. And I would suggest this to you, Naomi. You can put the gutters up with – instead of using gutter nails, they can use lag bolts. There’s a very long bolt that’s specially designed for gutters. It usually has a Phillips head and it has like a lag screw on it. So you can physically remove the gutters when it comes time to replace the roof without worrying about damaging them.

NAOMI: Oh, is that right?

TOM: Yeah. So why don’t you think about doing that because, you know, repairing gutters is usually not something that’s cost effective. For the cost of getting somebody there to do that work you could probably replace them completely.

Naomi, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.