DIY Gutter Installation: What You Need to Know

A home is only as strong as its foundation is a well-known adage. It’s equally true that a home only stays dry with a good gutter system. Rain gutters are important for transporting rainwater and snowmelt off the roofline and away from the home’s foundation, where standing water can lead to erosion, mold, and wood rot. Professionally installed rain gutters can cost thousands of dollars; that’s why many homeowners opt for DIY gutter installation. Keep reading to learn how to attach gutters, the skills and tools required, and other important factors that can affect the difficulty of DIY gutters.

Assessing the Difficulty of DIY Gutter Installation

Homeowners can realize substantial cost savings with DIY gutter installation, but it’s not a job everyone can handle. DIY gutter installation requires familiarity with many different types of hand tools; experience working at height on ladders, precise measuring, and cutting gutter sections; and the ability to lift and hang long lengths of gutters. The difficulty of these tasks is compounded on homes with tall and complex rooflines and second-story residences.

Some of the tools required for DIY gutter installation include:

• One or more extension ladders
• Tape measure, chalk line and 4- or 6-foot level
• Caulking gun
• Tin snips, hacksaw, and miter saw with metal-cutting blade
• Cordless drill or impact driver

Protective gear such as safety glasses, gloves, and sturdy shoes is also highly recommended.

Planning and Preparation

A successful DIY gutter installation project requires careful and meticulous planning.

Choosing the Right Type and Style of Gutter

Knowing what type of gutter material you want to install is a good first step. Professional gutter companies often specialize in installing seamless aluminum gutters that are roll-formed on-site to the exact measurements of the roofline. Gutter fabrication is not really an option for homeowners, so you’ll have to purchase sectional gutters sold in pre-manufactured lengths and cut sections to fit as needed. The most popular choices for DIY gutter installation are aluminum and vinyl. Stainless steel gutters are heavy and difficult to work with, and copper gutters are extremely expensive and best left for professional gutter installers.

You’ll also have to choose a gutter style — K-style and half-round are the most common shapes. For a gutter replacement, you can simply match the existing style or match the style of neighboring homes. As a rough rule, K-style gutters are more appropriate on contemporary architectural styles, while half-round gutters are the best option for older homes.

Choosing the Right Size of Gutter

You’ll need to choose a gutter size. The most common sizes are 5-inch or 6-inch gutters. If it rains a lot where you live, go with the larger size to handle a greater amount of stormwater.

Measuring and Planning for Gutter Installation

Pulling accurate measurements of your roofline is crucial for ordering the proper amount of materials.

Gutters are always attached to the flat parts of the roof fascia — you don’t hang gutters on angled sections of the roofline. When it comes to taking measurements for ordering material, you can pull measurements standing on the ground. Hook one corner of the building with a tape measure and measure the span where the gutter will hang. If your tape measure won’t cover the entire distance, make a small mark at 25 or 30 feet with pencil or piece of chalk, reset, and resume measuring from this spot.

Add all your numbers to determine the rough linear feet of sectional gutters needed. Sectional gutters and downspouts are commonly sold in 10-foot lengths, and you’ll have 2” to 6” of overlap at each joint.  You’ll also have to measure for downspouts. As a rough rule, you’ll need a downspout every 30 to 40 feet, which usually places a downspout on each end of a longer section of gutter and at one end of shorter sections.

Don’t forget to include the required amount of end caps, drop outlets, and elbows for the downspouts, inside and outside corners, and fascia brackets to attach the gutters to the roofline.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide For DIY Gutters

Once you’ve purchased materials from a home improvement store and they are on site, you are ready to begin.

Step 1: Layout Gutters Sections on the Roof Fascia

You’ll start by laying out where each section of gutter will hang on the fascia board. Gutters don’t hang completely level but rather have a ¼” vertical drop for every 10 feet so there’s no standing water and it’s pushed to the downspouts. Snapping lines with a chalk line helps ensure gutters hang with adequate slope.

Step 2: Install Fascia Brackets

After your layout lines are snapped out, you’ll want to pre-install fascia brackets on every other rafter tail. You can identify rafter tails from the galvanized nails carpenters used to attach the fascia to the roof trusses or rafters. Skipping every other rafter leaves you with a 48” layout since rafters and trusses are spaced 24” apart. In areas with heavy rain and snow, add more fascia brackets to better secure your gutters to the roofline.

Step 3: Measure and Cut Gutters

Although you pulled rough numbers from the ground to order materials, you’ll have to use ladders to make precise measurements on the roof fascia to determine the exact length of each gutter section.

After pulling numbers, you’ll want to pre-assemble longer gutter sections on the ground, including all corners, drop outlets for downspouts and end caps.

How Much Do DIY Gutters Cost

Costs for DIY gutters depend on the type, style and size of the gutter, as well as by the total amount of gutter material you need.

• Aluminum gutters cost between $5–$10 per linear foot
• Vinyl gutters cost between $4–$7 per linear foot

Additional accessories for a complete gutter system are priced by the piece, which varies by distributor and type of material.

With DIY gutter installation, 1,000 linear feet of aluminum gutter could cost between $500–$1,000, with approximately another third of that number for additional accessories. Professional gutter installation, meanwhile, costs an average of $2,350.

Putting it all together

DIY gutter installation is a good way to save money versus professional gutter installation, but it’s a complicated job and may not be suitable for every homeowner. Planning and preparation, along with extensive familiarity with hand tools and working at heights, are essential to getting the job done right.

Frequently Asked Questions About DIY Gutter Installation