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New gutters for an old house
comments (1) June 23rd, 2008 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
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As I fixed up and added on to my house over the years, I installed half-round plastic gutters from a company called Plastmo. They mimicked the look of traditional gutters. They were available at the local lumberyard, and they were easy to install myself. (You cut them with a saw and join them with PVC cement, just as you do with drainpipes.) But somehow, I never really liked having plastic gutters on my house.
I think of myself as a traditionalist (the less generous among my acquaintances use terms like old-fashioned, Luddite, and dinosaur). I prefer natural, authentic materials. The original part of my house was built in 1791, and while my work on this place by no means qualifies as a restoration, I have tried to return the house to something approaching its original look. I pulled off the 8-in. aluminum siding and tore down the clunky front porch. I’ve also tried to keep the additions sympathetic and subservient to the original Cape. (The latter, by the way, isn’t easy when the original building is only about 700 sq. ft.)
So last year when I took down the plastic gutters to have my house painted, I never put them back up. It was time for new gutters, and of course, I lusted after copper, which you see a lot of in this part of Connecticut.
Unfortunately, copper prices have more than tripled since 2000 and have gone up something like 30% so far this year. And while it’s probably not technically accurate to say that I couldn’t afford copper gutters, it’s certainly true that I was not willing to afford them. I ruled out wood (believe it or not, you can still buy wooden gutters in lumberyards around Connecticut). I ruled out K-style aluminum, but was considering half-round aluminum when someone said, “What about galvanized gutters?” I didn’t even know you could still get galvanized gutters. Turns out you can.
I found a company in Thomaston, Conn., that was happy to install 5-in. half-round gutters on my house. Actually, the company was recommended by a local builder. I would not likely have found them on my own because the traditionalist in me would not have believed I could get galvanized gutters from a company call All Around Seamless Gutters, LLC. Lee Turner, one of the owners, came out on a Sunday to estimate the job, and I began to relax as soon as he said he would be installing the gutters himself. He gave me a price of just over $3000, and I told him to have at it.
Lee and his brother got all the gutters installed the first day; then he came back the next day to install the downspouts. I was more than happy with the price (and with the workmanship), but if the price seems high to any of you, it’s because I complicated the job in two ways. First, I asked for mitered returns at all the corners. It’s an idea I got from an article Scott McBride wrote years ago: To mimic the look of a traditional cornice return, you simply return the gutters. The other complication was that I couldn’t resist just a little copper, so I asked Lee to install a copper gutter and downspout on the front of the original house. The profiles, the brackets, and the downspouts of the copper exactly match those of the galvanized. And to my eye, that little bit of copper looks just right—the perfect way to honor a house that has been around since George Washington was president.
P.S. 1791 is also the year Samuel Briggs and his son patented the first nail-making machine.
posted in: Blogs
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About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
Comments (1)
Posted: 8:38 am on December 31st
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