Rain Gutters - Cost For Stainless Steel

[craigt3365]

I had gutters installed a few years ago. I'm guessing aluminum was used as it's starting to crack in places. I had a guy over today and he quoted 1,500B per meter for SS. This is for a gutter that is between my house and our patio. The patio was added later, so the gutter had to be large to handle all the rain off the house along with the new patio. It's quite deep and about twice the width of a normal gutter...maybe more.

I think SS would last longer. Having it leak is not an option as we've got furniture and some appliances in the covered patio.

Just doing a sanity check here. I appreciate your help.

[NeverSure]

I've never seen aluminum gutters crack. Could it be fiberglass or vinyl? Of course if aluminum gutters were large and held a lot of weight and weren't supported well often enough I "suppose" they could crack.

Sorry I don't know about stainless cost. It isn't crack proof though. It won't bend as easily as aluminum, but it will crack first because it's harder.

I restore antique bicycles. I've sure seen solid stainless fenders crack.

[craigt3365]

They are not fiberglass or vinyl. Must be aluminum. They were fairly cheap to install.

They are quite large...and channel a large amount of water. I'm sure at peak times they will overflow, but we just had a small rain and we had a leak in them. The guy who just inspected them said they had some small cracks.

Not sure what to do. Repair these or get new ones!! They are only 3 years old.

[rgs2001uk]

Bog standard SS guttering is about 1,000 per linear meter here in Bkk, so if your guttering is a larger size 1,500 may well be correct.

If it were me I would buy a tube of silicone sealant and DIY.

[wayned]

Built my house 12 years ago, used galvanized steel gitters. Still in place with no leaks!

[HullyGully]

You can now buy UPVC guttering and down pipes ( white in colour) in Home Market

The gutter size is around 6in wide with 3in down pipes

[trogers]

A common mistake made even by architects - large gutters and small downpipes.

We must always remember, gutters need only to keep enough water to lead rainwater into downpipes. Gutters are not sized to store water.

You should have many small diameter (min. 4-inch downpipes), or a few large ones (eg. 6-inch dia).

I prefer using HDPE gutters, esp against acid rain.

Edited February 18, 2013 by trogers

[LennyW]

They are not fiberglass or vinyl. Must be aluminum. They were fairly cheap to install.

They are quite large...and channel a large amount of water. I'm sure at peak times they will overflow, but we just had a small rain and we had a leak in them. The guy who just inspected them said they had some small cracks.

Not sure what to do. Repair these or get new ones!! They are only 3 years old.

1500 for oversize SS seems reasonable.

I doubt if your original gutters were aluminium, more likely galvanized tin which is the norm. After a period of time they tend to leak at the joints which are soldered, an easy fix with silicone from the inside.

[craigt3365]

It's a pretty large area that's being supported by these gutters. I attached a drawing that gives you an idea. It's in a "Z" shape and you can see where the gutter is between the house and the new patio.

There are 4 4" downspouts. One on each end and 2 in the middle. I know one leak is due to a crack as we had a "medium" rain shower yesterday and it leaked. One end seems to overflow around one downspout, so could be just too much water. I attached a few pics of the inside of the patio showing the downspouts. The pic 8 (copy) shows the end where it leaks. The pic 2 (copy) shows the gutter from the outside. You can see it's quite wide.

My friend Rimmer suggested getting this black sticky tape to seal the crack. I think I'm going to try that. The quote for 30,000B to do stainless steel gutters kinda shocked me. We did the whole house for less than that!

[craigt3365]

They are not fiberglass or vinyl. Must be aluminum. They were fairly cheap to install.

They are quite large...and channel a large amount of water. I'm sure at peak times they will overflow, but we just had a small rain and we had a leak in them. The guy who just inspected them said they had some small cracks.

Not sure what to do. Repair these or get new ones!! They are only 3 years old.

1500 for oversize SS seems reasonable.

I doubt if your original gutters were aluminium, more likely galvanized tin which is the norm. After a period of time they tend to leak at the joints which are soldered, an easy fix with silicone from the inside.

HA! We just posted at the same time. Yes, probably galvanized tin. I've also had quite a few cracks where the downspouts are. One has basically fallen off as the area all around the downspout fell apart.

[trogers]

There are 4 4" downspouts. One on each end and 2 in the middle. I know one leak is due to a crack as we had a "medium" rain shower yesterday and it leaked. One end seems to overflow around one downspout, so could be just too much water.

Suggest you just get the contractor to replace just the downpipes, and the end that suffers overflow be serviced by a 6-inch downpipe (which has 2.2x the drainage capacity of a 4-inch pipe).

[meatboy]

You can now buy UPVC guttering and down pipes ( white in colour) in Home Market

The gutter size is around 6in wide with 3in down pipes

i had windsor upvc fitted looks 100% smarter than alum.3yrs.no leaks.

[sscsamui]

PVC is the way to go.. There are many companies in Thailand the make them.Many with UV protection... With SS and Galvanized the seams do give out and will leak over time. I have used all 3 and my Vote in PVC....

[Pacificperson]

Do all four downspouts flow into a common drain under the floor? This could be the cause of your problems, especially if it is also a four inch pipe.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Pacificperson

[craigt3365]

Do all four downspouts flow into a common drain under the floor? This could be the cause of your problems, especially if it is also a four inch pipe.

Yes, they do flow into a drain under the floor. I believe it's a bigger than 4", but I'll check! Could be an issue for sure. Thanks!!

[oldsailor35]

Built my house 12 years ago, used galvanized steel gitters. Still in place with no leaks!

Built my house 12 years ago, used galvanized steel gitters. Still in place with no leaks!

If kept clean Galvanized gutters will easily last 30 years.