How to Install Rain Gutters | This Old House

Steps // How to Install Rain Gutters

3Attach fascia brackets

Step Three // How to Install Rain Gutters

Photo by Mary Beth Montgomery

Locate the rafter tails behind the fascia; they're typically spaced 16 inches on center (look for telltale nail heads).

Make a mark at the chalk line on every other rafter tail.

Bore a -inch-diameter pilot hole through the fascia and into the rafter tail at each mark.

Fasten fascia brackets with -inch stainless steel lag screws long enough to penetrate rafters 2 inches (as shown).

Tip: Rub soap on the lag screws so they'll be easier to drive through fascia and into rafter tails.

4Saw gutter to length

Step Four // How to Install Rain Gutters

Photo by Mary Beth Montgomery

Cut gutter section to length with hacksaw and aviation snips, or with a 12-inch power miter saw fitted with a carbide-tipped finish blade (as shown).

If the gutter continues around a corner, cut the appropriate angle (typically 45 degrees) on that end.

If the run requires two sections of gutter, overlap them by 8 inches and use 3/8-inch-long, self-tapping, stainless steel screws or pop rivets, in two rows of four each, to join them.

Tip: Locate screws or rivets in the sides of the gutter, never in the bottom.

8Form strip-miter joint at corner

Step Eight // How to Install Rain Gutters

Photo by Mary Beth Montgomery

Cover the joint between two lengths of gutter at each corner with a strip miter a 3-inch-wide strip of aluminum.

Wrap the aluminum strip tight around the underside of the gutter. Secure it with eight pop rivets or sheet- metal screws.

Cut a triangular section from the top of the strip miter (as shown) with snips, and then fold down the two flaps around the top edge of the gutter.

This joint can also be made more waterproof with the addition of a high-quality siliconized caulk.

9Connect downspout to gutter

Step Nine // How to Install Rain Gutters

Photo by Mary Beth Montgomery

Secure the downspout outlet to the gutter with four pop rivets or screws.

Screw a downspout elbow to the outlet tube protruding down from the gutter.

Hold another elbow against the house and cut a piece of downspout to fit between the two elbows.

Use needlenosed pliers to slightly crimp the elbow to fit into the downspout (as shown).

Fasten the parts together with pop rivets or screws.

Tip: Use two downspout brackets on a one-story house and three brackets on a two-story house.

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How to Install Rain Gutters | This Old House