Remove and rehang seamless gutters?

[DGersic]

Looking at dad’s house yesterday. 2nd story gutter needs to come off, fascia needs to be replaced. The whole thing is sagging and pulling away from the roof in the middle. It’s 40’-50’ long, seamless, currently full of water.

I’ve hung gutters before, but never anything this long. Other than hiring a professional, any suggestions for doing this?

The fascia rebuild I can do. It’s the gutter I can’t figure out how to do solo. With two or three guys on ladders it’d be straightforward.

Dad is 82, not climbing ladders any more.



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[bad_idea]

Do you have the ladders? I would suggest you employ the help of the neighbors. Bound to be two people you can rustle up for 10 minutes of removal and 10 minutes of install a few days later. Set everything up, remove majority of fasteners, then call over help.

 

[PassnThru]

Good luck finding neighbors that will climb a ladder to the second story even if you have enough ladders.

You can't do it alone unless you rig up ropes to hold everything up so you can support it and then lower it when you are done. Even if you find a way to hold it up as you remove the fasteners there is no way you can lower it without bending it.

Honestly, I would do what I had to do and destroy the gutter in the process and then have a new one hung after I fixed the fascia. That's about your only option working alone.

 

[DGersic]

Got ladders. Two, maybe three. Can rent scaffolding. There’s no neighbors I know of to help, and it’s not local either, so bringing a friend isn’t easy.

Further complicating things, it’s on the back of the house, and extensive gardening means there’s no real access back there, so nothing like a scissor lift will fit.

And dad is ... particular about having anyone work on his house, in or around it, hence the idea of hiring somebody is unlikely to work out.

I’m thinking I could use two ladders and some 2x4 to build a support for the gutter. Have a couple of ladder supports to get the tops out from the roof edge. If I put one at 15’ and the other at 30’, that would support a good chunk of the gutter. Then use the scaffolding to remove the hangers. Either leave it there, or push it up on the roof to get it out of the way.

R&R the rotten fascia. That should be straightforward. The rafter ends I could see appeared to be solid. No idea how he soffit is attached, I can’t see that without tearing in to it. Deal with that as needed.

Then reverse the process, and hang the gutter, using the ladders to support as much of it as possible until the clips are in place.

Crazy? Might work. I don’t know.




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[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've handled up to 35' by myself, it's tricky. I'd be inclined to screw something on top of the shingles that runs out past gutter by a foot or so at the 1/3 and 2/3 length of the run. Unscrew the center section then work back from the outside. The last screw to undo is under the piece you screwed to the roof. Carefully pull the gutter out [enough to work on the fascia] and tie the gutter off to the roof piece. Then do the other side the same way. To fix the holes thru the shingles lift the tab up and squirt some silicone caulk around and into the hole. Press the tab back down, some caulk should squeeze up thru the hole, wet your finger and smooth it out.

edit; you want to make sure the screw clips are left in place, they help prevent the gutter from folding or twisting.

 

[DGersic]

I've handled up to 35' by myself, it's tricky. I'd be inclined to screw something on top of the shingles that runs out past gutter by a foot or so at the 1/3 and 2/3 length of the run. Unscrew the center section then work back from the outside. The last screw to undo is under the piece you screwed to the roof. Carefully pull the gutter out [enough to work on the fascia] and tie the gutter off to the roof piece. Then do the other side the same way. To fix the holes thru the shingles lift the tab up and squirt some silicone caulk around and into the hole. Press the tab back down, some caulk should squeeze up thru the hole, wet your finger and smooth it out.

edit; you want to make sure the screw clips are left in place, they help prevent the gutter from folding or twisting.

That’s another thought, thanks. Good note on the clips, I hadn’t considered them important with it detached, but that makes sense.




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[moserjj]

The guy who put the 56' gutters on my shed used gutter buddys

https://www.gutterworks.com/shop-online/rolling-gutter-buddy

Would probably need 3. Still not sure how to get it down in one piece without bending though. It took two of us to get those 56 footers up there.

I'd vote to have a gutter Guy take down and put back up or replace.

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[ducksface]

Don't take it down.
Flip it up onto the roof.
It only moves a few inches this way and stores itself out of the way of your work area.

Your shelf idea will work...

Or, better yet, and one manned;

Wrap bailing wire every six feet or so, nail it to the old fascia
Flip gutter onto the roof due to the slack you leave in the baling wire.
Easy.

That 'pull it away far enough to get to the fascia' is not going to work.
You haven't mentioned soffit covers that if you have them, are attached to the fascia

My soffit cover was not only attached but the fascia had a groove routed into the fascia that the soffit cover fit into. Then toenailed. Then caulked.


Loose baling wire every six feet,
Pull attachers from gutter
Flip it on the roof
Remove baling wire
Remove fascia
Replace fascia
Attach loose Baling wire
Flip the gutter back down.
Attach.

Or

**** can it all and get someone out to put new gutter on.
That's what I did.
Saved many hours and much ********.

Or

Cut it into manageable sections and buy the $1.39 attaching sleeves when you put it back.
Seamless is a visual thing, not a necessity.
Back of house?
Whack it(number the pieces) and sleeve it.

 

[blair683]

We installed my 30’ gutters with three people and two ladders. One guy stayed on the roof with a rope that was tied to the center of the gutter on the ground. Then one person on each end climbed ladders with the gutter while the guy on the roof kept tension on the rope to support the middle. Each person had a drill to screw in a few fasteners that they could reach as soon as the gutter was aligned.

 

[matt_i]

Get some $3 ropes (thinking around 1/8" to 3/16" thick like I got last week) and throw them over the ridge with appropriate weight, probably 5-10 lbs. May have to circle the rope behind the gutter and hold it with some duct tape so it doesn't slip. In case the hangers get loose enough to slide out as the screw is removed. Then the gutter won't fall down much as its loosened and should be flexible enough to hang there.

I like the idea to flip it up onto the roof, you can shorten the ropes after that by moving the counterweights so it doesn't go flying in a wind gust.

 

[bugnut]

Just had roofers complete this on my home. As I watched they did about what Ducksface suggested. Yes to dealing with soffits and rehanging. 2 guys did ~35 foot long and placed it on the roof, then removed soffits and replaced the facia and reinstalled soffits. They worked from walkway on ladder jacks, with rope and tying off one end. I think you could do it alone but getting ladders and walk plank settled first would require major effort. my .02$

 

[bugnut]

Also should mention it was a perfect opportunity to add attic insulation baffles without crawling in the attic, something like this is easily installed from outside on the walk plank.

Raft-R-Mate 22-1/2 in. x 4 ft. Attic Insulation Rafter Baffle Proper Vent

 

[Trey T]

I've fixed rotted fascia boards and it's an easy task for 1 story house. Depends on the style of the roof overhang, but you'll need a scaffold for sure.

I repaired a section of fascia board recently (2-story) and I dropped the entire gutter (15ft long w/ a 2ft 90degree-bend) down because I was working by myself on a scaffold.

For a 40ft long, you'll need at least two scaffold sets to work safely. I used one set of scaffold and long ladder (w/ off-set stabilizer bars).

 

[Bretny]

The two guys who did my 40' gutters had no issues with just two guys.

 

[DGersic]

Don't take it down.
Flip it up onto the roof.
It only moves a few inches this way and stores itself out of the way of your work area.

Your shelf idea will work...

Or, better yet, and one manned;

Wrap bailing wire every six feet or so, nail it to the old fascia
Flip gutter onto the roof due to the slack you leave in the baling wire.
Easy.

That 'pull it away far enough to get to the fascia' is not going to work.
You haven't mentioned soffit covers that if you have them, are attached to the fascia

My soffit cover was not only attached but the fascia had a groove routed into the fascia that the soffit cover fit into. Then toenailed. Then caulked.


Loose baling wire every six feet,
Pull attachers from gutter
Flip it on the roof
Remove baling wire
Remove fascia
Replace fascia
Attach loose Baling wire
Flip the gutter back down.
Attach.

Or

**** can it all and get someone out to put new gutter on.
That's what I did.
Saved many hours and much ********.

Or

Cut it into manageable sections and buy the $1.39 attaching sleeves when you put it back.
Seamless is a visual thing, not a necessity.
Back of house?
Whack it(number the pieces) and sleeve it.

I don’t know what the soffits are. Looks like plywood. House was built in the late 1960s. Wood siding, fascias, and soffits. No idea yet how the soffits are attached. There is probably caulk in there. There is definitely many layers of paint, too.

Bailing wire or rope over the roof might work. Probably easier than my shelf support.




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[DGersic]

Still thinking here. Currently thinking that renting scaffolding might seem like overkill, but might make this a lot easier. If we put up eight frames wide (48’) x three frames high (15’), with an extra frame on each end, maybe one or two in the middle as well.

Use the extra frames to support the gutter as it is removed, then push it on to the roof.

Fascia and soffit, replace and repair.

Then rehang the gutter.

It’d be a bunch of extra work setting up and tearing down the scaffolding, but it’d allow a lot more and easier lateral movement than a ladder.




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[Trey T]

If you're using ladders only, you should think thru the step-process of the ladder setup and gutter removal. I believe, based on my experience and available ladder/tools, it will be difficult (if not, impossible) to have the gutter on the roof.

Can you detail your roof and soffit? Or simply, post some photos.

 

[ducksface]

If you're using ladders only, you should think thru the step-process of the ladder setup and gutter removal. I believe, based on my experience and available ladder/tools, it will be difficult (if not, impossible) to have the gutter on the roof.

Can you detail your roof and soffit? Or simply, post some photos.

Please. Explain the impossibility.
Since some of have done it easily and some have seen it easily done.

 

[TexMedium]

I've dealt with this problem a few times. On the second story gutter i had scaffolding set up as i was painting, it finished higher than the 50ish plus foot gutter. I used braided nylon mason's twine to sling the gutter and hang it from the scaffold frames. Every seven feet as i unfastened the gutter. On the front, at single story height, i screwed four foot long 1x3's to the soffit every 5 feet, or so, and then dropped the 77' gutter onto the 1x3's, and slid them out and clamped them on the boards. Either method worked well.

 

[Trey T]

Please. Explain the impossibility.
Since some of have done it easily and some have seen it easily done.

What I conceptualized and the reality of his method (not knowing the details of his roof/soffit) can snowball this thread to useless; hence, the parenthesis used. The intent was to force him to think it thru and make an orderly assessment.

 

[rburke65]

Not impossible at all. The bailing wire, loosen the gutter and roll the it up onto the roof seems to me real feasible, and easier to handle.