My Mind's in the Gutters

You may remember that back in February, we lost some gutters. Now that we're out of snowy season and entering rainy season, D and I are trying to find someone to replace them. As usual, we wrongly believed that a couple of estimates would be enough to help us make our decision. But with two contractors disagreeing on what we need, we have to wait for at least one more estimate to break the tie (or, more likely, offer us a completely different set of options that contradict the other two). They are so busy repairing the damage caused by the blizzards, that it will be a week before another company can even come out and give us an estimate.

Before we get any further, here's a picture of the damage, now that the snow is gone and we can see more clearly:

Basically the whole back of our house is effectively gutterless. I think we're talking about 50 or so feet. The real question is what to do with our fascia boards--the wood that the gutters are screwed into. Ours are completely bare wood. They are not painted, stained, polyurethaned, or covered in aluminum (they might be pretreated for termites or something--no idea).

Gutter company A says that the fascia boards do not need to be covered. They will put up a new gutter securely to make sure that no water seeps back there to rot the wood. The gutters will be screwed through the boards directly into the rafters, as opposed to just into the thin boards, so they don't come out again. Gutter company B says that the boards have to be covered with aluminum to prevent rotting, which would soften the wood and rip the gutters out.

DIY websites appear equally divided, so I don't think there's one right answer. It seems to me that the boards don't serve much purpose except to be a place to mount the gutters. From what I read, gutter installation instructions say if the boards are rotted when you take off the old gutter, replace them. It's not a big deal and it doesn't really seem to have a lot of repercussions if they do get a little damp and soft. Plus evidently they haven't until now, so if a gutter is installed correctly they will probably be protected.

Second difference: company A wants to give us cheap aluminum gutter guards with holes in them, probably something like this:

while company B wants to put on high-tech solid ones that uses the water's own surface tension to pull it into the gutter, like this:

Sure it's nice, but it seems like overkill and certainly not a cheap solution. From what we're learning, we will need to clean them either way. Maybe the cheap ones will need cleaning every other year and the expensive ones every 3 or 4 years, but gunk will find its way in eventually.

Third difference: company A wants to put on standard 6'' gutters. They won't fall down, they say, because they will be screwed in more securely than they were this time. Company B claims that 5'' are better because the added weight of the extra inch can be what pulls the gutters down inheavy snow/ice.

There you have it. Two completely different options with very different prices. I don't want to skimp but I don't want to be taken advantage of, either. I'm not sure the "best available" options are all that necessary. Of course I also don't want to cause future grief of gunked drains and rotting wood. I think a third opinion is necessary. And maybe a forth or fifth.

So don't be shy, blog readers. I think I scared most of you away from contributing with my poll last week, which deliberately did not have any middle ground between liking or hating contractors. But I need your opinions now: do we go with company A or B or find another middle-of-the-road set of options?

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And finally, our garden continues to develop, no thanks to us. We discovered this week that we have roses!