Seattle Rain Gutters: Protecting your Home

Rain gutters are the first line of defense for your home. They protect everything from your siding (and its adhesion), roofing (and sub-roofing insulation), lawn (and its drainage), and your basement (from high moisture and floods). In fact, you often can't install new siding, roofing, or remodel your basement without some attention being paid to your gutters. If you live in Seattle, gutter installation probably means new home construction or old gutters that need to be replaced. Here are some of the things you'll need to consider to get the best gutters possible:

Seattle Rain Gutters
If you start reading general information on rain gutters, you'll see that gutters can be vinyl, metal, or wood, and they can be sectional or seamless, but the installation of seamless metal gutters outnumbers the competition by about 15 to 1. The advantages of seamless gutters are easy to understand and difficult to ignore. It doesn't take much of a gap in a sectional gutter to create a space that can divert rainwater. This can spell disaster for your home.

Though you may be able to save a few hundred dollars on vinyl gutters, don't be tempted. In Seattle, rain gutters have greater stress than in many areas, and this is not the area of your home to pinch every last penny. You'll still need to choose between aluminum, steel, and copper. Copper gutters are second-to-none for performance and looks, but few homeowners are willing to spend four to six times more for this metal. Aluminum is probably your most cost-effective option, but be sure to either choose a thicker gauge or be careful leaning a ladder against these gutters. Aluminum gutters aren't capable of bearing the same amount of weight as their steel counterparts.

Cost and Construction of Seattle Gutter Installation
The cost of gutter installation in Seattle ranges from just a few hundred dollars to more than $2,500. The average cost is just more than a grand, and naturally the price range follows the size of your project fairly closely. For quality gutters, a very quick estimate can be achieved by planning on about $7 to $10 per linear foot, although high-end options can be more. Seamless gutter installation can be more technically involved than sectional gutters, but project times tend to be short. Several Seattle homeowners told us their contractor finished a complete gutter installation in a single day. Complicated projects or unforeseen complications can cause delays, but this tends to be the exception, not the norm.

Seattle Rain Gutter Contractors
Few homeowners take on their own Seattle gutter installation, and fortunately, there is no shortage of Seattle rain gutter contractors out there. Get several estimates and talk about different options and how each decision will affect the overall cost and performance of your gutter system. You might consider asking your contractor about the downspout and overall guttering design. The hilly terrain and precipitation levels of the Puget Sound area means you'll need to account for where your rainwater is being diverted. The professionals should do this automatically, but it can be useful to understand how the grading of your property affects your lawn drainage.

Of course, you'll also want to talk about long-term gutter maintenance and care. Many homeowners get sold on the idea of gutter protectors too quickly. Although the price of installing a protective mesh over your gutters may be reduced when you do it with your initial gutter installation, there's still a good chance it makes more economic sense to pay a professional to clean your gutters twice a year. Asking these questions and getting answers before your project starts will clarify your expectations for your gutters, and you'll have even more information about which contractor is going to give you the best gutters for the lowest price. The vast majority of complaints we hear from Seattle homeowners about their gutter installation contractors have to do with nothing more than miscommunication.