Built in gutters

I've got two houses with failing builtin gutters. One is copper, and the one I'm picturing below is steel I'm guessing. The only thing I've ever done is covered them up with plywood during a re-roof, but I'd really rather preserve their integrity.

How long does EPDM last if properly installed? I'm assuming it would need two anchor strips the whole way to keep from contracting into a trampoline. *This isn't my ideal option* Could a guy w/ basic sheet metal knowledge line them? Would doing it in steel be a nightmare? Do you think a motivated guy could teach himself to solder and expect it to last?

This job won't be until next year, or maybe later.

And once you've seen all the horrendous things these roofers have done like stapling the EPDM to the gutters, here's the finale.

Tinman: CIVR83 has it correct. If the seams where locked it would hold to much water. I've never done it w/3/4 overlaps , but I have seen it. Soldered over stagger rivets.

Most of the manufacturers are pretty good, we use Flex, Weatherbond and IB...

What pvc manufacturer do you recommend?

PVC is the ONLY proven product for this application...

bump!

Must of been a florida roofer, they are made to love it :laugh:

Tinner: Suhweet.

Max: That dude must have felt a like a pro after using a hammer with such precision crafting such a fine piece of flashing. Hey hoss, send up some more pucky!

Check this one out they put plywood down little hand bent aluminium and a bucket of tar. Looks like it's time for a complete redo right up my alley

clvr83 Said: just cut to fit. 3/4 laps

No fold needed?

If we did live closer I would be more than happy to give you this work, but I would be too tempted to look over your shoulder and see how its done.

Folds needed. 3/4" flat-locks, drip edge or lock strip on front, folded down with no exposed nails. As for the temptation, no worries. Trainees, Archy's, GC's, state and Gov. Inspectors do it all the time and some of my better pix came from them. Even had Revere reps around. Spent a lot of time with shingle reps too.

I also allow HO's on the roof. I've had clients 3 stories up on some jobs. Women, and men. Since I usuallycome in after several failures, and down right rip offs, I feel it helps them to understand how they got ripped off by show and tell, and to rebuild trust in the industry. I'll even stop midstream to allow water testing for doubters.

Pretinned, before soldering. BTW, mechanical cleaning and polishing of the seams, not pretinning, is called for with LLC.

"just cut to fit. 3/4" laps"

No fold needed?

If we did live closer I would be more than happy to give you this work, but I would be too tempted to look over your shoulder and see how it's done.

Too bad you don't live in the sout somewhere. I could give you my price and per diem, lodging, etc, and do it in LLC for you and we could both make a little off the job.

Looks good for sure.

As far as EPDM, I have been servicing EPDM roofs that are 15+ years old were the splice adhesive is just starting to fail. Membrane looking good except the 45 mil. Maybe it's your climate. I could understand if the rough nature of being in the gutter would cause the tape to fail earlier.

Perhaps PVC would be a wise choice.

"Tinner: Why such a short life on EPDM? I'd love to do it in copper, but I currently don't know how to make a radial bend, among other things. Mike covered most of that in an earlier comment.

"EPDM should last 30+ years, but its the tapes used to join the pieces that fail, often within 10 years. bending the rubber sheet around that curve will put stress on the internal corners, guaranteed it will pop off as it ages."

Just going to last. LLC and Cu are easy to form, just cut to fit. 3/4" laps, pretinned and fully sweated will make the copper last until it corrodes. The LLC is impervious to most anything.

Too this pic, among other a couple of years ago, of one I did in '91, at Nags Head. Still no issues and looks the same as the day we did it.