Should I Replace My Wood Gutters?

Homeowners often ask if they should replace their failing wood gutters with new wood gutters.

The answer is "No!"—for a number of reasons.

Time for new gutters!

1) Wood is not what it used to be. The wooden gutters on your house were probably made from redwood or cypress. These are highly rot-resistant woods that can last many years if properly maintained. Of course, proper maintenance is rare, which is why they end up rotting. Unfortunately, wood gutters today are made from fast-growth fir, which may only last a few years. In fact, I've seen gutters rotting at the lumber yard before they were even sold!

2) Wood gutters have very low capacity. The walls of a wood gutter are over 1" thick, so the internal area of the gutter that actually holds water is quite small. In fact, Duragutter gutters match the exterior profile of wood gutters while holding exactly twice the volume, because the aluminum walls are only 1/8" thick.

3) The outlets (connection from gutter to downspout) on wood gutters are very small. These serve as a chokepoint that limits the gutter's ability to drain quickly in heavy rain before overflowing. The custom shape of a Duragutter outlet allows 4 times the flow, and is much less likely to become clogged with debris.

Traditional lead outlets (left) in wood gutters have 1/4 the flow of Duragutter outlets (right)

4) The basic design of wood gutter intersections is inherently flawed. Wherever a wood gutter intersects another piece of wood (a molding, another gutter, house wall, etc) a piece of metal flashing is used to keep the water from rotting the adjacent surface. This detail fails 99% of the time, resulting in makeshift repairs commonly seen on older homes.

Lead flashing failure allows water from wood gutters to rot adjacent surfaces

 Duragutter has a patented system of internal PVC plugs that keep the water from ever touching adjacent surfaces.

The plug is sealed with sealant to prevent water from touching adjacent surfaces

Duragutter was created to enable homeowners, builders, and architects to exactly recreate traditional wood gutter details in a maintenance-free material.