Every house needs a system of gutters. The purpose of gutters is to collect rain or melting snow from the roofline and funnel the water away from the foundation. If you don't have a gutter system, at minimum you have a ring of excess water around your house. At worst, you have water in your basement and water cracks in your foundation.

Homeowners have many choices when it comes to gutter systems, including materials, color, and shape. However, one of the current trends in guttering is to have seamless gutters installed.

Seamless vs Traditional Gutters

The traditional method of constructing rain gutters is to piece together sections of the gutters. How the contractors put the sections together depends on the gutter material. For instance, copper and iron gutters are soldered. Aluminum and vinyl gutters are attached to each other using snap-in-place connectors. A small seam appears where the sections fit together.

As the name suggests, seamless gutters have no seam. Instead, contractors bring a seamless gutter machine to your house. They use the machine to create roll-formed, continuous gutters customized to the dimensions of your house.

Seamless Gutter Installation

Contractors usually arrive at your house with a truck or van that houses the seamless gutter machine. On top of the machine are the rolls of material for your gutter. The contractors run the machine to create as long a gutter as your house calls for. They cut the gutter at the given length.

From there, the gutters are installed in the usual method. The contractors have different options for mounting the gutters to the house's eaves. However, many contractors have chosen the hidden hanger method for structural integrity. This method consists of screwing a hanger to the fascia and sliding the gutter onto the hanger.

As with traditional gutters, seamless gutters still feature endcaps to stop the water from overflowing at the end. They also include joints for curving around the house and the downspout to funnel the water away from the foundation. Though these pieces are typically installed using connectors, you still have fewer seams than with traditional construction.

Because all the work is done on-site, professional contractors can usually install the gutters in one day.

Benefits of Seamless Gutters

The main benefit of seamless gutters is that they don't leak. The absence of a seam means there's no place for water to squirt out of even during torrential rainfall. The lack of seams also has an aesthetic value in that you just see a line of continuous guttering.

When installing seamless gutters, contractors use a secure and hidden system to attach the gutters to the fascia of your house. Because the gutters are so securely installed, you don't have to worry about maintaining them. What's more, they're often combined with gutter guards to minimize the amount of debris that accumulates in your gutters.

Seamless Gutter Materials

Technically, copper and steel gutters are seamless because the contractors solder the metal together. Both materials are very durable, but neither is very popular. Copper is a beautiful option, but its high-end look comes with a corresponding price tag. Steel is also more expensive, although it is one of the strongest materials available.

More commonly, seamless gutters come in aluminum. This metal is much more budget-friendly than copper or steel. What's more, aluminum is easier to bend and shape. That said, aluminum is still durable and easy to maintain. Typically, these gutters feature a baked-on finish which comes in a variety of colors.

A less common material for seamless gutters is vinyl. Retrofitted vinyl seamless gutters consist of a very long gutter that you cut down to the exact size. They're more common on prefabricated houses. Vinyl isn't as sturdy as metal, though it's less expensive.

Seamless gutters are an attractive and practical choice for your house's guttering system. Consult with the experts at Rain-Flow Systems, LLC, about your gutter project.