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Seamless Gutters from Thompson Creek
Custom Gutter Replacement for Your Home
There are some home improvement opportunities we are naturally inclined to have top-of-mind more often than others. Typically, these are the improvements that are staring back at us from day-to-day. Perhaps we need upgraded flooring in the kitchen, or a new light fixture in the bathroom? Or maybe window replacement tops our wish list, or new vinyl siding for added curb appeal? These are the types of upgrades that we really notice – those that have a significant impact on the look and feel of our home, and our overall enjoyment of our space.
But what about those improvements that are a little less flashy, but still fundamentally important, such as new gutters for your home? The improvements that you might not even think to make until something goes wrong? To be certain, for many, gutter replacement falls within this group. And while it can lack the excitement of shiny new hardwood floors, a pizza oven on the patio, or a garden window to showcase your prized perennials, it can also be far more important to stay on top of.
Replacement gutters have come a long way in recent years, in both form and function. Let’s explore today’s options and get our minds in the gutter!
How Do Gutters Work?
While we might think of gutters as a modern solution for routing rainwater away from our homes, their conception hearkens back to BC times, with many evolutions leading to the streamlined gutters of today. To be certain, their design, popular materials, and method of installation has experienced some significant upgrades, but their purpose has always largely been the same. Simply put, no matter how far back you turn the pages in your history book, keeping rainwater outside the home has always been a priority!
But how exactly do today’s gutter systems ensure rain that hits the roof is given a direct path to the ground and away from the home, protecting against the myriad issues water infiltration can bring? In short, they rely greatly on gravity, and the power of giving water an “easy out.”
If your home was a water park, gutters would be the lazy river and the slides.
When properly installed, the channels of your gutter accept the rainwater that rolls from your roof, helping direct it toward the gutter downspout.
The channels themselves are the lazy river in this scenario, always at the ready to carry the runoff to the downspouts, or speed slides.
Whereas the gutter channels run horizontally along the roofline to accept the water runoff, the downspouts they feed run vertically, pointing water away from the home at the bottom so it doesn’t infiltrate your foundation, make a muddy mess of your yard, or end up creeping into the basement.
Signs You Need Replacement Gutters
Whether your gutters are just starting to show visible signs of old age and wear-and-tear, or you’re already experiencing the effects of definitive damage, getting on top of those concerns can save you hours of headaches, and countless thousands of dollars in costly repairs. Prevention of water damage is always the best medicine, and properly functioning gutters are essential to that prevention.
Not sure if you need replacement gutters? Look for the following telltale signs:
1. Investigate for Cracks or Leaks:
If your gutters are experiencing significant cracking, it will likely be visible to the naked eye. Take a slow walk around your home looking for any signs of fracture or breakage. We find it helpful to perform a check on a bright, sunny day, or once the sun has started to set, using a flashlight (just be sure to watch your step!) If you don’t find any issues, perform another check during the next rainstorm, when your gutters are “in action.” Do you notice any leaks, or slow-flowing downspouts? Is the water running away from your home as it should be?
2. Pay Close Attention to the Seams:
Yes – even seamless gutters have some seams at connection points, though there will be significantly more on traditional sectioned gutters. Take a close look at the seams of your gutters to see if any look as though they’re pulling away, or are warped or otherwise damaged. The seams of your gutter are where they are most vulnerable, so it can be beneficial to take a second look during a rainfall to spot any concerns.
3. Inspect Other Home Exterior Elements:
Sometimes the side effects of improperly functioning gutters aren’t as visible on the gutters themselves as they are on other areas of your home exterior, including paint, windowsills, and the ground. To be certain, even if your paint is cracking, and your window sills are showing water damage, your gutters may not be the culprit! However, they can play a role in this type of damage, so are worth considering if you have other reasons to suspect they’re in need of replacement.
Types of Gutter Materials Available
Aluminum Gutters
The most popular material used for commercial and home gutter systems, all seamless gutters from Thompson Creek are crafted from aluminum. This material has maintained its preference among buyers by offering the best of both worlds – affordability, and durability. Aluminum gutters also maintain their good looks for years, retaining their color better than vinyl gutters. Cost-effective, rust-resistant, and long-lasting, seamless aluminum gutters are our top pick for your home.
Vinyl Gutters
While vinyl is our preferred and recommended material for windows and siding, it’s not quite as strong an option when it comes to gutters. Unlike aluminum, vinyl gutters have a tendency to fade very quickly. Getting a strong, securely connected seal is also difficult, which can lead to frequent, ongoing leaking. As for their pros, vinyl gutters are rust and corrosion resistant, and a very budget-friendly option. However, given their propensity to need replacing much sooner than other materials – and the difficulty of keeping them functioning as intended – their long-term cost in dollars and frustration can quickly add up.
Galvanized Steel Gutters
Steel gutters are an attractive modern choice that holds its own in terms of durability, but they are not as rust-resistant as aluminum gutters, with the added disadvantage of damage or weakness in the system being more difficult to recognize. Whereas aluminum gutters have an enamel layer that readily shows signs of breakdown or cracking, the protective zinc layer of steel gutters is much harder to notice an issue with. This can mean that even when you are regularly inspecting your gutters, there can be issues that you aren’t aware of until the next storm hits.
Copper Gutters
The most durable, longest-lasting material in our list, there is no denying the appeal of copper gutters. But it’s that very appeal that makes copper gutters a risky investment. In short, copper is very expensive. Not only does this mean that outfitting your home with replacement gutters fashioned from copper will be quite costly, but unfortunately, it also means that your gutters will have an increased chance of being stolen by thieves looking to turn a quick buck at the metal yard.
To add insult to injury, this theft will likely be a hasty one, and can cause significant damage to your home as thieves work fast to not be caught. Add in the fact that your home will temporarily not have a gutter system if this happens, and you find that while beautiful, copper gutters might carry more risk than you’re comfortable with. Additionally, copper is a more difficult material to work with than aluminum, with gutter installation requiring soldering. This means you’ll likely be paying more for both materials and labor.
What Are Gutter Guards?
The natural world can drop a lot of dust, dirt, and debris into your gutters, preventing them from properly carrying water toward the downspout and away from your home. So what exactly are gutter guards? Gutter guards work to minimize the amount of accumulation in your gutters by covering the top of them with a screen.
Whether you opt for plastic, aluminum, or micro mesh gutter guards, they feature small holes that allow the water to pass through the gutter as intended, while blocking larger debris, such as leaves. By helping to keep large gutter cloggers at bay, gutter guards allow most homeowners more time between gutter cleanings. While that might sound like only a positive thing, there are some drawbacks to consider…
Do Gutter Guards Work?
Yes…and no. When properly installed, gutter guards will work to keep large leaves and other sizable debris from entering your gutter, so in that sense, they do indeed work. However, they aren’t as effective at keeping out smaller gutter invaders, including pine needles, which can build up quickly in many areas.
There are some other drawbacks to gutter guards as well.For one, they make gutter cleanings take even longer than before. Granted, chances are good that you will have to clean your gutters less often when you have guards in place. However, when the time does come for routine gutter cleaning, you can expect to spend quite a bit more time on the ladder as you have to remove the guard before cleaning, and put it back in place once you’ve finished. If you opt for professional gutter cleaning, this can result in a more sizable bill. If you clean your gutters yourself, consider it a more sizable headache!
They don’t always let adequate water through. When an especially heavy rainstorm hits, those tiny holes in your gutter guard designed to let water pass through may be overwhelmed by the task at hand. And if all the water running from your roof isn’t able to be properly channeled away from your home by the very gutters designed to do just that, well – that can spell trouble. With nowhere else to go, you may experience the types of problems seen when you’re in need of gutter replacement, like water in the basement.
They can make ice dams more common, or more difficult to resolve. Whether or not gutter guards actually cause ice dams is up for debate, but it is generally accepted that they can cause them to become larger in size. If you live in a climate that experiences low temps in the winter, including the Mid-Atlantic region, ice dams are a possibility whether you have gutter guards or not. But the guard can make it even more difficult for the melting ice to find its way into the gutter, where it can be channeled away from the house.
Soffit & Fascia
While Soffit & Fascia might sound like an easy-listening duo your parents would enjoy, they are actually an integral component of your roofing and gutter system.
Soffit: The soffit is designed to keep water and other elements from damaging your roof’s rafters, providing ventilation to allow heat – and humidity – to escape. Many homeowners opt to replace the soffit when they are having other work completed on the exterior of their home, including replacement gutters and siding installation. If you stand in front of your house and look up, what you see protecting the undersurface of your roof is the soffit.
Fascia: Where you find soffit, you’re sure to find fascia! These two love to work as a team, with the fascia finding its home just above the soffit. A long board that spans your roof’s lower edge, the fascia is where your replacement gutters will actually sit. It is important that your fascia is strong and supportive to ensure it “has your gutter’s back” during even the heaviest Mid-Atlantic rainstorms.
Gutter Maintenance - Sectional vs. Seamless Gutters
While there are many non-maintenance related reasons homeowners opt for seamless gutters over traditional sectioned gutters – including their enhanced performance and more modern appearance – it is the reduced maintenance requirements of seamless gutters that is truly their greatest advantage. In fact, Thompson Creek’s gutter system requires no seasonal maintenance at all!
Sectional Gutter Maintenance
The primary reason sectional gutters require such routine cleaning to avoid becoming clogged is right in their name – section. Simply put – more sections, more problems!
By their very nature, the seams of nearly anything that is sectioned present an opportunity for dirt, debris, and their resultant issues to build-up. Like the nooks and crannies of your kitchen cupboards or closet capture crumbs and dust, this is where leaves, pine needles, and other natural elements will collect. To keep your gutters clear takes at least twice yearly maintenance, but may be necessary 4 or more times a year depending on where you live, or even if there is a nearby tree.
Seamless Gutter Maintenance
Many seamless gutter systems will still require seasonal maintenance, though typically only once or twice a year will suffice, unless in a heavily wooded area. However, with Thompson Creek’s seamless gutters, even that once or twice a year can be skipped entirely. Crafted from a seamless trough outfitted with our advanced gutter hood, our replacement gutters have what might be considered more of an “armor.” This unique design not only prevents clogged gutters entirely, but is also aesthetically pleasing, with a clean, modern look that enhances your home exterior rather than detracting from it.
Additionally, this enhanced design ensures that your gutters will never pull away from your home, thus eliminating all gutter concerns in one perfectly designed product custom manufactured in Maryland.
Gutter Colors from Thompson Creek
What are some seamless gutter colors offered at Thompson Creek? When it comes to choosing a color for your gutter systems, many homeowners are surprised by the array of options. Not so many years ago, many of us noticed one – and perhaps only one – color ruling the neighborhood: white. To be certain, white gutters remain a very common choice, particularly for brick homes, or homes outfitted with white vinyl siding. However, the choice of white gutters is no longer the assumed default option, particularly as other home exterior colors enjoy increased popularity.
Thompson Creek offers 16 premium, long-lasting colors to choose from in light and dark shades, including neutrals and modern fashion colors. Not sure how to choose? Consider these 3 options…
Make it a Match:
Many homeowners want their gutter system to blend in with their home, and opt for the shade that’s a closest match to their primary home exterior color. Alternatively, you can match your gutters to trim elements or your roof to help those colors “pop” a bit more.
Give it a Complement:
If you’ve never been one to shy away from an impactful color contrast, turn your sights to the color wheel, and see which shade is opposite the color of your home. Be mindful that it doesn’t have to be a direct opposite for a vivid, modern impact. In example, while orange and blue are opposite each other on the color wheel, and are indeed a perfect complement, yellow and blue are equally stunning when featured together – and it’s much more likely that you have a yellow home exterior than orange!
Consider if You’ll Be Selling Your Home Soon:
If you have no plans to put your home on the market in the near future, or at all, considering what color will have the widest appeal to prospective buyers can be considered a non-issue. However, if you may be listing within the next few years, it can pay to factor that into your decision. While you might love the look of brick red gutters with a grey roof and cream colored siding, it may limit interest in your home from buyers with more traditional taste. In situations such as these, we recommend opting for a neutral or matching color, incorporating the contrasting colors you enjoy through elements like outdoor furniture and décor, which will come with you when you move.
Contact Thompson Creek for Your Replacement Gutters Today
Thompson Creek’s professional gutter installers don’t simply show up and tack some prefab gutters to your roof, calling it a day. Like all our custom home improvement solutions, the necessary time is spent at the drawing board.
Considerations include:
The angle of your roofing, and how many varying levels of your roof there might be
The size of your home can also greatly influence the overall design. For larger homes, the gutter design must ensure there are adequate downspouts to account for how much rain will be running off at once, and that each downspout is correctly placed to ensure water won’t end up pooling or running back toward the house
Speaking of rain, the average rainfall in your area is another consideration to be made, and one that a local professional gutter installer will have already factored into their plans.
Contact Thompson Creek today to receive answers to all of your gutter questions and more. We can help you with providing a free quote and helping you figure out next steps on your home improvement project.
Gutter Installation
There are many home improvement projects for which we would encourage you to consider the DIY path, from refinishing a table, to trying your hand at some light landscaping.
There are other home repairs, however, that are truly best left to professionals, and gutter installation is among them. We know what some of you are likely thinking – “But gutter installation doesn’t seem that hard!” And as with so many things in life, things are not always as they seem.
While installing new gutters doesn’t involve as much “hard labor” as some heavier-lift home improvements, like brick-laying or digging an inground pool, it is a more time-intensive task than you might expect, and a complex one at that. To understand why installation requires extensive experience and expertise, simply consider the function a gutter is serving – to divert water away from your house. . Professional gutter installers determine the ideal angles and perfect pitch to ensure your gutters function as flawlessly as possible.
Thompson Creek Warranty
At Thompson Creek, we are more than just proud of our custom seamless gutters, we’re confident enough in their construction that we back them with our 50-Year No-Hassle Warranty. Because we own every step of the process, from the design and build, to the gutter installation, we can ensure all elements are approached with our rigorous quality control in mind. We’re honored that you chose us for your home improvement project, and want you to enjoy the peace-of-mind that comes with a decision well-made!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you can't find answers just contact us
How does the gutter system work?
The system works on the physical principle of water tension. If you hold the lip of a drinking glass under a running tap, the water will follow the contours of the glass, even changing the direction of the flow. Our gutter system allows water to curve around the hood of the gutter and flow into the gutter portion, while leaves and debris flow over and off, never clogging the system.
What is the gutter installation process?
We remove your old gutters and downspouts and custom create a premium gutter system on-site. We attach our gutter brackets every 24″ to either the rafter tails or fascia boards of your home, ensuring that your system can withstand heavy ice and snow. The gutter hoods are anchored to the gutter brackets every 24″, making it impossible for the hood to separate from the system. All of the elbows curve, allowing water to flow freely and not collect at angle points.
What is covered under the warranty?
The Thompson Creek gutter system is fully guaranteed to never clog or pull away from your home for up to 50 years – a guarantee that extends to the next owner for a limited time.
What are the benefits of the Thompson Creek gutter system over traditional gutters?
The Thompson Creek gutter system is completely enclosed, keeping out leaves and debris – and eliminating the chore of cleaning out your gutters. Our gutter system also includes an exclusive high-back system with eight flow reducers, preventing unwanted overflow and protecting the fascia.
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