ROOF GUTTERING

A couple of points about guttering: like all things in life, you usually get what you pay for. There are gutter truck dealers who ply the village streets. Their gutters are very thin and usually spot 'welded' with a soldering iron. The welds will give out with any kind of pressure added to the gutter. Forget about using a ladder to go up to the roof as the ladder will bend the gutter (and further mess up your spot 'welds'. Gutter shops downtown usually sell both low quality and higher quality gutters. Naturally, the higher quality gutter is more expensive. There are also various widths of gutter.....depending on the size/slope of the roof. When time comes for us to replace our poor quality gutters (10 years old), I'll look for someone who has first hand positive experience with a gutter shop.

A timely thread for me since I'm getting ready to put up some guttering. I went to a sheet metal shop that had done a small job for me - making an exhaust stack with a 90° bend for my gas water heater. He did a first class job for a very reasonable price so I asked him for quotes for guttering. Stainless was 800 bt/m, Windsor vinyl 550 bt/m, galvanized 200 bt/m. We talked some about the stainless and he backed off to 700 bt/m but that's still a lot more than I wanted to go. I assumed he'd negotiate some on the galvanized but it looked like a pretty thin gauge steel with thin galvanizing so I wasn't too interested. He did have a better grade of galvanized stock but I didn't pursue it. I did some looking around for the vinyl and the Windsor shops in town and at Homemart quoted 450 to 550 bt/m installed. But I did find a builders supply south of town where I could buy the Windsor parts for about 300 bt/m with all the corners, downspouts, etc. I liked the idea of a no-rust low maintenance product, the showroom samples looked good, and Windsor has a pretty good reputation for their vinyl windows.

I was getting ready to order the parts and install it myself when I read Sammyg's post. Not very encouraging. Doing a little looking on the web it looks like the DIY vinyl, is that what you used Sammyg?, in the states is a different, lighter weight product with different joints than the Windsor brand stuff. Bear's product sounds good but needs a professional installer and by the time you add that I'm guessing you're up in the 550 - 600 bt/m range for the size that will handle our rain storms. Parrot surprised me by getting 10+ years out of cheap galvanized but over all he doesn't sound real happy with it.

So, I'm back to vinyl or possibly a better grade of galvanized but I worry about getting the paint to stick. I know there are primers that say they're for galvanized but has anyone had good luck with getting paint to actually stick to galvanized for 5 or 10 years here? Or has anyone tried the vinyl here?

fremmel wrote:A timely thread for me since I'm getting ready to put up some guttering. I went to a sheet metal shop that had done a small job for me - making an exhaust stack with a 90° bend for my gas water heater. He did a first class job for a very reasonable price so I asked him for quotes for guttering. Stainless was 800 bt/m, Windsor vinyl 550 bt/m, galvanized 200 bt/m. We talked some about the stainless and he backed off to 700 bt/m but that's still a lot more than I wanted to go. I assumed he'd negotiate some on the galvanized but it looked like a pretty thin gauge steel with thin galvanizing so I wasn't too interested. He did have a better grade of galvanized stock but I didn't pursue it. I did some looking around for the vinyl and the Windsor shops in town and at Homemart quoted 450 to 550 bt/m installed. But I did find a builders supply south of town where I could buy the Windsor parts for about 300 bt/m with all the corners, downspouts, etc. I liked the idea of a no-rust low maintenance product, the showroom samples looked good, and Windsor has a pretty good reputation for their vinyl windows.

I was getting ready to order the parts and install it myself when I read Sammyg's post. Not very encouraging. Doing a little looking on the web it looks like the DIY vinyl, is that what you used Sammyg?, in the states is a different, lighter weight product with different joints than the Windsor brand stuff. Bear's product sounds good but needs a professional installer and by the time you add that I'm guessing you're up in the 550 - 600 bt/m range for the size that will handle our rain storms. Parrot surprised me by getting 10+ years out of cheap galvanized but over all he doesn't sound real happy with it.

So, I'm back to vinyl or possibly a better grade of galvanized but I worry about getting the paint to stick. I know there are primers that say they're for galvanized but has anyone had good luck with getting paint to actually stick to galvanized for 5 or 10 years here? Or has anyone tried the vinyl here?

I'm a into DIY projects and like this idea very much, can you be more specific on the location of this shop^^.

Thanks

it fine if your a D,I Y. kind of guy but in thailand were labor is so cheap and the people do need that little income they can get from you why waste your time & energy and do it your self JMHO as they say support your local Sheriff

I like using local talent too - when I can be sure of how the work will turn out or when details aren't important. But my experience with the local help's attention to detail has been, to put it charitably, uneven at best. So, the stuff I'm going to have to look at all the time or that I need to be sure works right, I tend to do myself when I can. In this case, I think the sheet metal guy I used before would do a good job but it would cost me at least 10K more. And I'm not that generous!

Papaguido, the store is a large showroom/warehouse type store that's in the middle of being remodeled. So there's no big sign out in front yet although it does have a distinctive 2 or 3 story high silo like thing in front. It's around 4 or 5 km south of the ring road intersection on the way to Khon Kaen. It's on the right as you're going south and shares a parking lot with a large filling station. Sorry to be so imprecise but it's one of those places I find by just driving until I see it. I'll try to get the exact mileage when I go down there next time. The phone number on the printed quote they gave me is 042-292-288.

aznyron wrote:it fine if your a D,I Y. kind of guy but in thailand were labor is so cheap and the people do need that little income they can get from you why waste your time & energy and do it your self JMHO as they say support your local Sheriff

Because it gives me something to do, in a way it's my hobby.

fremmel wrote:I like using local talent too - when I can be sure of how the work will turn out or when details aren't important. But my experience with the local help's attention to detail has been, to put it charitably, uneven at best. So, the stuff I'm going to have to look at all the time or that I need to be sure works right, I tend to do myself when I can. In this case, I think the sheet metal guy I used before would do a good job but it would cost me at least 10K more. And I'm not that generous!

Papaguido, the store is a large showroom/warehouse type store that's in the middle of being remodeled. So there's no big sign out in front yet although it does have a distinctive 2 or 3 story high silo like thing in front. It's around 4 or 5 km south of the ring road intersection on the way to Khon Kaen. It's on the right as you're going south and shares a parking lot with a large filling station. Sorry to be so imprecise but it's one of those places I find by just driving until I see it. I'll try to get the exact mileage when I go down there next time. The phone number on the printed quote they gave me is 042-292-288.

Go to go,

Thanks

Papaguido, or anyone else interested in vinyl gutters, some links you might find useful

{Product page}
{Installation brochure}
{semi current price list}

I'm at year 11 for our cheap/low quality guttering. If you never plan on using a ladder to access your roof, it'll probably serve you for the life of your home. The only area where we have problems is where it's been bent from putting a ladder against it. If you want to paint it because you're concerned about it rusting out, don't bother. It shouldn't rust out. If you want to paint it for asthetics, buy prepainted vinyl.

If you're installing it along a long side of your home, be sure the installer adds adequate slope. One of our sides was done without a slope, and of course, it wasn't noticeable until well after it was installed.

Hi guys and Fremmel to answer your question in particular.I had 6 rental houses in Washington state and I am very much a DIY guy.I bought the best pvc plastic gutters available as I never want to do it over again because I bought the cheapest anything (especially paint-never ever by the bargain paint!).The cost of the pieces to put togehter all of the pvc gutters was way more expensive than any gutters you have done.The best and nicest gutters I ever had were continuous seemless gutters installed on my own home for $225 for a 1800 sq. ft home from a fellow driving around neighborhoods with his truck asking if you neede gutters.I didn't have the time to do myself right then and said sure and figured they would last5 - 10 years?When I sold the house 26 years later there were no signs of any leaks,rust,damage at all!They were painted the color I chose and were steel powder coated and never rusted on bit and took the guy and his partner all of about 3 hours to install with quite a few corners to cut and mold.Best investment I ever made! When you go to the dump in the U.S. you can always see lots of pvc(plastic)gutters thrown around the site a TESTAMENT that they didn't work!I don't know if they have the machines to form and bend the sheet metal here for continueous gutters in Udon but I contend you will not be happy with any plastic gutters.If you like give my father in law a call for bid on different varying quality of gutters installed at Phayu Construction Ph#089-5779312.Best to have your wife call as he speaks limited English or send me a PM and I will have wife call to him and interpret to him what you might want.Just saying my experinces with pvc gutters was never successful.SammyG

Bear wrote:Sorry I havent posted for a while, been busy going through the process of setting up business. As always here there is something to set you back.
I have a container arriving from Australia end of this month with our imported guttering. We have a Quad gutter made of Galvanised iron, a half round gutter which comes in Zinc Alum and colorbond. The half round comes in a range of colours. We also have a locally made product for the Thai market, based on same design as quad but alot bigger(the thais like this).
Our product comes in 5.85m lengths, brackets spaced at 1m intervals (not 30cm like thai product).The lengths are joined by pop rivets and silicone as are the end plates.
Prices start at around B260 for the quad B360 for the half round to B460 for the Thai gutter (per metre)(not including installation)
10 year guarantee on the imported product.
I will post more once im set up.
Cheers BEAR

Hi Bear , I can supply you raingutters from New Zealand . you seem to be paying alot to me but freight etc will do that.
I have the machine to do it as i have a small bis here with the same machinery as the big guys use the same coil etc.If you would like we can have a look at it for you . im just a one man band opperating from home with all the same machinery as the big guys but no overheads . pretty sure i can cut your costs and give some good advice for your bis as ive been in the industry for 15 years . Be Great to hear from you .
Cheers

Mark