best material for guttering

[rscho]

Hi forum,

I have to replace my house guttering and downpipes and am wondering what the best material to use is, and the difference, if any, between them.

How does zincalum compare to painted galvanised or colorbond? I've seen some painted PVC guttering on some houses around here but they seem to have sagging problems. Is this an installation issue or just what PVC guttering does and is anyone still using it?

Any advice will be appreciated.

[journeyman Mick]

PVC and any other plastic guttering that I've seen usually sags between supports, it's the nature of plastics. Colorbond is better than zincalume as guttering because it tends to resist the acids etc that rotting leaves produce. If you keep your gutters clean then zincalume will last just as long. In order of longevity I'd rate guttering materials thus:
Stainless steel
Copper
Colorbond
Zincalume







Galvanized (painted or not)

Mick

[bricks]

Colourbond is better than anything IMHO, but it's doesn't play nicely with lead flashing's

[elkangorito]

In Thailand, only stainless steel is used as guttering.

[rrich]

We get aluminum guttering here.

The guys come out with a truck and a machine. The machine forms the aluminum coil stock into a seamless gutter. The aluminum is painted with a powder coating system before being coiled. The most common colors are white and a poop brown.

The only joints in the entire system are where the down spouts are and corners. I've had these seamless gutters on the house for over 15 years without any problems.

[kiwiclay]

Colorbond is just painted zincalume,
you can also get colorbond,stainless and copper guttering formed on site (same machine)
Try to get more than the minimum number of brackets used.

[wonderplumb]

Colorbond is just painted zincalume,

Exactly, I think we've touched on this before.
I wouldnt get it extruded on site, the fellas who done a mates mums place hung a length of quad gutter 15m long without any expansion joints and used internal brackets, now it looks like a dogs breakfast due to not being able to expand.
I wouldnt even look at plastic.