I need a gutter installed on my back porch area. I was checking out the supplies in Home Depot today and was wondering if this is a somewhat simple DIY job. I don't have a lot of area I need covered so I'm thinking the supplies won't be that expensive. Is vinyl the best option? And as far as paiting it goes, how do I got about getting the paint to match the color of the rest of the house?
I installed plastic gutters on my house a few months ago and it was pretty easy. It was more tedious than anything, because there is a lot of going up and down a ladder. The gutters I got (forgot the brand) just snap together. We got all the parts for about $120 for about 50 feet of roof. The most expensive part wasn't the actual gutter, but the brackets. Make sure you have two people and two ladders.
I haven't done gutters on my house, but I concur with A-Train on the time thing. Everything you DIY is time consuming and tedious unless you're a builder for a living. Take what you think would be the time involved and multiply it by 4 or 5. Of course, you really get a sense of satisfaction of a job well done when you look at your finished work, not to mention something to brag about when you have people over for BBQs.
I had my dad helping me. You need two people to make sure that the gutter isn't sloping the wrong way. Plus, it makes putting the gutters on the brackets a lot easier. I guess it's possible to do it by yourself, but you'd probably cut your time by at least half with two people. If you have lots of trees around your house, get some gutter screens to keep the leaves out. I lucked out in that there aren't any trees hanging over my roof.
