Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
Thanks for the good information.
So you're saying that is no standard in the building codes for how many brackets and how far apart they must be placed?
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That is correct. Up north, we cared about bracket spacing because of snow and ice damming, etc. Down here it is not as critical, as the "load" would only be copious amounts of water during a downpour.
To me it is more of "best practice". I should be able to make the assumption that if I carefully place a ladder on a gutter at a 75 degree angle, it should not deflect.
The reality is that I need to check first before placing the ladder on the gutter, because if the ladder has NO brackets near it, a cheap, thin gutter will crush. A better quality thinker gutter installed with brackets every 2-3 feet will lessen the chance of this happening. But, if the gutter people need to be competitive pricewise, and the homeowner always goes for the lowest price then sometimes the gutter guy might save a few bucks by using less brackets. Using 20 less brackets on a home saves the installer some money, and "Hey, the homeowner will never know.....all gutters look the same from the ground, and they will never climb on the roof...."
So...the guy that perhaps quotes a better quality job with proper thickness and brackets, etc, is $100 more, he probably will not get the job because he was not the cheapest, all because no one is comparing apples to apples. On the other hand, it is also unwise to assume the higher price will be the better job...so the lesson here is to get the specs....how many brackets, how many downspouts, what is the size and thickness of the gutter, how far away will the leaders be from the house, do you go under the sidewalk with the water, using draintile, etc, do you install splash guards, etc, etc.
As with everything in life, details are everything....
Hope this helps!!
Frank