Gutters and Downspout Contractors
 

We are in the Village of Gilchrist and are looking for a contractor to install gutters and downspouts. We have talked to Hill's, Stipes, Alamo and A-Action. Can you give me your experience with any/all of these or another that you would recommend.

Stipes install is excellent and they will be prompt at arriving at the time given for install. They have a one year guarantee if you have any problems with the install. They clean up after the install and their price is very reasonable. Several neighbors used them as well and very satisfied with their work.

I used Hill, my sister used Hill..............we both were / are happy.

Used Stipes twice.

Did a very good job!

Very happy with Stipes.

We just had
 

Hills installed ours. Great job!

I got estimates from Stripes and Hills, there was only $25 difference in quotes. I went with Hills and was very pleased

Just make sure whoever installs the gutters that they use enough gutter hangers. I like to see them no farther apart than 30". I have seen some installed that seem to skimp on the hangers, spacing them as wide as 5-6 feet apart.

When a person puts a ladder against them to go on the roof the gutter could actually get bent. That is poor workmanship. One should be able to carefully place a ladder against the gutters and not crush them.

Also, have them install gutter splash guards on top of the inside corners, so during a heavy rain the copious amounts of water does not rush down the valley and overshoot the gutter completely.

A few of the companies in The Villages skip a bit on the install.....make sure you get it in writing that they will do the install as stated above.

Frank

We were very pleased with M and M, in quality and workmanship and price.

I used stripes , great job.

We used Hill's and are very happy with the work they did. Great price and workmanship.

Hills did mine and I was pleased with the price and the quality of the workmanship.

As an aside,I find it strange that gutters are not installed on newly built homes in The Villages. I still hear some folks saying that gutters are not needed in Florida and I've never understood that line of thought. Why would gutters be any less necessary in Florida than they are up north? Any thoughts?

The main reason for gutters up north is to keep the rain water runoff away from your basements and crawlspaces. I have seen basements flood up north whenever it rained stay completely dry once gutters were correctly installed diverting the water well away from the perimeter of the building.

Here in Florida some feel that it is not as important to have gutters because you (here in The Villages) do not have a basement. There are many homes here without gutters that do not appear to have any issues. That being said, there are some good reasons to consider them.....

The biggest enemy of your home is water intrusion. Gutters can keep the waterfalling rain to not blow into the side of your home, where it could seep into cracks in your stucco. (another subject).

Also, it can stop the line of ground depression and concrete staining that one gets around their home when there are no gutters.You will also get less rain in your Lanai, etc with gutters.

The problem is you still have that volume of water to divert. With a downspout that water diverts all in one place, so it is important to get that water where you want it and NOT where you do not want it. I believe this is best accomplished with the use of draintile from your downspout to wherever you want the water to get to....either a pond, large drain or the curb. Each home is different.

Gutters are pretty inexpensive here...it does not make sense to skimp on them. Get a good gauge and size with the proper amount of downspouts, draintile, etc.

I recently saw a gutter job where the homeowner paid a bit more to have the downspouts the same color as the stucco....looked very nice.

Hope this helps...

Frank

Stipes did ours two years ago..Still on house and working.....:wave:

We used Hill's seamless gutters. D.J. has been doing this in the villages for over 20 years. He is very fair, and his crew it top notch. We highly recommend them