Gutter maintenance and repair

I found the front gutters had come away from the soffit of the house and have reattached them. In order to do this I remove the old spikes where they are loose and replace them with an over sized screw and ferrule. This makes a tighter connection to the house and helps prevent them from pulling away from the house.

Often with older gutters this type of gutter maintenance has to be done due to two factors. One is the expansion and contraction of the long piece of aluminume creates a side to side pulling effect on the spikes and works them loose over time. The sun on the aluminum can cause rapid heating and cooling that creates this movement. Normally the lose spikes are at one end or the other of a long gutter run.

A tighter connection will help to alleviate this unless the wood of the soffit is weak and starting to need replacement from rot

Soffit attachment with oversized screws

A larger screw is used that of a greater diameter than the original gutter spike. This helps to grab on to more wood and create a better connection to hold the gutter in place