Totally agree on aluminum gutters—installed mine about five years ago, and they've held up great. Quick tip: make sure the crew uses hidden hangers instead of spikes...way sturdier, especially if your area gets heavy snow or ice. Learned that one the hard way.
Hidden hangers are definitely the way to go. When we first moved into our place, the gutters were installed with spikes, and after just two winters, they started pulling away from the house. Not fun climbing up there in freezing temps to fix that mess...
Switched to hidden hangers about four years ago, and they've been rock solid ever since. One thing I'd add—make sure the installers space them properly. Even hidden hangers won't do much good if they're too far apart. I think ours are about every two feet or so, and that's worked great even with heavy snow loads.
Also, while aluminum gutters are awesome (lightweight and durable), don't overlook regular cleaning. Leaves and debris can still build up pretty quickly, especially if you've got trees nearby. I ended up installing gutter guards last year, and they've made a huge difference. Way less hassle overall.
Glad you found a roofing company you trust, by the way. Good contractors are worth their weight in gold these days...
"Hidden hangers are definitely the way to go."
They're solid, for sure, but I've seen some cases where hidden hangers weren't the best choice. If you've got an older home with fascia boards that aren't in great shape, hidden hangers can sometimes struggle to hold properly. In those situations, reinforcing or replacing the fascia first is crucial—otherwise, even spaced correctly, you might still end up with sagging gutters down the line. Learned that one the hard way...
Good point about the fascia boards—it's easy to overlook their condition when you're focused on gutters. I ran into something similar myself; thought hidden hangers would solve everything, but ended up needing to reinforce the fascia first. Like you said:
"reinforcing or replacing the fascia first is crucial"
Definitely worth the extra effort upfront to avoid headaches later. Glad you found a roofing company that treated you fairly, that's half the battle right there...
Yeah, fascia boards are definitely one of those sneaky things that seem minor until you start digging into them. I had a similar experience—thought I could just swap out the gutters and call it a day, but nope... ended up discovering some rot behind the fascia. Like you mentioned:
"reinforcing or replacing the fascia first is crucial"
Couldn't agree more. It's tempting to skip straight to the gutters because that's what you see every day, but if your fascia isn't solid, you're basically attaching new gutters to mush. Learned that lesson the hard way myself. Glad you found a roofing company that's upfront about this stuff—finding honest contractors can feel like winning the lottery sometimes, haha.
