Seamless Gutters for Dummy Homeowners

Fabricating seamless gutters

The staffer assigned to check for dead links among our nominees noticed recently that it has been a lo-o-o-ong time since the Antisocial Network skewered some ignorant freelancer for misinforming us about gutters (the last time was in 2017, if you're interested). That shouldn't be, though, because we find more bogosity about the topic just about every time we stop in at HomeSteady.com, which is where we recently ran across Nicole Whitney trying to explain "Seamless Vs. Traditional Gutters."¹ Needless to say, she failed.

Not being gutter salespeople ourselves, we did a little research to see whether we'd actually found bogosity or Nicole had managed to educate us. It was the former, which we suspected based on the opening statement in Whitney's post:

"Gutters control roof drainage, keeping homes free of moist conditions that promote mold and fungi."

Ummm, no, Nicole, they don't control roof drainage; gravity takes care of that task. The purpose of a gutter system is to direct roof runoff away from the foundation; in which case it prevents "mold and fungi" only in the basement, if there is one. So, let's see what Nicole has to say in her little compare and contrast post:

"Materials: Seamless and traditional gutters are made with some of the same materials: aluminum, vinyl, galvanized steel, stainless steel and cooper [sic]."

Our sources say she's mostly right, except maybe about the "cooper" gutters. In truth, however, galvanized steel and aluminum appear to be the most common materials.

"Benefits: Traditional gutters, unlike most seamless gutters, can come fitted with expansion joints relieve stress [sic] in the joints experienced when the gutter expand and contract because of changes in the weather... Seamless gutters have joints only where the gutter has and [sic] angle or a downspout."

Two points: first, it's not "changes in the weather," it's (seasonal) changes in temperature; and the so-called "expansion joints" are nothing more than roofing cement (and work just fine). Second, there are also joints at the end caps of seamless gutters.

"Disadvantages: Traditional gutters may weaken from the weight of snow and rain, sprouting leaks in the joints..."

Well, we might have been inclined to say "springing leaks"... but the point is that no matter what style gutters, the mounts may weaken. After all, the point of the gutters is to drain the water, so the weight of water isn't the point.

The rest of Whitney's article is boilerplate reworded from a couple of online forums; pretty much what you might expect from a nail technician whose only experience with gutters is seeing them on a house. In other words, a typical Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   homesteady.com/about-6307731-seamless-vs--traditional-gutters.html

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