After spending a few a summers hanging, replacing, and tearing down gutters you learn that all gutters are not created equal. One job required our crew of three to tear down all the copper rain gutters in a complex of apartment buildings and we were not very happy about that job initially because we know how durable and strong copper gutters are. This was not going to be an easy job even though these gutters were over fifty years old.
If you don't know why gutters are important then read carefully. The roof prevents water from entering the building (hopefully) and directs the water to the sides of the structure. When the water is allowed to flow off the side of the building it can cause damage to the walls of the structure, but the most damaging thing it does is erode the dirt from around the foundation of the building. slowly weakening it. Too much water flowing around the foundation and cracks which lead to leaks begin to form. Too many cracks and the building begins to collapse in on itself. This can take anywhere from decades to less than a year, but is easily prevented with proper gutters that guide the water away from the building where it can drain effectively.
A well built and installed gutter system can last the lifetime of the house with very little maintenance. While vinyl may look good initially and is very cheap, you are much more likely to experience problems, especially in harsh weather. They are more likely to crack and fail and can't support much weight. Aluminum gutters are a step above that, but they cannot come close to the beauty and resilience of copper rain gutters. Though they are more expensive than other gutters initially, the cost will be recouped from the lack of maintenance and long lifetime of the material.
After three days of toiling with a destruction saw and a variety of hand tools over two thousand feet of copper rain gutters had been harvested from the eaves of those five story buildings, not an easy task but definitely worthwhile, copper scraps were going for over $2 a pound at the time. After a quick stop at the scrap yard the money was split three ways and we went to get a drink. It was delicious, and we were confident that replacing those gutters with cheap vinyl gutters would be easy. And it was, but we'll be back in a few years to fix em anyway.
