How To Build A Yankee Gutter

House flipping brothers dave and rich show how to install gutters on a house.

How to build a yankee gutter.

Dating back to the 18th century yankee gutters consist of a v or u shaped wooden trough lined with metal usually copper or terne coated steel that directs water away from the house. Box gutters are actually built off of the rafters of the building they are not hung from the building as metal gutters are. There are occasions where water damage occurs and the whole gutter needs to be re built. Subscribe to this old house.

These gutters are built on the plane of the roof. Yankee gutters can be very simple or ornate. Yankee gutters are also referred to as philadelphia gutters pole gutters flush gutters and standing gutters. Yankee gutters go back to the 18 th century.

Set in a bed of caulk the yankee gutter board was set onto and screwed through the copper into the roof deck. Ask this old house general contractor tom silva installs an alternative to a gutter when a traditional one does not work. Hire a local contractor you can trust with your yankee gutter repairs. Also make sure the contractor you choose replaces any dry or rotted wood inside the yankee gutter.

Wood was used as an external element to construct the shell for the gutters while sheets of metal were used to line the interior. Yankee gutters are known for their historic look and elegant aesthetic style. Sheets of metal were used to line the interior of yankee gutters. But that step was just extra insurance.

The earliest examples of yankee gutters employed a combination of wood and metal to construct the body of the system. I always try to encourage preserving original elements even though it might be easier to eliminate the old method for something new and inexpensive. Wood box gutters were the premiere gutter design for the drainage of rain water from roofs in the united states from 1890 to 1925 and can still be found on houses today. Request your free estimate today.

Built in gutters the unseen roof drainage system was specifically chosen to be installed when the home was built thus is part of the original historic character. Yankee gutters are a drainage system inconspicuously built into the roof so that it isn t visible along the roofline of the house.