Shared Knowledge

"How to: Mark and Cut K-Style Roof Gutter"

27 October 2011

Summary: key to properly marking where to cut is to use a gutter joiner.

Background:

House gutter comes in either 10 or 16 foot lengths.

But what house gutter run is is exactly 10 or 16 feet?

I prefer to not join or seal roof gutters if I can, so buy the longer length and cut it.

Marking K-style roof gutter:

K-style roof gutter presents a rather unusual problem in creating a straight line to cut.

You can certainly mark the gutter a couple of places and then sort of connect the dots by hand but this method can leave you with a jagged edge that may not take either an end cap or seam joiner very well.

For me the key to getting a good cut line is to use a roof gutter joiner as a straight edge.

So mark the gutter several times to the correct length, double checking you have the marks in the right place.

Then lay the roof gutter joiner over the roof gutter (it is made to install on the outside of the gutter) and line the edge of the joiner up with your pencil marks.

Once you have the joiner all lined up, complete the cut line.

Cutting K-style roof gutter:

Once you have double checked that you have marked the roof gutter in the correct place for cutting, you have several options on how to cut:

- Tin snips. The smaller the better to keep from bending the metal along the cut edge.

- A Dremel tool with a metal cutoff wheel.

- A hacksaw.

- A power saw with a metal cutoff blade.

As you are probably cutting to either join another piece of gutter or to install and end cap, what ever method you use to cut, you want to make the cut as true to your cut line as possible and not have any jagged spots.

I prefer using a Dremel tool with a metal cutoff wheel installed but no matter how you cut the roof gutter make sure the edge does not have any burrs or rough places. A file will help you with this. If the gutter edge is bent, use pliers or other to straight it out.

Click here for more home roof gutter.