What gauge aluminum should you use?

When it comes to installing eavestrough, I am often asked about what gauge we use. There are 3 thicknesses of aluminium that are used for eavestrough:

1. .02395 gauge is most commonly used as it has the widest colour selection and can hold up to most residential applications. It is available in about 35 different colours from our supplier (Gentek, Boncor, or Kaycan)

2. .027 gauge is slightly thicker than the .023 and is available only by a few suppliers in very few colours.

3. 0.32 of an inch which is the thickest aluminium that our machines can form. We provide this only for 6 inch eavestrough and is not necessary for 5" eavestrough.

We can check the thickness of aluminium using a digital calliper as shown below:

The most common gauge I use is the .02395 gauge for 5" eavestrough. It is plenty thick enough to handle heave snow loads. I use only the thicker gauges upon request. In reality, with any one of these thicknesses, your eavestroughs will only be as strong as the distance of spacing between your brackets. Once I had to replace eavestroughs for a customer that were not too old. However, they were badly dented and sagging. When I got up to take a look, their brackets were spaced about 3-4 feet apart. That is just too far! Brackets should be no further than 18" apart.  At customers requests, I have spaced them 12" to 16" apart. This does increase the cost a nominal amount but these customers wanted it for peace of mind.

See a quality hanger with a large deep screw that will not come loose from the wood fascia.

An excellent to substantially increase the strength of any gauge eavestrough is to add a leaf gaurd/bracket system like the AluRex T-Rex. It comes in 7 1/2 foot long pieces and snaps into the eavestrough before the eavestroughs are secured on the home.

It should be noted that although AluRex is the best way to strengthen your eavestroughs, it has its deficiencies as a gutter protection. I have found AluRex has great difficulty with coniferous trees such as pine and spruce needles.  However, it is a great product with all deciduous trees (even those little helicopter seeds are no problem). Please read my blog post on Eavestrough protection in regards to roof valley issues.

There you have it. The answer to the question is that any of the above gauges will suit you fine. It is mostly dependent on bracket use. Get a good bracket and space them close together and your eavestroughs will last years. Install AluRex and they will be near bullet proof!

As a cautionary note, make sure you hire a reputable company that uses aluminum from one of the main suppliers. There is a material available coming out of Toronto that is selling aluminum in a .15 gauge material that is as thin as paper! I saw it and got a sample. It is razor thin! Sure I can buy it cheaper, but at what cost? The material is terrible! The downpipes are also razor thin!

 If you live in the Burlington/Oakville, Mississauga, or Greater Hamilton area and would like a quote for a professionally installed and quality Eavestrough System, please call The Eavestrough Company office at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com