What gauge aluminum should you use when installing new eavestroughs?

 When considering buying or replacing your home's eavestroughs, the first questions are often, "What company should I hire and who can I trust to give me the best workmanship?" Of course, you want a fair price as well but a fair price should never mean the cheapest price. Years ago, my wife and I hired a carpenter to re-frame our basement. We were fairly new home owners and our budget was tight. We hired a company who was incredibly cheap on their price and it took only a few days to find out why. This "carpenter" had no clue what he was doing!" We ended up firing him, ripping the whole job apart and starting over with someone more expensive who was spectacular! 

At the end of the day, the saying is true, "You get what you pay for."

When it comes to eavestroughs, it is important to proceed with caution and research the company you are hiring very well. Our industry has its share of "fly by night" companies and installers. In the last two years since Covid began, the supply chain disrupted, and high inflation has occurred the cost of our materials are up around 200%. This has caused us to increase our price dramatically because WE WILL ONLY  install quality products from Gentek, Kaycan, or Royal or Alu-Rex. All of these are Canadian manufacturers. These companies provide thick, heavy gauge aluminum which range between .024 to .027 gauge. 

However, a few companies, in order to save money have begun to buy materials from a company bringing in an extremely thin gauge material manufactured from overseas. This thin gauge aluminum has been used on new home construction for the past 10 years. It's cheap! It's cheap in price and it's cheap in quality. I've seen this material and handled it. It's not just thin, IT'S RAZOR THIN! One of their salesman recently tried to sell me on the product. He told me the benefits for my company using his material and how it would boost my profit margin. At the end of his canned presentation, he asked what I thought. I communicated two things to him: 1. His material was so thin I could wrap a sandwich in it, and 2. The downpipes were so thin I could squeeze and crush them like an aluminum Pepsi can! The sales presentation ended there.

To be clear, I am not interested in installing any material that is not quality and will stand the test of time! The heavy gauge material we use has great durability, look newer longer, and will stand the test of time. Here is a house in Ancaster, Ontario we did about 15 years ago that still looks great!

With the thin gauge of aluminum being offered these days, you will be lucky to have the eavestrough system survive for 10 years and 5 years is more likely. It has a very difficult time handling the snow loads we get in Canada combined with the expansion/contraction of heat and cold.

So who should you hire and what gauge of aluminum should you use? You make the choice, but I would choose quality and reputation when making my decision.

If you would like a quote from us for a quality job EVERYTIME, call us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at The Eavestrough Company .

You can also look at our online Google reviews by typing in our name on Google, read our over 300 awesome Home Stars reviews here: Home Stars , or look at our profile on the Better Business Bureau: Better Business Bureau .

We will ALWAYS give you quality work at a fair price and stand behind our amazing warranty!