The Olson Gutter Replacement & Copper Ridge Caps

Photo & Details Page (9-07)
7230 S. E. 13th, Portland, Oregon

 Updated 11-22-2007

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Cost breakdown:
$3,032.90 - Aluminum Gutters & Downspouts
$1,197.00 - No-clog Features
$   496.00 - Intake Roof Vent Screening
$   425.00 - Painted 2x12 Replacement Wall Cap Boards Over Garage
$   633.75 - Custom Aluminum Wall Cap Over Garage
$2,485.44 - Copper Ridge Caps for Moss Control
$   418.50 - Roof Transition Flashing

$8,688.59 - Total

These are a few before and after shots side by side to compare.

This house is owned by Jory Olson.  We managed to work all this out on-line without having met with the client or seeing the house in person. These before photos were sent to me by the client through e-mail for the bidding process on-line to show me the problems he was having and to find out if I had the solutions he needed.

I took about a 100 photos to share with the Jory through this process over e-mail each night, since he worked such long hours and we rarely met. Even when I was still there after 8PM working. Below are about 70 of the more relevant photos to show you in detail how this went together. Each thumbnail here is a link to a full screen image for a closer look.

The Original bid was for $4,558, but the client was also interested in some copper ridge caps and flashing for moss control. Also he needed screens covering the gaps over the fascia boards to keep the squirrels out of his attack space.

Then after I had started he asked me to look into a leak problem he had with the wall cap around the flat roof over the garage. All this nearly doubled the cost of the work I was prepared to do and pushed my schedule out even further. I try to factor these sort of unexpected delays into my time-line for new clients, but it is impossible to predict just what might come up.

On the first day of this job I picked up the materials from my supplier and drove to Jory's house to removed the gutters and get the exact measurements. He left the second 1/3 payment under the door mat for me. We still had not met face to face.

After I had removed the gutters and examined the fascia boards I noticed how the fascia boards were designed to have a gap over the top for the intake of the roof ventilation. This is not a common design detail, but an asset. Although one of the problems with this is how it allows critters to get in and nest inside the eaves without a strong screen to keep them out. They had even chewed holes in several corner areas for better access.

The client had tried to cover these holes with window screen, steel wool, and finally steel nailing plates. I suggested having me cover these gaps with the sturdy leaf screen I use slit down the middle, since it did not need to be that wide.

I spent the next few days getting all the gutters and Leaf-catchers processed in my shop. I was able to prep all 30 corners and seal 23 of them before bringing them to the job site.

These are the satin Colonial Blue pre-painted aluminum gutters to match the trim color with Sea Blue painted downspouts to match the house paint. They are a little lighter in color. They would be closer in color, but the house could use a scrubbing.

They are to replace the old rusty steel gutters he had that were installed poorly and causing him such grief.

I arrived with the second batch of gutters along with the copper ridge caps in the trailer. There was about 275' of gutters plus the downspout footage. This house was designed to have 30 corners to make just 7 connected gutter sections.

We redesigned it to be 8 separate gutters with at least one downspout for each gutter and moved some DS to different locations for better drainage. Below right is a close-up shot of the screen and the Monster Hidden Hanger I use with a pair of stainless steel screws in each.

We broke it up with our unique expansion joint system I use. This is primarily to relieve the tension off of the corners of the longer gutter section, so they will be a lot less likely years down the road to be compromised. The reason is because the change in temperature that causes the metal gutters to expand and contract differently than the wood structure. Even if it is just a slight difference; it would end up ripping the corner seal open and causing them to leak.

The front upper gutter is split in the middle and capped off at each end. I then cover the endcaps so the rain will not dribble between them. I then cover these endcaps from underneath with this 1' section of gutter to hide this gap. This also make the gutters more modular, so if a large branch were to fall and damage a gutter, they would have much less gutter to replace.

These are the black powder bake steel hinged leaf screens I use. They have a clip/hinge every 1' that snaps onto the outer lip of the gutter and the back side lays over the shingles. I have not found a source for stainless steel screens, and since they would be just as expensive as copper, there is no point. Aluminum screens would be too fragile and too light, getting blown open in the wind. These are the best product I have found that has a reasonable cost. Copper screens can be used, but they are twice the cost, so few clients desire gutter covers that badly, since they would then be more expensive than the new gutters.

This shows the larger 3x4 No-clog outlets with the reducers that bring it down to a standard size 2x3 downspout with the Leaf-catchers I make down lower in the DS. After I was all finished and it had a good chance to rain the client was concerned about the storm drain pipe taking all this rain water in this particular front left corner, so I set a plate of aluminum in the bottom of the gutter over the outlet to slow the water passing through and divert most of it around back to the other downspout. That plate of metal is just loose, so he can pull it back out when he has the storm drain pipe fixed.

Here is shots of the front entryway.

The 3" x 4" outlets are about 3 times larger than the outlets he had in his gutters we removed, That makes them far less likely to jam up with the debris commonly found in gutter systems. Mr. Olson now has my 15 year installation warranty with my 15 year No-clog warranty on his new gutter system I installed.

The Leaf-catchers I make and install to strain out the debris to help keep the sewer pipes clear. I attach them to the siding with our exclusive .063 thick aluminum pipe-cleat brackets that are firmly attached to the back of the downspout with 6 aluminum rivets on each. Yet these downspouts are still easily removable with the pair of #3 Philips stainless steel screws with a wide dome shape carriage head.

The Copper Roof Ridge Cap & Flashing Work

This was the large 3' x 10' sheets of the thicker 20oz copper sheet metal I use for my custom copper work. I was able to slit it longwise to make the ridge caps for his house. I used 20" wide sheets for the main roof ridge cap and the remaining 16" wide sheets for the smaller roof sections and roof flashing.

Here they are all bent to shape and ready for installation. I had predrilled the screw holes every 2' on both sides.

This shows the main copper ridge cap being installed. I attached this 2x3 in the center peak to help give the ridge cap support in the middle. The bends here not only make the ridge cap look more decorative, but it adds a lot of strength to them, so they will not look warped after installed.

I use #14 carriage head stainless steel screws on each side spaced 2' apart. I had predrilled the screw holes, so the screws would not dent the metal so much. Then added a dab of the special caulk under each screw hole just before installation. The caulk will coat the screw threads as it is driven down through the shingles into the wood below. These ridge caps and screws will be reusable each time the house needs reroofed.

Here I am pulling the protective plastic film off the copper before I can overlap the next section.

These clearly shows how the zinc galvanized roof vents had kept the roof free of moss and even mildew on the roofing shingles just below them, but the plastic roof vents do not help this at all. This is why zinc is commonly used for moss control, since it is a lot cheaper than copper, but far too soft of a metal to use as a ridge cap.

The seams are overlapped 6", so there is no chance the rain could get under the ridge cap metal. I did not want to caulk between the overlapping seams, since that would make it very difficult for the next roofers to remove them without damage, so they can reuse them over again.

Here is some of the roofing transition flashing being replaced with a larger section of copper sheet metal than the old flashing. Also, I was able to install it with stainless steel screws that are hidden under the roofing shingles, in stead of the exposed rusty nails he had holding in the old steel flashing on before.

Here is the new copper hip cap I installed over the garage roof in back. You can also see the tray I custom made for the downspout water run-off, instead of using a DS pipe over the shingles.

Here is the other trays I mounted over the roofing with stainless steel screws to channel the rain water down to the lower gutter.

He had some problems with some leaks through the siding on the garage. He asked me to investigate the cause. The steel cap metal over the wall surrounding the garage flat roof was not old or rusty yet, but several of the nails holding it down had come loose and it was leaking between the overlapping seams as well, because they made it just flat. I put in the copper flashing (seen above) to fix the problem with the warped siding that had shrunk and would not go back in place again to seal the outside of the wall.

 The rusty steel flashing (right) they had here was just a drip edge metal flipped over and no sealant was used. This flashing should never have been used here. It was too small, but it shows how the roofer did not care to do it right.

The Aluminum Garage Wall Cap Work

Here is some close-up shots of the dry-rot I found after removing the cap metal. Several of the boards were terribly cracked and split.

I can see how they had nailed on both sides of this split at an angle, which clearly shows how the last contractor working on this had intentionally put these defective boards back on when they had re-roofed the garage.

I wound up needing to replace over half of these boards. I still primed and painted the new boards even though they were going to be covered up far better than these boards were.

They did some funky things with the outer boards here in this corner over the wood moldings. It was a challenge to figure out how to make this all match up just right. I had to use thinner boards across the back side.

I then discussed options to solve the leak issue. I suggested making a set of new cap metal, made with pre-painted aluminum, bent to have a rise down the center to shed the rain and debris off either side.

Here is some of the parts laying on the flat roof with the tools. I used hundreds of long deck screws to attach the new boards and some to help hold down the old boards that were not rotten.

This shows the special white caulk I used where the flat roof was at the highest point to make sure stormy weather would not be able to blow rain water up under the new boards. They had cut the flat roofing in the corner, so now it is finally getting caulked.

Here are the boards being set in place with the top board in the center to support the ridge of the new aluminum cover.

Here is the 2 back corners covered. The upper photo is the corner that was not yet sealed and fastened down.

The 15" wide aluminum gutter coil was just barely wide enough to form this cap metal. It would be nice if it were an inch wider for a little better drip edge

I used small head stainless steel nails on the outer side and some dome head stainless steel screws on the inside to hold this metal down tight.

There is aluminum rivets holding the corner seams together. The caulk is hidden between the overlapping seams.

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Below is a photo of our
Better Business Bureau's
NW Business Integrity Award
for the year 1998

1999 Better Business Award

We were also a 1997 finalist for this same award. See our referral web page to see how we managed to be honored with this special award

 

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