Plastic vs Vinyl Gutter Systems: Why Professional Installers Never Use Them

Plastic vs Vinyl Gutters: Why Pros Avoid Both Options

Everything Gutter president Jimmy DeHart Sr explains why professional gutter installers never use plastic or vinyl gutter systems, showing actual samples removed from a five-year-old DIY installation that never functioned correctly.

Jimmy DeHart does not soften his position on plastic guttering. His company 100 percent does not recommend plastic guttering. It is not a material that is going to last. In 20-plus years of professional gutter installation, he says you will never find a trained gutter contractor installing plastic or vinyl gutter systems. The only time plastic gutters appear on a house is when a homeowner attempted a DIY installation without the right information, or when a general handyman did the job without understanding why professional-grade materials matter.

The appeal of plastic gutters is easy to understand. They are available at every Home Depot and Lowe's. They are significantly cheaper than seamless aluminum. The packaging and online tutorials make installation look straightforward. The problem is that they do not work, not in the long term, and often not even past the first year.

What Plastic Gutters Look Like After Five Years

Jimmy DeHart shows samples he removed from an actual installation: a plastic downspout and a section of plastic gutter that had been on a home for about five years. The homeowner had done the installation himself, spent a significant amount on materials, and then lived with gutters that never functioned correctly from the first rain onward.

The gutter section tells the story. The interior is stained dark from constantly holding standing water and wet debris. The homeowner reported that the gutters overflowed during every heavy rain, and often during moderate rain, whether they were clean or not. The fundamental problem is the seams. Plastic gutter sections come in fixed lengths, typically 10 feet, and have to be joined together with connectors. A typical house might need a dozen or more seam connections. Every seam is a potential leak point, and plastic gutter seams are particularly difficult to keep sealed because the material expands and contracts significantly with temperature changes. The sealant eventually separates from the plastic, and water finds its way through. Jimmy DeHart describes the number of seams in a plastic gutter system as astronomical and almost impossible to keep sealed.

Why Aluminum Seamless Gutters Are the Standard

The alternative Jimmy DeHart recommends is seamless aluminum guttering, the standard material for professional installations across the country. Seamless gutters are fabricated on-site from a coil of aluminum using a portable machine that extrudes the gutter profile in a single continuous piece. A run of 20 feet, 40 feet, or even 100 feet comes out as one seamless channel. The only joints in the system are at the corners and at the downspout connections, not every 10 feet along the gutter run.

Aluminum gutters last 20, 30, or even 40 years with proper maintenance. They do not rust. They do not warp or sag under normal conditions if properly supported with reinforced hangers at the correct spacing. They hold paint well if the homeowner wants a colored finish, and they are available in a range of factory-applied colors that do not require painting. The absence of mid-run seams eliminates the most common failure point of sectional gutter systems.

The cost difference between a DIY plastic gutter installation and a professional seamless aluminum installation is real, but Jimmy DeHart frames it as a false savings. A homeowner who installs plastic gutters spends hundreds on materials and a weekend on labor, only to have gutters that leak from day one and need to be replaced within a few years. The same homeowner could apply that money toward a professional seamless aluminum installation that functions correctly for decades. Paying once for a system that works is cheaper than paying for a system that does not, then paying again to have it replaced.

When DIY Makes Sense and When It Does Not

Jimmy DeHart is not opposed to DIY gutter work in principle. He points viewers to his own channel for tutorials on how to install aluminum gutters and downspouts properly. The distinction he draws is not between DIY and professional installation. It is between using materials that work and materials that do not. A homeowner with reasonable mechanical skills can buy seamless aluminum components or sectional aluminum gutter systems that, while not as durable as professionally fabricated seamless gutters, will still outperform plastic by a wide margin. For homeowners who would rather hire the job out, Jimmy DeHart recommends getting at least two to three quotes and asking specifically about the material.

For more on gutter decisions, the gutter hanger types guide covers proper attachment hardware. The guide to fixing water leaks behind gutters addresses the most common gutter leak problems. Homeowners in the West Grove, Pennsylvania area can reach Everything Gutter at everythinggutter.com.  In all other areas click here for Gutter Materials and Installation or Call: (725) 278-6174

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