Suburban LogoCustomer Testimonials • Customer Service • Search



Call 24 hours 563-391-4000 or toll free 1-800-717-3066


11 Must Read Articles
What Home Improvement Superstores Don't Want You To Know About Your Gutters
By JR Girskis

Gutter Homepage

Gutters are anything but glamorous, but they do serve a valuble purpose: managing rainwater and moisture, and routing it from your roof and away from your house. With a quality gutter system, a house will remain dry, and its siding, doors, windows, and foundation will be thoroughly protected from water damage. Granted, some roofs with broad overhangs do no require gutters, but most roofs do. What home improvement superstores don't want you to know is that their vinyl or plastic gutters they advertise as “Easily installed by anyone ” systems usually are inadequete as far as flow and rain capacity goes. They also must be installed with the correct “ pitch ” or you will experience poor drainage, blockage and erosion of the ground below the gutters.

Before You Buy Your Gutter System

Talk with your neighbors and friends to find out whether they're happy with their current gutters and whether they can recommend a specific type of gutter system. Before investing in gutters, you'll want to consider the pros and cons of the various gutters on the market today:

  • Wood Gutters: Once the most popular gutter system, wood gutters are now fairly rare, except in restoration work. Depending on the wood type, wood gutters can also be very expensive, running anywhere from $12 to $20 per linear foot.

  • Aluminium Gutters: The most common gutters on the market, aluminium gutters hold much more water than wood gutters, although they tend to lose their shape when a ladder is pressed against them. When buying aluminium gutters, be sure to choose the thickest aluminium available. Keep in mind that primary aluminium is usually thicker and more consistent than secondary (recycled) aluminium.

  • Vinyl and Plastic Gutters: You must install these yourself and can be fairly inexpensive. Vinyl and plastic gutters do not rust or rot. One disadvantage, however, is that they can become brittle over time or during harsh winters. Additionally, they usually will leak at the seams over time without constant maintenance. With couplings, hangers, brackets, and downspouts, on average vinyl or plastic gutters will run you $3 to $5 per linear foot. Sometimes this price is in line with a commercial provider without the hassle of doing it yourself.


    Installing Vinyl Gutters
    The following are step-by-step instructions for do-it-yourself vinyl rain gutter installation.

  • Required tools:
    a.) Ladder
    b.) Chalk
    c.) Tape measure
    d.) Levels
    e.) Power drill with screwdriver bits
    f.) Fine-toothed hacksaw
    g.) Galvanized screws
    h.) Vinyl gutter, hangers, elbows, connectors, downspouts, drop outlets, and corners

    To catch run-off water, gutters need to be installed so that the edge of the roof falls over the middle of the gutter. In this position, the gutter will catch any water that flows off the roof. Your gutters should also gently slope from end to end so that rainwater will flow to the downspout and away from your home. If possible, you'll want to position the gutter so that the water flows to a hard surface such as a driveway. After determining the design of your gutters, measure your roof to determine how many gutter pieces you will need. Vinyl gutters usually come in 10-foot sections.

    Next, measure one-half inch from the end of the gutter, away from the downspout and mark the spot with chalk. One-half inch from the downspout location, place another chalk mark; making sure this mark is level with the first one. Snap a chalk line between the two marks. Place your ladder against the house and install the gutter-system components, including drop outlets and corners, from there. Check your manufacturer's instructions to determine how far apart you'll space your mounting brackets or hangers. (Usually this will be between 24 and 30 inches.) Make sure that you align all components with the chalk line you made earlier as your reference line.

    Snap the gutter sections into the hangers or brackets and join the sections with your connectors. With the hacksaw, cut any sections you need to finish the run into the lengths you need. At the bottom of the drop outlet, install the elbows, then cut and install the downspout sections to the drop outlet base and fasten the drop outlet base to the house.

    Before considering doing the work yourself, call a professional regarding installing your gutter system. Installing vinyl gutters may not be as easy as you might think but it may save you a few hundred dollars although your labor is not included.

    For furthur reading please see our Learn the Basics Homepage.


    		•
     


    Proudly serving the Quad City Area; Scoot County, Rock Island County, Bettendorf, Davenport, East Moline, Moline, Rock Island, Sterling, Rock Falls, Muscatine,
    Clinton, Dewitt and surrounding 90 mile radius. Copyright © 1997-2009 by Suburban Construction, Inc. All Rights Reserved

    Iowa Illinois Home Improvement • Quad City Vinyl Replacement Windows • Iowa Vinyl Siding Contractors • Egress Windows • Illinois Gutter Cap
    Learn the Home Improvement Basics - Frequently Asked Questions Service Area Coverage


    Iowa Illinois Home Improvement Contractors Disclaimer: The replacement vinyl window, roofing contractor and vinyl and steel siding installation information presented within this website is for informational purposes only. Please contact us or see our huge showroom to discuss your particular vinyl window, sunroom or siding needs. Specialists of quality replacement windows, siding, sunrooms, roofing, gutter cap, heater cap, entry doors, storm doors and estimates are always free. Who is Suburban Construction? Brian Girskis launched Suburban Construction in 1985 and the family-owned and operated company is growing strong some 25 years and two generations later. His son, J.R. Girskis, is the company president and the third generation was born a few months ago. The Davenport-based company supplies and installs windows, siding and doors for the residential market. In 25 years, Suburban has completed more than 24,000 jobs. “We are always focused on the customer,” said general manager Darin Wilson. “Without the customer, we don’t have a business.” The company was honored as a 2007 Dealer of the Year by Associated Materials Inc., or AMI. “Suburban Construction is a company that definitely goes over and above servicing their customers,” Wayne Fredrick, executive vice president of AMI Sales, said. Working with a large customer base allows Suburban to purchase and buy goods for substantially less then its competitors, Wilson said. “We’re one of the only companies in the nation that offers a lifetime warranty on the product after we install it,” he said. The company doesn’t make money if things go wrong after the installation so crews make sure the job is done properly, he said. With energy conservation such a huge concern, products offered have the Energy Star rating so homeowners see savings on their energy bills. “With today’s home market being so inconsistent, it’s easier to have someone come in and give you a new home on top of your current home rather than having to pack up all your stuff,” he said. For example, by installing new insulated siding, Wilson added, an older home can essentially be turned into a new residence. Founder Brian Girskis still keeps a hand in the business. He was in the manufacturing and wholesale end of the industry in the 1970s and 1980s and distributed material to companies similar to Suburban. “I saw they weren’t generating any repeat business. I learned what not to do from those other people,” Girskis said. “Most of our business is referral business and that’s what we want to keep.” The office and showroom originally were based in downtown Bettendorf. Girskis relocated the company to Davenport in 1995. His decision to specialize in windows, siding and doors was based on two factors: getting better buying power that is passed onto the consumer and building something of value, Girskis said. “We try to do a Cadillac for the price of a Chevy. I’m very satisfied but we’re always looking to do better,” he said. Products Suburban Construction specializes in: Replacement Windows from AMI – Suburban Construction and quality windows by Associated Materials Incorporated, set the standard by which other replacement windows are measured. Innovation has resulted in a collection of windows that are designed and engineered to provide beauty, performance, ease of operation, virtually no maintenance, and increased energy-efficiency. You want a fair price. Don’t be misled by others offering replacement windows for a cheap price. Often times, this is a low-end window you might use for a garage, not your home. Usually, this cheap price doesn’t include measuring charges, custom sizing, replacing rotten wood, insulating inside weight cavities and around perimeters, or covering the outside window trim with maintenance-free aluminum and sealant. At Suburban, you always get a complete installation without any hidden costs. Gutter Cap is a must for the bitter midwest winters! Ice and snow build up in gutters, causing gutter seams to break! In addition, the weight of heavy snow causes gutters to loosen while the back up of ice behind gutters causes moisture damage to fascia. · The Gutter Cap combines surface tension with “capillary action!” This patented design allows rainwater to adhere to the dome of the cap while leaves and debris blow OFF the roof. · Your existing gutter is a free flowing drainage system with Gutter Cap. · Gutter Cap saves you the time, hassle & DANGER of cleaning Gutters…plus saves you upwards of thousands of dollars in damage each year! Some vinyl siding has a reputation for being flimsy, which not only make is awkard to handle and install, but caused problems with sagging and uneven walls long after installation. The Freedom Vinyl Siding from Suburban Construction is designed to help eliminate wavy lines and uneven walls. This leads to the production of a superior finished quality that really lasts. The Freedom Viny Collection is Designed with optimal performance and outstanding beauty. Loaded with premium features, Freedom Premium Vinyl Siding boasts a premium thickness. Freedom Premium Vinyl Siding from Suburban is the best investment you can make in your home and is perfect for every siding project. Wood doors aren't very energy efficient. They also crack, swell, warp and rot, leading to frequent maintenace. Steel doors are more durable, but they easily dent, ding and rust. And if a door's parts aren't designed as a system, they won't work well together or stand the test of time. A fiberglass door simply outperforms wood and steel doors. It won't crack, swell, rot, dent, ding or rust - so it's virtually maintenance free. And only Therma-Tru fiberglass entryways offer full door systems designed, built and tested to the industry's highest standards. You may consider the addition of storm doors to be an unnecessary expense, and may even believe that adding storm doors will decrease the beauty of your home or bring down its market value. Many realtors agree, however, that the addition of storm doors can actually improve your home’s market value, as storm doors will help, in general, to improve your home’s energy efficiency. Energy zoning with triple pane freedom maxx 10 windows can help save you great money. Sun Clean Glass® is a new self cleaning glass technology created by PPG industries. It uses a durable transparent coating that is fused to the surface of the glass with high temperatures during the production of the glass. This glass is available in almost all Suburban Construction replacement windows with one goal in mind, that you spend less time cleaning your windows and more time doing the things you love.

    Download Windows Media Player 11

    Download QuickTime