![]() ![]() Seamless half-round is now available, and many custom homes prefer a traditional look for their gutters. ![]() But now, in the last five to seven years, half-round gutters have made a comeback. Also, people figured seamless gutters had fewer seams and fewer leaks. When K-style gutters were introduced in the 1950s and 60s, he says, they were a good fit for the ranch-style homes that were being built then. After all, he points out, half-rounds are the original gutter.Ĭopper GuttersBefore 1950, Milliman explains, most gutters were half-rounds. Many designs have been around for more than a century. Even though half-rounds are only 10 percent of the national market, he adds, the gutters are an upscale product and so an array of decorative accessories is available.Īt RainTrade, for example, Mike Milliman notes the company does a brisk business in ornamental hangers, brackets, downspouts, end caps, outlets, conductor heads, and finials. One of the beauties of half-round gutters is that they match almost any style of architecture, from historic to modern, Green continues. From its Utah base, Retro Design is involved with custom homes in upscale resort areas such as Sun Valley and Park City, where copper half-round gutters are favored. Yet local market shares for half-round gutters can vary significantly by region. Green affirms that half-round gutter machines cost between $30,000 and $35,000, in large part because the half-round machines only serve about 10 percent of the gutter market the other 90 percent of the market is K-style gutters. Our installed price for an aluminum gutter is about $2.50 to $3 per foot, compared to $18 to $20 for copper half-round gutters, says Richard Green, president of Retro Design Inc., Murray, Utah, a manufacturer and distributor of roofing and gutter products. Nevertheless, the primary market for half-round gutters remains upscale residences. So the price of half-round gutters will also come down and more homeowners will buy them. But as more half-round gutters are sold, more machines will be made and the price of the machines may come down. As service manager Bill Davis of Jobsite Inc., a gutter machine manufacturer based in Grand Junction, Colo., points out, Not many people start up a gutter company by buying a half-round machine. Of course, traditional copper half-round gutters avoid the problem altogether since the metal is not painted on either side.Īlong with the availability of aluminum half-round gutters with inside beads, another factor may soon drive increased sales of the product. By contrast, with an outside bead the backside of the coil is rolled outward where people can see it, and so the metal would have to be colored on both sides, he adds. Also, the reverse bead means the coil only needs to be painted on one side, since the back side of the coil isn't exposed. So installers can use hidden hangers to put up the gutter, like they do with K-style gutters. Outward-rolling beads are therefore favored on historic residences and on new upscale homes that emulate a traditional look.īut in the last five years, says Milliman, seamless gutters with reverse (inward-rolling) beads have come on the market. Historically the bead has been rolled outward so that the gutter trough can sit in a semicircular wrap-around hanger. One factor driving the emergence of half-round gutters into the mid-range housing market is the introduction of half-rounds in which a lip or bead is rolled inward. With all the colors now available for half-round gutters, it gives builders and homeowners another option, says Ben Bell, national sales manager for Gutter Suppliers, an Atlanta firm that supplies residential and commercial contractors. In a competitive housing market, anything that distinguishes one new home from another can be an advantage for developers. Today you can get aluminum half-round gutters in as many color choices as K-style gutters, so mid-range homes can have the upscale look of half-round gutters, explains Mike Milliman, co-owner of RainTrade Corporation, a national gutter supply company based in Lake Bluff, Ill. Half-rounds are generating full profits for gutter installers who install the products on upscale homes.Copper Gutters Now half-round gutters also are coming into their own as a seamless aluminum alternative for moderately priced residences. Old gutter style updated for today's market
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