How to tell if a gutter installation job is bad
Contractors sometimes leave large gaps in downspout adapters and poor connections that fail to direct water away from the foundation. This leaves homeowners uncertain whether they should withhold final payment or demand fixes to prevent basement water intrusion.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Asking a friend for a second opinion
- 2Contacting the contractor to request corrections
- 3Seeking input and opinions on online forums
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I recently had buried downspouts installed because I'm dealing with water intrusion along one basement wall and am trying to make sure the exterior drainage is actually moving water away from the foundation.”source ↗
“I noticed that the square downspout does not fit snugly into the PVC adapter. There is a fairly large open gap around the downspout, large enough that I can put my fingers into the opening.”source ↗
“So where does one go from here? I guess email them and ask how that happened and how they can fix it.”source ↗
“I posted what I was thought was a failed gutter and gutter guard installation earlier this week and was told in no uncertain terms that it was a terrible job.”source ↗
“Should I stop complaining and go ahead and pay what I owe or should I ask them to address these issues?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2How close together should gutter hangers be?