Bumped into a retired roofer at Home Depot who changed how I see my gutters

I was grabbing downspout extensions last Saturday at the South Common Home Depot, and this older guy stopped me. He pointed out my cart had the wrong clips for Edmonton snow loads and spent 10 minutes explaining his 30 years of ice dam repairs. Said he'd seen too many homes with gutter damage from cheap plastic parts. Has anyone else had a random stranger save them from a big mistake on a home project?

3 comments

3 Comments

abbycraig19d ago

My buddy almost put the wrong size downspout adapters on his brand new house last spring. Some guy at the lumber yard told him the ones he grabbed would crack by November, then walked him over to the heavy duty aluminum ones that actually fit the brackets he had. Saved him from having water pooling up against his foundation all winter.

adam_thomas19d agoMost Upvoted

Man, that lumber yard guy saved his bacon. Glad your buddy had someone who actually knew what they were talking about, @abbycraig.

jamieburns19d ago

Wait, wasn't that November thing actually because of the plastic shrinking and getting brittle in the cold? I feel like I've heard that the cheap PVC ones get really stiff and crack when it drops below freezing, but the heavy duty aluminum ones expand and contract better. Either way, sounds like that guy saved him a ton of hassle with the water damage thing, especially if it was pooling right up against the foundation.