How To Install a DOWNSPOUT on a BRICK house
Downspouts often times get damaged. In cities they are connected to the street storm system and they must maintain that or they will fail inspections. We see this a lot. Maybe you have a bent, broken, or disconnected downspout. If so, we hope that this video helps you.
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Transcript:
How to Install a Downspout on a Brick House
Good to see you again, Jeff, with Home Rehab Pros. Uh, we have another project we have to do today. This is a city fail, and as you can see, there's an issue with the downspout on the gutter. So, what the city had flagged was the fact that the cap was destroyed where the downspout is supposed to go into. So, we have to replace that. Uh, we have to replace the downspout here, and we're going to show you how to do that.
But before we do that, what we're going to do is go over some of the things that you need. First and foremost, I have another downspout to be able to do that. Then, the tools we're going to have and another component: we have the cap that we're going to replace. This is a four-inch cap because it's a four-inch drain pipe, and that is standard for that size downspout. They do make bigger ones for commercial applications, but this is residential, so this is what we need.
I also have these straps that I'm going to use. They mount to the wall, and then the gutter fits inside that. Then we screw that gutter to those braces. I have quarter-inch gutter screws, and what I like to use is a quarter-inch driver because these are Phillips head. But the driver tends to get a better bite on it and it allows us to drill through that aluminum pretty quickly and cleanly. I have a hand driver also, if I need it. That's a quarter inch. Tape measure, marker. I'm going to use mollies to be able to put these brackets on the side of the brick house. You can use concrete nails since it's brick, but I'm not going to use those today. So, I have a chop saw that I'm going to cut the gutter with. You could also, if you had, most people use a hacksaw or even a grinder, uh, to be able to cut the aluminum, but it's going to be quicker for me today just to do this, so that's what I'm going to do.
And, of course, I have a hammer. I have a hammer drill. And, of course, I have... not... this available long enough. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to see how deep this goes. So, that is 12 inches down. So, I want this downspout to go into the cap nicely. This is just too short, so I'm going to add another 4 inches for what I'm going to cut.
I'm going to see what they had here because I'm basically going to do the same thing. So, I'm going to... I've got 92 inches, so we're going to cut this piece 96 inches. We're going to go eight feet. So, I'm going to take this down. I'm going to use my hand driver, a quarter inch, and I'm going to unscrew this. There we go. I'm not going to make a straight cut on this because for it to have... it's set against that wall and then to go out to the downspout where it attaches to the gutter, it has to have a little bit of an angle to set right.
We can't use typically use these extensions, these curved extensions, but this soffit is not far enough off the house to be able to use those. So, we're just going to cut the gutter to be able to get it where it needs to be. Oh, and one other thing too, on a downspout, you have a side that is not crimped, but then you have an end of this, and you can see that here how this tapers in because that way it's able to fit in typically to those extensions. But, because I need to get this on the coupler for the gutter, I have to have the open end that would be an appropriate size to get over that. So, we're going to leave the tapered end, go down.
I'm going to do my 96. Gonna make a mark right on the side here. That's what I'm going to do, is I'm going to set it up here, and I'm actually going to run this at a 30-degree angle. Like I said, we have to have an angle there. It could be as much as 45, it could be as little as like a 22. I'm going to do 30 here because of the pitch that we have there.
Okay, so there we go. We have our pitch. And see how this looks when I do this. First of all, I'm going to put the gutter cap on. It's on very nicely. Put this side to the house because we want to attach that gutter to the side wall here. Right in there. See how we've got that? Now it's cut in. It goes very nicely, very nicely in there. Right about tightly here. I'm going to mark that.
Okay, so we put the cap on. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to just... a little bit. You see how it slips right down in there? All right, now this is good because I got to do a couple of things. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to make a couple marks to where I'm going to put my brackets, and I'm going to take that back out again.
So I'm going to have a bracket. I'm going to make a mark here and a mark on the other side. You can pretty much do these where you want to, but I'm just going to do this. I'm good with one here and one here, you know, a couple feet apart. I'm going to make a mark here, mark here on the other side. I'm going to take this back out.
I'm going to take my bracket, because I know I'm going to use that center hole to attach this. This will go on. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to mark the center there, right in the mortar, and then the next one.
I'm going to do the same thing in the morning. Okay, so now take my drill. This is a quarter-inch bit, because with that, that's what this size molly requires to be able to put that in. Depending on the size of the molly you use, that'll determine the size of the bit you use, but they'll usually tell you on your package, and they come a lot of times with a bit in your package, so make sure.
This is on hammer mode, and I'm going to put first. I make sure you go deep enough, and I'm going to use one of these. You don't need a big screw in there, so I'm using the smaller one, the white one, screw that comes for the white. Put that in there. Pushes right in. Take the bracket, my drill, and I'm going to set that. You don't want to go too hard with it because you'll bend the bracket in the gap, so there I just snugged it up. That's not going anywhere.
So, I'll do the next one. So, it's been pretty easy. Move this out of the way. Next valley, appropriate. Again, we're gentle with it. We don't overly torque it. Make it snug. There you go. It's snug and we haven't damaged it by going too hard, so we're all good there.
Put it down. I'm not going to attach it yet. See how nicely aligned it is with the brackets there? It went in very nicely, actually. So now I'm not going to have to do anything. This is our cut, which allows it to bend over like this into the gutter downspout. We're going to do that, and I'll put it in and then I'm going to angle it up and now bring it up and we are attached. So, there we are. It's all set. I'm going to screw it in. I'll start at the top.
Change my Phillips head to my driver. I'm going to take my screws up first thing. First thing I'm going to do is take a couple out here. So, I'm going to go into the two sides. I'm going to go from the side to the side, and I'm going to keep it to the top and see how that attached. I'll do that repeat on the other side. Got to kind of hold on to these because these screws aren't magnet-friendly. So, I got to apply a little pressure. See there you go. They drop very easily. There we go. Got that one.
I'm going to take and attach my brackets. You've got a preset hole there. There we go. Tightened it right up. You don't have to over-tighten these. On the other side here, it's nicely. Repeat on the other side, and then now I'm going to go back up, and I'm going to screw the top piece to the gutter.
Well, there you have it. You have a gutter that will pass the city inspection. Thank you for watching. Hope this can be helpful to you. If you liked what you saw, please hit like, and if you liked it, share it with someone if you can, and make sure you subscribe, and you help us out by doing so. We certainly like to help you in accomplishing the things that you need to do. So, let us know if you have any questions. Just message us, and we'll respond. Thank you again for watching. We'll see you next time.