Rain Gutters Out of 3″ PVC Pipe, DIY How To!

This is a post on how I created gutters for my house using PVC pipe! So, quite awhile ago, I stumbled on to the coolest thing online: Rain gutters made out of 3″ PVC pipe. Since then I cannot find it online ANYWHERE! The only thing I can find online about it is forums of people like me who want to try it and other people telling them to just hire a crew to put up seamless gutters because apparently: we’re all rich. Not that I wouldn’t love to be able to afford seamless gutters!

Initially I was going to just cut the pipe completely in half so one pipe would make two gutters but the more I thought about it the more I realized I wanted a “deeper” gutter then that. I had a buddy come over and give me a hand feeding the pipe through my table saw. It was kind of a pain in the butt and I was glad to have an extra set of hands. I ended up cutting off about 1/3rd of the pipe in one pass.

Step 1: Screwing Your New Gutter Into Place

I used steel screws and went directly into the back INSIDE of the pipe and into the end rafters of my house. I could tell where they were by finding the nail heads on the outside fascia board.

Step 2: Finished Gutters

I am so impressed with them! I’m also pleasantly surprised by how nice they look because with no hangers, no parts, no joints etc. they are totally seamless and no one in my family has even noticed that they’re there lol They work great and I think this is a great alternative to other gutters.

Comments

[fatrick]

This is a very cool idea for replacement of my failed installation of the cheesy plastic gutters and fittings sold at the box stores. Anchorage, Alaska is tough on gutters draining poorly insulated old houses like ours. I may try this using ABS pipe and standard plumbing fittings to transition to downspouts to the foundation drain. Thanks for the idea and cheers!

[GrandmasHouseDIY]

Hi there! We're in northern MN and even after a few brutal winters our PVC gutters are still in good shape and working great! I know lots of people around here whose cheap plastic gutters got ripped right off their houses from ice build up etc so I think these will work for you for sure!

[bradleyjamesdfw]

I've been in gutter biz since 1999. This is awesome idea. I will do this!!

[a1d2]

Couldn't ends and fittings just be made from standard 3" PVC fittings? Also a air ,right angled socket wrench would drive the support screws with ease if used with care.

[GrandmasHouseDIY]

Absolutely, what's great about all the fittings with PVC it would be easy to make the corner and create full down spouts too!

[nocaresmap]

In my wife's village near Madang, Papua New Guinea, they always use PVC pipe for guttering on corrugated iron roofs. They cut a narrow slit along the length of the pipe just wide enough for the corrugations to fit inside the pipe. The narrow strip is then cut into lengths and used to strap the gutter in position. Among other advantages of this type of guttering is that leaves and other debris tent to flow over the top of the guttering rather than fill and clog it, as usually happens with most other types of gutter. No gutter guard needed!

[gm280]

You could have used either Lacquer Thinner or Acetone to simple wipe those marking off instantly. Could have saved you some sanding time. Now you need to work on end caps and down spouts. Otherwise the water pouring out the ends will dig into the ground making some pits.

[onlyHischild]

Downspout those babies into a rain barrel!!!

[GrandmasHouseDIY]

That's exactly the plan!! Thanks :)

[GrandmasHouseDIY]

Thanks for commenting!

[mkrobert]

Just a question. How do you keep the water from backing up into the valley where the two roof lines meet? We removed our gutters because the water backed up into the valley and entered the walls causing much damage, even though they were installed on a grade away from the house and toward the downspouts. There was a diverter at the intersection where the two roof lines and the valley connected so that the water would go equally towards both gutters and not back up into the valley, but it was an epic fail. We have the same problem that you have with the flower beds. As I write this the rain is 'drilling' a hole to China where the valley ends. Southeast Louisiana....need I say more? We have web feet for a reason down here.

[GrandmasHouseDIY]

Hi there! So far we've had a couple of serious rain storms and haven't noticed any problems because when the garters get full they just run over. I'm wondering in trouble areas like this where you live (I know up here in northern MN we don't see anything like the storms that you guys do!) if you made the gutters a lot more shallow. So instead of cutting off 1/4 of the pipe like we did instead cut it completely in half making a much more shallow gutter that would overflow a lot quicker?

[mkrobert]

I'm not sure. I will definitely have to test it out, though. Thanks for the response.