Gutters and downspouts are made from wood, vinyl, and several metals, including aluminum, galvanized steel, stainless steel and copper. Wood gutters are virtually obsolete, except for their use in restoration work.

You can buy vinyl gutters at home improvement centers as do-it-yourself systems; professional gutter installers will also install them. Sheet metal shops and gutter specialists make and install most metal gutters.

Do-it-yourself metal and vinyl types, called sectional gutters, are fitted together from 10- to 22-foot-long prepainted gutter sections and a variety of corner connectors, end caps, and other components.

Lightweight and simply snapped or glued together, vinyl gutter systems are favored by do-it-yourselfers. Professionally installed seamless gutters are extruded from precoated aluminum in very long single runs at the site.

A gutter’s profile depends on the material it’s made from. Wooden gutters are milled; sheet-metal gutters are formed; aluminum and vinyl gutters are extruded.

Sectional types are sold or installed as component systems—preformed channels, 10 to 22 feet long, with matching corners, end caps, connectors, drop outlets, downspouts, and other fittings.

They’re made of prepainted steel, galvanized steel, or painted aluminum or vinyl. All do-it-yourself gutter systems fall into this category; many professionals install them as well.

Seamless gutters, today’s most popular type, are extruded from metal “coil” stock, using a special machine that’s brought to your home by a gutter fabricator. As their name implies, they don’t have potentially leaky seams along their lengths—their biggest selling point. The lengths join to inside and outside corner components and downspout outlets. Seamless gutters are usually formed from aluminum that has a baked-on finish, but they may be made from copper or factory-painted steel.

Depending upon the type of system, gutters are either hung from the sheathing along the eaves before the roof is shingled or nailed to the fascia with a clip hanger or spike-and-ferrule hanger (rooftop hangers are more secure and less visible).

Be sure your downspouts expel water well away from your house. If necessary, add downspout extenders that run horizontally and carry the water away from the house. Also consider concrete or plastic splashblocks that are slightly sloped and extend away from the house at least 4 feet.

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