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How to Repair a Downspout Video

Does your aluminum gutter or downspout leak? Or do you need to remove them temporarily while painting your house? All you need is a drill with a 1/8 inch drill bit. Most of these aluminum downspouts are held together with a pop rivet. Center the drill bit in the hole in the pop rivet and drill it out. Once the pop rivet has been removed, the downspout can be disassembled.

When it is time to reinstall it, you will need a pop rivet gun and some aluminum rivets. Get the colored pop rivets that match your work and they will blend right in. The holes are already drilled in the downspout and the house. This makes putting them back up very easy.

This video was featured as the Tip of the Week in the May 28, 2014 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.

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4 Responses to How to Repair a Downspout Video

  1. Mike Smith says:

    Hi Tim, I just watched the "How to Fix A Leaky Gutter" video. Great advice, but I do have an observation...or two.
    1. If water is pooling at a joint like the corner you fixed in the video, doesn't that mean it is not sloped correctly, so as to drain?
    2. If I am correct in #1, and I don't want to correct the slope, then in TX, I WANT the water to drip out, so there is no pool of water for mosquitos to breed in, to spread West Nile Virus.

    So, in that case, a leaky gutter is a good thing, just do something to accommodate the drip, like put a potted plant under the drip.

    Hope you are enjoying spring weather! I will always be thankful that I got to be a part of the Meet-Up in Fort Worth......

  2. sundra haney says:

    the end of my downspout is an elbow shape. It is not screwed together. Is there an adhesive that will work?

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