Just had gutters installed...should I complain about this?

Home Depot asked us about some work a few years, they only thing they asked about was if we were covered by WCB. Actual experience and qualifications didn't seem to matter.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to call and see if I can't talk to someone higher up. BTW the manager I'm dealing with sounds like he has zero experience in all of this. ugh

I have had success at HD by going to ther service counter when the store was busy and I talked loud enough for half the store to hear the details of the problem. After asking each of five or six people who there boss was I findly was given a phone to talk to some problem solver in some head office somewhere and the problem was solved.

nealtw said:

I have had success at HD by going to ther service counter when the store was busy and I talked loud enough for half the store to hear the details of the problem. After asking each of five or six people who there boss was I findly was given a phone to talk to some problem solver in some head office somewhere and the problem was solved.

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Ok thanks! I just sent an email and linked this thread. I also asked to not have the project manager call me back since (1. He takes forever to call back and I can never get ahold of him and (2. he's done next to nothing to help me resolve this so far.
I requested a RM to take the case so hopefully we can get somewhere.

I looked and I currently have ice damns (not very big...1/2 inch at most) and the gapped sections of all the gutters are sagging and flexing in those spots!!!

Ice dam would likely be another different problem unless you are talking about isicles between the gutter and the house.

nealtw said:

Ice dam would likely be another different problem unless you are talking about isicles between the gutter and the house.

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Yeah we have heat escaping through the roof causing them...but I'm surprised that only a 1/4 inch of ice damn is already showing the bad install! My prior gutters had a good 4 inches of ice them on them with showing no give. Which again leads me to believe the fascia isn't rotten. If it was I would've seen some major problems with my prior gutters.

nealtw said:

but he paid for a pro.

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And now you know why the big box stores are not the best place to get pro results. Unqualified installers, no supervision and no one to respond when there is an issue. There will be issues, everyone has them once in a while, we're only human.

I know this thread is old, but just joined and figured I would chime in. It's hard to see from the photos but it looks like the fascia is angled. If it is there would be a gap on the bottom. I can't tell from the photos if roof straps were used to fasten the gutter to the home, but it looks like they may have been. If they fastened through the fascia board and didn't use roof straps, they need to have an angled fascia gutter wedge installed ery 24" or so to help prop out the bottom of the gutter. If they used roof straps, they wouldn't need the wedges.

Regarding the ice dams, even when properly installed, gutters installed to angled fascia may sag a little under the weight of ice dams. It depends how big the ice dams are.

The inside miters are called strip miters. They are an acceptable way of doing inside miters and not a "DIY" method. The Youtube of handcut miters is awesome, but it isn't industry standard. Not even close to industry. It probably varies from region to region, but the most common ways for well-established professional gutter contractors to handle miters is by using box miters or strip miters, not hand cutting. That being said, they shouldn't leak!

Leaky miters is the first red flag. The other red flag for me is where the downspout meets the gutter. It looks like they just cut flaps in the bottom of the gutter instead of installing an actual outlet. Some guys do this, but the better installers install an actual outlet (funnels water directly into the downspout).

So, assuming the fascia is angled, find out if they used roof straps. If they didn't, and fastened the gutters using fascia mount hangers, there needs to be wedges in the gap there to prop out the bottom of the gutter and prevent it from swinging in under the weight of ice dams.

Lastly (sorry long post), if you are concerned about the aesthetics of having a gap there or wasps creating nests, a sider can bend up some aluminum trim coil to close that gap. Hope this helps!

And, yes, avoid HD for hiring contractors. Blech

See photo for how we install our outlets. I'll try to grab a photo example of aluminum trim covering the gap. We just had that done on a site last year.