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One of the most important pieces of a rain gutter system are the hangers. The hanger is what secures the gutter to the fascia board keeping it up, even after it fills with water. There are plenty of different types of hangers available on the market. The Brothers That Just Do Gutters have removed all types of hangers including the common nail ferrules. We have tried just about every type of hanger to arrive to the one we use – the Raytec Hangfast Hanger.
So why do we use the Hangfast Hanger and why did we switch? Hangfast hangers are made of an aluminum stronger than the aluminum we use in our gutters, which gives them the strength needed to support the gutters. They’re made in the US and are designed to be strong and inexpensive. Hangfast has been tested to be one of the strongest screw-in hangers on the market. In fact, a gutter properly installed with Hangfast can support almost 300 lbs! We are confident the strength of this hanger will hold up in even the heaviest of snow storms.
The strength comes from the design. The front lip that secures under the front lip of the gutter is thicker than the standard hanger, giving it more grip and rigidity. Hangfast also has reinforcing ribs that run the entire length of the hanger for even more added strength. Hangfast also features a screw sleeve to ensure that the screw has the least chance of breaking. The power-curved shape is engineered to give the hanger much more strength than the typical straight hanger and it self-braces at the points of greatest stress.
We asked our Field Supervisor, Job Olang, about why he decided to switch us to the Hangfast hangers. He said, “It’s just a better hanger. It’s stronger, beefier, and has a better design.” Job went on to say, “We were getting complaints about screws breaking or coming loose and when that happens it’s time to change. We even asked friends of ours in Vermont and Massachusetts who get much more snow than we do and they’ve been using Hangfast and it’s been working great for them.”
Sometimes we get asked to use nails or nailed gutters with ferrules. In our experience, the screw style hangers provide the best grip and rigidity throughout the changing seasons. Another benefit to using screw hangers is the ability to cut our installation time. Using a power drill to fasten a gutter is easier and quicker than hammering a nail. A drill also prevents damaging a gutter caused from missing a nail while hammering. For our cleaning and repair customers, our practice is to replace nails that come loose with hangers. We do this to lengthen the life of a client’s gutter system.
For more info on our materials you can head to the Materials page on our website or you can check out our Aluminum and Material Overview blogs.