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You know, a lot of houses here in the Tri-State have got aluminum gutters and aluminum downspouts. And sometimes, they can either get damaged. You might have to work on them, or in the case of this house where the people are getting rid of the repaint. They get in the way of the paint job. And sometimes, you wan to take them apart. Well, how do you do it?

All you really need is a drill like this. It has got a 1/8 inch drill bit. Why? Because most of these aluminum downspouts are put together and held together with pop rivets. And pop rivets are very small little fasteners, and you do not screw them in or screw them out or held in by tension and compression. Or to remove a pop rivet, all you have to do is put an 8-inch drill bit in the drill. Go ahead and center the drill bit on the center of the pop rivet, and start to drill it out. And because the pop rivets are made from aluminum, it drills very quickly.

Once the pop rivet is out, the downspout should come right out of a position. It should come right into your hands. Okay, now that it is out of the way and you want to put it back up. What do you do? Well, that is even easier. The holes are already drilled, and all you need to do is use a regular pop rivet tool with color-coded pop rivets that match your work. Install the pop rivet into the tool. Pull the handle of the pop riveter. And bingo, the job is done.

Okay, working on aluminum downspouts, it is really simple. All you really need is a drill and this handy pop rivet gun. They are inexpensive, available at any home center hardware store. Get one.

If you want to discover more home-improvement tips, go to AskTheBulider.com.

You know, a lot of houses here in the Tri-State have got aluminum gutters and aluminum downspouts. And sometimes, they can either get damaged. You might have to work on them, or in the case of this house where the people are getting rid of the repaint. They get in... click to read more