One cool product on the Practice House that I really love
are the Rainhandlers, which take the place of traditional gutters. I’ll give you a technical discussion of rain
handlers below, but first I wanted to share pics of last night’s snow sheeting
off my metal roof, curving around the Rainhandlers, and freezing in place. Fun stuff!
There are so many downsides to gutters, but top of the list
for me is the PIA factor to clean them out, and the fact that they can hide or exacerbate
rot and other problems relating to the fascia trim at the edge of a roof. On a new structure, if you’re willing to
install them yourself (which is easy if your roof is easily accessible), they
are more affordable than traditional gutters as well.
With Rainhandlers, in a nutshell, rain that sheets off the
roof, hits a series of curved blades (similar to venetian blinds) and sprays
out in a fan pattern rather than dripping down in a straight line. This avoids creating a washout under the edge
of a roof that has no gutter, and it avoids concentrating flow from a
traditional gutter/downspout that may lead to erosion around your foundation. Spreading out roof runoff is an important
principle of low impact development, so in jurisdictions where houses are subject
to stormwater management regulations, this may reduce or eliminate the need to
build treatment practices like rain gardens.
For more info, check out rainhandler.com
(Incidentally, the closeup shot also shows off the fabulous
job the carpenters did with the trim under the roof overhangs.)
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