Much Ado About…A Downspout
This image is from 2019. Yikes. I wish to direct your attention to the CRAZY downspout snaking its way to the right. How insane was that?
So, I redirected the spout to align with the roofline. Better! But, with the scaffolding in the way, I had to cobble together a temporary final length. When it rained hard, this proved akin to Niagara Falls.
Today. Squee!!!!!!!! See the elbow just above the windows? I had that custom-made to assure the correct angle.
When I purchased the house in 2014, there were no downspouts. This was bad. Very bad, and a huge amount of damage to the house could have been prevented had the downspouts remained in situ.
Recently, the downspout to the north porch fell down during a windstorm, and the porte-cochère needs two downspouts, which I plan to install this year.
Downspouts are not fun or pretty or exciting to write about, but they really matter!
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I have no gutters, hence no downspouts. Also no valleys on my roof. Just drip edge. Of course, I also don’t get all that much rain, California heading in to another drought. Again. If I had downspouts I would get rain barrels to save the water for the garden. But then, I don’t have the acreage on my roof like you do. You could probably fill an olympic size swimming pool with your downspouts. I agree, they aren’t sexy but they are really important. Also important to direct them away from the house and make sure the ground is sloped away. I don’t have a basement but I’ve read and seen horrors about them.
I am gutterless too… Our 1886 house did not have them until an update sometime in the 1970s, when aluminum gutters were installed; they were a big mistake. The ones on the second floor were nearly 30′ from the ground, and could fill up with leaves overnight; the water overflow rotted the soffits over time, and they had to be completely rebuilt. We did not put the gutters back, and because we have good drainage in the yard, there have been no issues at all. In fact, since the water running off the house is distributed evenly now instead of being concentrated around downspout areas, we actually get less seepage in the basement than we did when we had gutters.
Hadn’t thought of those issues. My parents house has gutters and they use two of the downspout to collect water. But my house is much taller and I have a lot of roof space, perhaps more than they do and with no valleys it runs off on either side of the house so I never thought about how much would be concentrated into one gutter. Maybe not having them isn’t such a bad thing after all.
But I wish my neighbor had them. His drip edge drips down right on my fence and rots it out. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it but I’m going to have to do something. I think it would look stupid to install a gutter on top of my fence to redirect the water. Perhaps I can figure something out with two drip edges on either side with a cap.
They’re more fun when they have gargoyles at the end. 🙂
Ross, one of the things that I like most about you is how excited you get about things like doorknobs, boilers, shingles, downspouts, and all of the other nuts-n-bolts items that are so important and yet often overlooked. So many people who have the talent and skillset needed to work on a house on this scale have lost the sense of wonder…
Until we bought a house I never thought about down spouts or french drains. We live in central Texas and can get intense rain—last week we got 1″ in 12 minutes, not the most we have had. For our upcoming anniversary all I want is new gutters and french drains! My husband think I’m romantic.
So true! And I love the above comments! Just had a big rain and 1 of my downspouts is hanging (I’m too short to fix as only ladder I have is a tall step stool – thank goodness for wonderful brother!) Would kill to have leaf filter gutter covers! Oh well…… 🙂
Is that downspout draining onto a wooden porch? Where will it go from there?
Nancy, the wood you see is old scaffolding. The downspout drains onto a concrete pad. For now.
Dang, after bingeing here for months and months, I’m caught up…and sad. What will I do tomorrow? I guess I’ll wait for this next bright spot in my day! I extend my admiration, Ross, for you and your growing ‘family,’ as you fight the excellent fight.