1.23.2022

cloudhaus: gutter talk...

 


One of the outstanding issues has been what to do with the gutters. If we didn't have rainwater harvesting, we wouldn't have gutters to the let the point "sing" full throated. But we have rainwater harvesting, and the roof tilts toward the point, so there must be gutters. My initial thought was to "hide" them in the roof before the edge. However, although possible, that's generally not a good idea since leakage would rot out the roof at some point. It's further complicated in a cold climate where ice dams can be an issue (the builder was talking about heating the gutter to prevent ice dams on an "internal" drainage system.

I was fortunate to find photos of an existing house that has a somewhat similar roof design. It turns out that an outside gutter can look OK in this geometric setting. Given that our point isn't as pointy as my mind had made it out to be, an outside gutter will be fine. Similar to our cabin, this house uses gutters to funnel rainwater into tanks. 

We'll still be running the drainpipe in through the structure, albeit in the non-conditioned "shed" at the front of the floorplan and then down into the basement. The first flush system, where the first water to come off the roof is flushed out before rainwater is directed into the tank, will also be inside the unconditioned structure of the house, which is cool. Similar to our current house, we'll use Gutter Glove to filter the runoff before it enters the gutters.



No comments:

Post a Comment