Gutter and Downspout: Comparing Historic and Modern Systems
This past week, we took a look at the building shown in the picture below. That building has a historic gutter and downspout system installed around the exterior perimeter of the low slope roof.
This past week, we took a look at a bunch of additional pictures including up close views of the oxidized and rusted ferrous metal flashing drip edge. The downspout is a cylindrical shape and the gutter is a half round type gutter, also with a relatively consistent radius. Modern gutters and downspouts are not really built in the same shape and form. You can buy similar type replacement materials, which a generally a lot more expensive than more basic contemporary box style or K-style type gutters in almost rectangular shape.
It all comes down to a matter of style and preference, but many people believe, particularly in historic buildings, that the historic types of gutters and downspouts fit the historic aesthetic and look much better in keeping with the original styles.
Looking closer at the gutter, although it’s in rough shape due to lack of upkeep and maintenance for many years, you can still infer and get a sense of why many people prefer the historically accurate original aesthetic.
This past week, we talked about the deleterious effects of oxidation of the ferrous metal flashings used to terminate the roof and span over the top of the historic masonry facades.In the close-up view of the gutter, shown in the picture below, you can see that it is significantly different than the box style or k-style type of typical contemporary gutters.
The next picture below shows a modern rectangular downspout. This particular downspout is painted white as is very common with many of the modern material types. The white color of the gutter and downspout really does not match the historic style at all. It would have been very uncommon to see a white painted gutter and downspout in historic times.
In most cases, in historic times, these brick buildings were not painted. In fact, the bear brick and mortar itself was considered to be a work of highly skilled artisanship, and it wasn’t until many decades later that people even really began painting the exterior of these brick buildings. Some people love the painted look of the colorful variety of brick buildings, especially here in the historic neighborhoods of Washington DC. On the other hand, many people have asked us whether or not the paint actually helps or hurts the brick and overall we believe that it’s not necessarily cut and dry or a clear one-sided type of answer.
It does seem that where the modern style gutter and downspout are now installed, on these historic brick buildings, it stands out like a sore thumb. Especially in the example shown here, and other historic buildings of a similar design The other accents and architectural details such as the windows and moldings on this building are finished with a dark aesthetic which melds well with the exposed historic brick. Then, when this contemporary style of gutter and downspout are installed, in a bright white shiny finish, it just clashes horribly.
One of the other more subtle differences between this downspout and the historic ferrous metal used in the gutter and downspout is that this new contemporary guttering and downspout uses a much thinner and much lighter weight aluminum instead of the thicker and heavier ferrous metal.
Obviously there’s some advantages to using lighter weight metals, they are less expensive, easier to work with in the field, and can be transported and shipped from one location to another with greater ease and lower fuel costs. The downside though is that they are cheaper and weaker.
In the picture below you can see that the aluminum downspout has been built with ridges set into each of the vertical faces of the downspout. These ridges give the downspout a odd looking modern aesthetic, but they’re not used for visual aesthetic purposes, they’re a side effect or undesired effect of the manufacturing process which applies these ridges to give more strength and stiffness to an otherwise overly thin metal.
Here in this angle, below, you can see the modern for contemporary gutter and downspout together in one view. Also, if you look closely you can see where the old downspout was installed, farther to the left, closer to the outside corner of the building. The masonry of this building has been reported or partially restored at some time in the past. If you also look closely at the location of the old gutter, you can see where a line of unpointed masonry joints and remains.
At the time of repointing, the downspout was left in place, (likely because of the unitended realities of a competitive pricing environment for contractors.) It clearly would have been better though to remove the downspout at the time of repointing remainder of the brick and repoint area hidden behind the downspout and then later reinstall the downspout again.
The drip edge at the roof termination is in relatively rough condition at the rear of this building, but the modern or contemporary gutter stands out just as badly, even arguably worse.
We recommend every building owner in DC who values the longevity of their roof (and their investments) and building use a contractor who values the simple and important principles of proper roof construction like Dupont Roofing DC. Learn more about our company and the proper techniques of working with roofing on historic buildings in Washington DC here on our blog at DupontRoofingDC.com, and you can call us at (202) 840-8698 and email us at dupontroofingdc@gmail.com. We are happy to help and at least talk through options.
