Ever see those slotted gutter that don’t have downspouts but are supposed to scatter runoff as droplets away from the house? Do these things work? Do they get the runoff out away from the foundation?
I wanted to mention them in the roof course and show a photo but I can’t find a photo and I can’t seem to find out much about them.
This type of thing?
I don’t know much about them either, Kenton.
Yep, that’s what I was wondering about, Larry. We don’t see them much here, but I thought we ought to mention them. Not sure what to say about them though.
I have seen them some and the people that had them loved them. Easy to clean (just shoot the leaves and crap off with the hose). Never clogs, If you stand out in the yard and look at the fascia, they practically disappear. All you see is a thin line of the outer edge. They are called Rain Handlers. Here is their website for all the info.
I’m sure they are easy to clean. It’s even easier to clean with nothing there at all.
Considering one of the big reasons we have gutters and downspouts is to direct water away from the foundation, I would say these are a waste of money…
I guess they might be adequate in a desert type climate that gets very little rain, but other than that, I don’t think I would want them.
I the spray is not over 6 feet from the foundation it is useless.
I would think a drizzle would have less spray and these things would do nothing.
Think of a 2 days drizzle and how it would build up.
We have about two homes in a million that have basements here so most if not all of them collect water near the base or slabs. Roughly a third are off grade but still finding water in the crawls is rare. It may be the sandy soil allows the water to perk more quickly, plus most areas have holding ponds where water does not perk properly. I would say the vast majority do not have any kind of gutters or downspout system, so from my experience and seeing what is out there, these are a viable alternative to having nothing or having gutters that are constantly clogged and overflowing which is what I see most of the time. When it rains here, it pours. I think thiese would more effective in some areas than in others where water getting into basements and freezing for weeks and months occurs. Here you will have ice on the driveway in the morning and grill steaks out back that afternoon in shorts and shirt sleeves.
We have a lot of expansive soil here, so keeping runoff away really can make a difference.
Those are actually rainhandler rain diffusers… watch here. http://www.michaelholigan.com/departments/tvshow/seg_index.asp?ts_id=5206
here is a link to the product http://www.rainhandler.com/shop/index.php
I just ran into a set of those last week for the first time. For what it is worth here is a picture of the back of the house. I can’t imagine they do much good.
It never ceases to amaze me here on this message board how many people who will readily admit they have never seen an item, product or even experienced a problem but will give all the reasons why it won’t work. The original poster asked for information about a particular product for membership training and as usual, those who admit they don’t **** about them will weigh in on it, give their opinion and completely ignore his original request. I guess some things will just never change.
I love the Rain Handlers. They are now on all my properties in Texas. I would have them here, too, except then I would have to call them Sun Handlers.
I have been aware of them for about 10 years but never seen them in action. Russell - how do they do with pine needles?
No clue. All my properties are xeriscaped in areas where there are no pine trees.
I remembers some really drenching days… actually weeks… during February and March in Ventura, and it wasn’t dripping sunshine!
Quite a bit of expansive soil in parts of So CA too. Very bad in some areas. Russel, you must have seen these in action, how far do they cast roof drainage?
I have seen ice dams tear them apart up here in MN.
There’s one potential problem seen firsthand. Thanks Tad
Ventura is a long ways from here, and if you look at the prevailing winds and the shape of California, you’ll understand why Ventura gets a lot more rain than we do.
There are 10 counties official listed in Southern California, so it’s a pretty big area. I’m aware of a very small area in Rancho Bernardo, Fletcher Hills in El Cajon, and Eastlake in Chula Vista that have some expansive soils, but it’s because the developers brought in non-native soil to level out the area where they were building.
I have not seen them in action because I tend not to go out into the rain, one of the reasons why I live here in San Diego instead of Texas, but my tenants seem to like them, as well as my property managers and my repair persons back in Texas.
Yes, you are a lot drier down there. It was in the cities just into the mountains like Oak View and Ojai near us that had real problems. We were about 5 miles in from the coast on the Oxnard plain and it was all sandy silt. For a while we were a half-mile for the shoreline and had no problem either.
Well if ice damage is the worst anyone can say about these things, gutters can get all bent by snow slides (actually, these probably can too) so they seem like no big problem.
I am waiting for a discussion in why these things would work , other than people love them.
My question is does the devise throw the water at least 6 feet from the foundation?
If it does not it is worthless.
Either that or us telling people to run downspouts that far away is useless.
