Why UPVC Guttering Remains A Key Factor in Practical Modern Home Design

Why UPVC Guttering Remains A Key Factor in Practical Modern Home Design

It may shock you to know that the Romans had a goddess of the sewers, an unfortunate deity called Cloacina. She was, perhaps, the first true water management director, who was prayed to at times of floods and heavy rains to take the dangers of the excess waters away. It might not surprise you to know that, in an era when upvc guttering is a basic requirement in buildings, that it was the Romans who brought the first concept of water management, both domestic and rain, to the UK.

In fact, the common house gutter has been around for quite a long time, with the first made of stone and punctuated by gargoyles that were, in fact, spouts through which rainwater poured to the ground. Understandably, soffits were usually unnecessary as the gutter was cut into the stone, and were mostly situated high on the eaves of cathedrals, churches and prominent buildings. It wasn't until centuries later that every building had a gutter system, made of wood, clay tile or lead.

The image, of course, differs to quite a degree with the modern image of pvc drainpipes and gutters adorning the eaves of homes clad with pvc windows and doors. But, the brief history lesson shows, nonetheless, just how vital this particular aspect of building design was considered even so long ago. Believe it or not, in the Middle Ages, gutter disputes between citizens of overpopulated UK towns and cities often ended up in the courts.

Gutters have always been used to catch rainwater as it flows off a roof, directing it to a specific drop point in an attempt to prevent flooding on streets, alleyways and around homes. Sodden earth, after all, only served to weaken the early building structures, and created a host of health issues for the people who regularly walked those areas or even worked there. Clearly, this area of building management has always been a hugely important engineering issue, which explains to some extent the reason why guttering options today are available in specific and precision manufactured designs.

There are four main styles of guttering available and which one is right for a particular building is dependent on a number of criteria. The four types are half round, square line, ogee style and deep flow. The names themselves lend some idea to the specific designs, with the half round style resembling a simple half cylinder, though a little stretched on one side. This stretch provides a lip that extends in line with the roof itself, to block the flow of rainwater and contain it within the gutter itself.

The square line design exists as a more interesting option, with many homes requiring something different to the regular half round, while the ogee style is the most elaborate option. It sports sculpted ridges along its length, giving it an almost cubist feel, but its efficiency, of course, is not lost. The deep flow design, as one would guess, is a deeper version of the half round, allowing it to handle greater levels of rain fall, vastly reducing the risk of overflow.

These designs are available in a variety of colours and sizes to allow the guttering system to blend into the desired overall appearance of a home. It is especially important that they complement more prominent features, not least the windows and fascias boards. Widows made of pvc have a cleaner, crisper appearance with white frames that tend to highlight a faded or dilapidated gutter system.

The particular style of the windows, whether they are vertical sliding or pivot windows for example, does not matter, but the contrast does, making it preferable to have a gutter system replaced in the same style, and at the same time, that the windows might be.

Rainwater management has come quite some distance from its origins since the arrival of upvc guttering 50 years ago. From the crude, but effective stone channels of 1,000 years ago to the clay tile gutters of the Middle Ages, to their rebirth in plastic, they have retained their importance throughout.

Whether it matches the pvc windows of a home, and even the soffits that line the underside of the roof eaves and fascias that compete the look, guttering complements the style that any home desires while also doing its job to keeping it dry and clean.

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