Lesson 3
Where Rain Goes
Follow rain from the roof to the drain, see why the joins leak and where an overflow really lands, and get a gutter cleared and checked without climbing.
From roof to drain
Your gutters look fine from the front, yet the wall under them is green. To see why, follow the water.
A pitched roof is a funnel. Rain runs down the tiles into the gutter, which is hung with a slight fall so the water drifts to an outlet. From there it drops down the downpipe to a gully (a drain inlet at ground level), a soakaway or straight into the drain below. Each stage has to carry everything the stage above sends it. A gutter that copes in drizzle can overflow in a cloudburst.
Some older houses manage rain without gutters at all, letting it drip clear from deep eaves. Whatever your house has, the question is the same: where does the water go, and where does it end up when that route is blocked?