The Common Gutter: A Building Necessity For Thousands Of Years

Posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Since the beginning of modern civilization, people have had a love/hate relationship with their gutters. No doubt, a necessity for buildings, used to protect a building’s foundation by channeling water away from its base.
Gutters also help:

• Reduce erosion
• Prevent leaks in basements and crawlspaces
• Protect painted surfaces by reducing exposure to water
• Provide a means to collect rainwater for later use

Throughout history, gutters have been called many things. Whether you call them eaves, troughs, eaves trough, eaves channels, or simply gutters, they are universally called a pain to maintain. Though modern construction and innovations make help make them as pain free as possible.

Up until the 19th century, most gutters were made of wood and were located within the wall. Some, like on cathedrals, were carved out of stone. While these “box gutters” helped channel water away from the buildings, if the gutter ever failed, the consequences were much more dire than today. The weight of puddling water could create cracks – areas where water can leak into the building, causing internal damage. Maintenance was constant and the wood would not last long.

As lead, iron, and tin became more accessible, architects and builders used it to line gutters. While this slightly reduced maintenance, the gutter design was still located within the walls of the buildings. The design changed little and the same consequences of leaking into the building remained. The tin-lined gutters lasted longer and were easier to clean, but by no means were they comparable to modern construction.

By the mid-19th century, cast iron was the material of choice for gutters. This is also when the external gutter, a gutter located off of the edge of a roof, became popular. It was a huge jump in gutter history. People no longer had to worry about a gutter failure causing water to leak indoors. Future renditions of gutter designs helped to make the gutters we know today easier to install and maintain.

WE SERVE

• Asheville
• Atlanta
• Birmingham
• Charlotte
• Chattanooga
• Greenville
• Knoxville
• Nashville
• Surfside Beach

SERVICES

• T-Plank Siding™
• Dixie Super Windows™
• IceCOLD™
• Bath Systems
• Soffit and Trim
• Gutters
• Insulation

FROM OUR BLOG

• Preparing for Summer with Dixie
• Bathrooms: How Dixie can Help you go from “Before” to “After”
• Safety Tubs: A Modern Twist on Bathing
• How do you know when it’s right? Contractor Edition

View our Archives