Copper Gutters Have Their Place (but it's probably not on your home)

Duragutter is made from extruded aluminum. We will explore why we chose to create a

new type of gutter to compete with copper

Copper has been used for centuries as a durable and attractive gutter material. It is highly resistant to corrosion, is easily formed, and when properly soldered is quite durable. It weathers to an attractive green/bronze patina which can be a nice complement to other building materials like wood and stone.

While it looks great on this French farmhouse, it's suitability for many American house styles is questionable.

Copper has a number of disadvantages. First, is the cost. While the price of copper fluctuates, it is generally quite expensive. Thus, thin sheets of copper are used to form gutters, which results in a relatively flimsy section, compared to the alternatives. Like roll-formed gutters, copper gutters require internal supports at regular intervals to keep them straight and protect them from collapsing under the weight of water, snow, or ice. From an installation standpoint, working with copper requires specialized skills, and the longevity of the joints is a function of the skill of the installer. With fewer people going into the skilled trades, finding a skilled worker to install and solder copper joints(or repair joints in the future)  is an increasingly difficult and expensive proposition.

External support brackets create a decorative element that may be at odds with the other design elements of the house. Internal support brackets make cleaning difficult.

Another issue with copper is the integration of the gutters as a trim element. While traditional wood gutters were used in conjunction with moldings to form an overall trim schema, copper gutters are generally only available in a “K” profile and a half-round.

 "K" style gutter Half-round gutter

Both of these shapes stand apart from the trim, and cannot form continuous, uninterrupted lines.   For example, it is impossible to miter a copper gutter into a rake molding, a common detail on older homes. It’s also difficult to achieve perfectly mitered corners.  When going around a curve, copper gutters are usually composed of multiple short pieces soldered together, creating a faceted look that is subject to leaking.

Advantages of Duragutter extruded aluminum: Extrusions are formed by pressing a molten blob of aluminum through a die under high pressure. 

Extruding gutters is a complex process- a hydraulic ram exerts over 100 tons of pressure. This process allows for intricate shapes that cannot be achieved through the simple bending process used to form copper, or roll-formed aluminum gutters. 

Duragutter extruded shapes have far more features than other gutters. The profiles above illustrate the system of internal keyways that all Duragutter profiles share. These allow for a variety of functions, including hidden internal connectors, built-in flashing, and snap-in leaf guards. The strength of the thick aluminum walls allows the gutter to be simply screwed in through the back wall, with no internal or external hangers or brackets.

Duragutter blends seamlessly with other trim elements, rather than standing apart like copper.

While we don't think copper is a great choice for gutters, it does make an attractive downspout :-)

Wellfleet Revisited

I vacation in Wellfleet every couple years, and while my wife is shopping or going to galleries I stroll around and photograph gutter details (I'm not sure how it came to this, but here we are...)

It's both depressing and annoying- so many fine homes ruined. Many of these botched jobs have been done by "experienced carpenters" who "take pride in their work". I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

I guess the knowledge of how a gutter originally intersected a rake is almost completely lost. Out of about 60 houses, there were 3 that had the correct detail. I owe it to them to sing their praises.

The next one is a renovation by Hammer Architects. Kudos to them for getting it right! Tragically, they used wood gutters instead of Duragutter, so the system will drain about half as well and rot out in ten years, but at least they knew how to detail it correctly. Doesn't this look much nicer than all the botched attempts shown above? Shouldn't we all be trying to do it right? There are links to 3D models and drawings on the traditional detail tab that show exactly how to execute this detail.

The Case Against Half Round Gutters

Half round gutters have become a go-to for many architects.  We get it - they “work” with a lot of different styles, and the adjustable brackets can be problem solvers for various roof pitches.  And some argue that all those visible brackets create a kind of rhythm.

Half rounds certainly have a long history.  Early gutters were simply split logs. Later they were fabricated from ceramic and metal, particularly copper.  They were/are widely used in Europe on masonry buildings that have little or no wood trim.  

Here in the US, many of our significant styles are derived from European examples of wood-frame buildings that used wood gutters, or metal formed to replicate wood moldings.  These gutters were an integral part of the exterior trim language, and created  a continuous line outlining the roof.

Most Victorian homes used some form of wood gutter, although occasional examples of half round gutters can be found on urban townhouses, or in climates not conducive to wood.  A wide range of details were used to integrate gutters into the design.

Often, the gutter was hidden, built into the roof frame. 

Most typical was the wood gutter with an Ogee profile that looks and acts like a cornice molding.  This shape was carefully designed to be able to miter and return either up the rake on gables, or horizontally on hip roofs. 

Half round gutters fall short when it comes to integration into the overall trim.  Because of their shape, they stand apart from the building, rather than embed into it.  Most importantly, they cannot return up the rake. This gutter-rake miter is emblematic of classical design:

Separating the rake molding from the eave molding (gutter) destroys this detail:

In the above photos, the eave molding, which should be the defining edge of the roof, is obscured by the half round. 

For these classical gable-end cornice returns, our OG profiles paired with our rake molding enables an exact reproduction of the original Greek detail.  

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The Half Round on Shingle Style

Half rounds are also widely used on Shingle Style homes, but again present problems. These homes feature swooping roofs with generous eaves that taper to a fine edge. The half round gutter, hanging off the fascia, complicates this elegant detail. On gable ends, the blunt half round end cap presents as a stand-alone, non-integrated element.

It can be difficult to locate all the necessary downspouts without compromising the design. Because Shingle Style often features generous eaves, the downspout gooseneck becomes a dominant feature.  While they are artfully placed in the example to the right, this is not always the case.  

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Back to the Future: A Modern, Built-in Gutter

For Shingle Style, our cutting-edge Wedge profile retains the aesthetic advantage of a traditional built-in gutter and maintains the thin fascia line. The Wedge can drain out the back, rather than the bottom, allowing the gooseneck to be concealed in the soffit.  

 It is simple to build, maintenance free, and the extruded aluminum provides a straight, crisp, thin edge impossible to achieve in wood.

The Wedge, like all Duragutter profiles, has a groove in the top back for flashing to lock in. This creates a completely sealed system from the gutter onto the roof, which is particularly effective against wind-driven rain common in coastal environments. The Wedge profile also has integral slots to snap in our custom leaf guard without using hundreds of screws as is typical with standard leaf guards. 

Above: The Wedge profile achieves a thin fascia and eliminates downspout goosenecks.

At Duragutter, we are often asked if we can make a half round gutter. We could, but we don't, because we feel there is (almost) always a better solution. We obsessively study every traditional and modern roof condition to design perfectly integrated gutters.

The next time you're about to specify a half round, consider whether one of the seven Duragutter profiles will better serve your design intent.