These site built gutters were often times incorporated into the cornice of old houses so that they seamlessly blended in and went largely unnoticed save for the typically copper downspouts that were also site built and soldered together.
History of copper gutters.
So unless you already learned all about the history of gutters in your junior high history class here is a timeline which depicts the formation.
Since you are interested in keeping your gutters clean of debris it s possible that you may be wondering how gutters came to be in the first place.
When there is contact with carbon dioxide and copper a copper carbonate forms.
Wooden gutters and downspouts were developed in recently.
Constructed from bricks made out of burnt clay these ancient gutters would serve less than today s purposes.
The history of gutters.
The romans also engaged in early forms of guttering between 27 bc 14 ad.
Historic homes get an extra touch of class when the copper gutters patina as well.
It will initially darken from contact with oxygen to form copper oxide.
Rainwater captured in barrels was used for bathing and washing.
Oh and also some gutter screens to keep the leaves and sticks from finding their way into our downspouts.
The history of rain gutters dates back to the indus valley civilization between 3000 bc and 1500 bc.
The history of copper in architecture can be.
From cathedrals to castles and from homes to offices copper is used for a variety of architectural elements including roofs flashings gutters downspouts domes spires vaults wall cladding and building expansion joints.
Copper gutters may last 50 yrs and galvanized steel gutters 20 years or less.
Believe it or not gutters have a long and storied existence that spans several millennia.
The patina can form from varying elements in the environment.
We decided on a 6 style of half round copper gutters for both the upper and lower roof as well as 4 copper downspouts and a few 40 degree angle pieces to replace the tragic s that was constantly clogging.