A roof gutter system, also known as ‘rain gutter’, is a system or channel of interconnected components, designed to collect rain water that falls on your roof and channel it to drain to the desired appropriate location. This protects the exposed surfaces of the building and also its foundations from being damaged.
The Rain Gutter
The word gutter is from the Latin word gutta, which means “a drop, spot or mark”. A rain gutter is one of the key components of a water drainage system for a building. It is also known as a surface water collection channel. When it rains, water that falls on the roof is collected here, to be passed on into the downspout.
Gutters channel rainwater away from the outer parts of the walls of a building, this preventing the absorption of water into the walls, which could cause mold growth and other related occurrences.
Structure Of A Roof Gutter System
Main Gutter: this section captures water being shed off the roof.
End cap: this is the closed end of gutter.
Fascia bracket: Attaches to eaves; supports gutters from below.
Downspout: water moves through the here from the gutter to ground.
Downspout bracket: this helps to hold the downspout securely to side of house.
Elbow: this part of the system changes the direction of the downspout as desired
The Downspout
A downspout, also known as waterspout or drain pipe, is a component of the roof gutter system, used for conveying rainwater from a rain gutter to the desired outlet.
Usually, downspouts are vertically oriented and extend down to the ground level. Water in the drain pipe, from the rain gutter, is channeled away from the foundation of the building, in order to prevent water damage to the foundations. The water from the waterspout is usually discharged into a sewer or just passed into the bare ground.