Guttering is a very important feature on any house. It is the conduit that takes the water safely from the roof, which naturally is the largest catchment area for rainwater on a property, and safely channels it away from the building. Yet despite its obvious importance guttering is not something that is often spoken about or even considered when buying a property. As such, when winter rolls round and the rainy season arrives people are often shocked at the floods of water that teem down from the roof in eth most inconvenient of places. If you have a property or are in the process of acquiring one and you haven’t thought about the gutters and rain-water management, here are a few things to place on the radar before winter arrives.

Maintain

It is always better to maintain and repair existing solutions rather than to find yourself in a position where you need to replace everything entirely. Start by doing a walk-around inspection and look for obvious signs of damage. Broken gutter or holes, downpipes that are missing or broken. Get these parts replaced immediately. It should be an easy job to do as pvc pipe sizes Australia are all fairly standard measurements. Work out what you need, visit a supplier and buy the pieces you need.

Harvest for the world

Traditionally the role of guttering and drainage solutions is to take the water away from certain areas where it can do damage. But what if you looked at it in a new light. What if the goal was actually to channel water to certain areas where it can do good. Harvesting rainwater has become a very big business, particularly in places where rain is limited. It is quite astounding how much rain falls onto a roof. If this rain is collected and stored it can be used to fill swimming pools, water gardens in dry times or it can be plumbed into the house and used for things like flushing toilets or even as shower water.

Soft surfaces

If you are not going to harvest your runoff water, then it is highly recommended that you try to guide the runoff into your garden. Traditionally rainwater was steered to stormwater drains or even sewers and then sent out to sea. In a world where water is an increasingly scarce commodity this is a travesty. Directed onto your garden it is immediately returned to the earth where it will not only feed your garden, but it will also contribute to the water table, which these days is badly affected by the presence of so many hard surfaces in urban areas.

Technology

When putting guttering in place make sure that you use the latest technology. In the old days lead was a common element in drainage products and it could poison the water quite badly. Now days PVC and plastic are the preferred materials for guttering. If at all possible, look to use recycled solutions for your gutter. There is an increasing market for recycled products and guttering made from recycled plastic is great solution to help look after the Earth.