Copper downspouts only on the front of the house?

11 years ago

It will be $5,000 to do copper downspouts, without leader boxes, on the entire house. I think this is too expensive, all things considered with our project, and am wondering what it would look like with copper only on the front. How would I choose a color for the downspouts everywhere else? Would it be odd looking to see the downspout on the side of the house and front at the same time and notice they are different?

Thanks, everyone!

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Comments (8)

athensmomof3
11 years ago
Have you looked into copper plated? We did copper plated gutters (has been around since the 50s)and solid copper downspouts. We would have done the copper plated downspouts as well but they didn't have round ones - only the standard crimped looking ones. The copper plated ones are similar to these copper plus ones, but we do have half round gutters (I don't see them pictured):

http://www.guttersupply.com/m-copper-clad-stainless-steel.gstml

All said, our copper gutters cost twice your quote so that sounds like a bargain! In fact, I think it was around 3k for just standard half round gutters with round downspouts. . .

I actually prefer it without leader boxes, except where necessary (we have a couple but they are to catch gutters from above or drainage from where a roof meets, etc.). In other words, they are not decorative but functional as well.
threeapples
Original Author
11 years ago
This quote was only for copper downspouts, square crimped, I think. I'll ask my builder about played. Are the crimped hideous in copper?
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Her house is painted brick and is gorgeous! Our architect designed her renovation. I do love the idea of the gutters fading away like hers do. That is difficult with a brick colored brick and also difficult with anything other than a basic white or cream. We do have a couple of conductor heads on our gutters but we didn't want to draw undue attention to them. They are only where is necessary for drainage issues. you can see below how the copper gutters run down the edge of our house. We have a lot of them. . . Ignore the lack of landscaping. Trees going in in the fall and we are still missing several shutters (they are warping and have to be remade). . . I will run down the street and see if I can get a picture of the bronze gutters on the back of a house with copper on the front . . might not be til next week as I have to go to the midwest this week for a few days;)
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No, that's not going to take the water that far from the house. There are a couple of less-expensive alternatives. Note: we had a similar situation--the downspouts on our 90 year old home connected into terracotta pipe that supposedly went to the street (but as you can imagine, didn't work). We found a VERY inexpensive solution--that had other advantages as well. We installed rain barrels. That way, the water didn't go down the blocked pipes, didn't sit along our foundation, and we could save it to water our garden later. When we got a lot of rain (and knew the barrels would fill), we had hoses connected to the rain barrels, which we pulled out to the back of the property and opened the faucets so the barrels wouldn't overflow, or divert the water into the non-working drainage system. Pretty effective solution--especially since we bought the barrels at the end of the season and were able to get $89 rain barrels for only $25 each!!!!! You couldn't make them for that! There's another interesting alternative we were looking at. A little more expensive than rain barrels. Wish I could recall the name of it (DH would know, but he's out). It's a system of extentions you put on your downspouts, they're sort of flattish (cross section would be a trapezoid), brown, so they aren't overly noticeable, and you route them through your garden--they channel the water away from the house, but they're perforrated so they distribute the water where it will water your lawn or garden.
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athensmomof3
11 years ago
I prefer half round gutters with round downspouts. I don't know that I would pay extra for copper and do the crimped gutters (I am sure they have a name). With a dark brick I think a bronze half round gutter with round downspouts would be fine.

Here is our friends porch entrance. The roof is real copper and so are the downspouts, and the half round gutters are plated copper. They all look the same. The gutters are very splotchy right now from handprints from installation but they will age fairly quickly to a more uniform color, or so I am told. . .
threeapples
Original Author
11 years ago
that's beautiful, athensmom! i'm checking to see what our shape options are.
athensmomof3
11 years ago
The following link has half round gutters in tons of aluminum colors including a dark bronze and a terratone bronze. I would prefer those over crimped downspouts and standard style gutters for sure, even if the other are copper. One of the books I have on houses says you should always use round downspouts and half round gutters to be architecturally correct (Getting your House Right, maybe?). On your house, which is a "new old house" I would definitely not use the manufactured modern gutters.

http://www.guttersupply.com/m-aluminum-gutters-half-round.gstml
threeapples
Original Author
11 years ago
We have to use k-style gutters because of the leaf guard we are using, according to my builder. I am not sure if we can use rectangular downspouts without the ugly crimping, or if they all have the crimping. The gutters will be white no matter what because our dentil is white and I want it to blend in. But, now I need to find out about the downspout options and take it from there.
I love the Get Your House Right book!
I'm bummed that we have to use some of this hideous modern stuff because of cost.
athensmomof3
11 years ago
You can get gutter guards of various types for half round gutters - just FYI. K style gutters are the standard ones that are on almost every house and might be the ones your builder is most familiar with, but the builder we used does mostly (if not all) half round gutters and there are lots of leaf guard options.
athensmomof3
11 years ago
I just saw that you are switching gutter colors. Not sure I have ever seen that done around here. I thought the gutter was an extension of the roof not the trim - so gutters usually coordinate with the roof. Is that not how it is done in your part of the country? Just curious!

Copper downspouts only on the front of the house?

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Copper downspouts only on the front of the house?

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