Gutters fitted into hangers tied to a splash-guard nailed onto an uneven roof

V-shaped gutter suspended from a splash-guard.

No matter how uneven or how long a roof is, gutters can be hung with the required gradient of 1 cm drop for every 100 cm length (1:100), when a splash-guard is nailed onto the roof

Simple and cheap gutter laid in tree branches

This owner is satisfied with her small but efficient gutter arrangement that brings water right to her front door.

Gutters on rural buildings: here, water is being collected from both sides of a double-pitched roof by means of hanging a gutter along the gable of the house.

A simple arrangement to solve the problem with a tank situated on the wrong side of a single pitched roof in Ethiopia. Note the excellent slope of the gutter which is obtained by tying it to splashguard nailed onto the roofing sheets.

To avoid the usual down-pipe with its two bends, which tends to get blocked thereby preventing water from entering the tank, it is much simpler and more efficient to let the gutter continue straight to the inlet. It is also easier to clean the inlet mesh should it get blocked.

Gutter suspended with a straight slope from a splash-guard nailed onto an uneven roof

Here the gutter is too short and slopes away from tank.

A garland of gutters at Kasigau

Semi-circular gutter

Where a semi-circular gutter is fixed too low onto a facia-board, rainwater will be washed by over-shooting the gutter. In such cases the gutter cannot be raised closer to the roof because that will reduce or reverse its gradient towards the tank, thereby obstructing the flow of water.

A splash-guard, a strip of galvanized iron sheet, nailed onto the roof.

Another improvement is to suspend the gutter by galvanised wires from holes made in the splash-guard. The wires can easily be adjusted to give the gutter the required gradient 1:100 towards the water tank for uneven roofs as well as for roofs as well as for roofs without facia-boards.

From left to right: Splash-guard; V-shaped gutter; square gutter and semi-circular gutter

Square gutter installed without splash-guard.

Gutters are fitted into hangers made of 3 mm galvanised wires that are bent over nails hammered into a piece of wood.

Splash-guard being nailed into a roof

The colours on the map show the slope steepness (gradient) of the land which is suitable for run-off farming from.e.g. roads.

Legend to the map above