Half-Circle Eaves Gutters

"The roof is ready," is generally the signal which brings the plumber upon the scene. The mason begins at the foundation or the bottom, the plumber, however, begins at the top. The mason—or bricklayer, &c, as the case may be— has carried up the walls to their destined height, the joiner has done his share, so far, by laying the joists and doing the woodwork of the roof, and now the plumber has to do his part at making things watertight, and conveying away the rain-water which may fall upon the roof.
There are many ways of doing this, just as it happens to be a large or a small roof, a simple or a complex one; a cheap job, where nothing but plain half-circle eaves gutters are allowed, or one where tons of lead are required for the gutters, flashings or skews, valleys or flanks, skylight openings or dormer windows, hips or piends, ridges, and perhaps one or more flats, or u platforms," as they are sometimes styled.

If it be a plain roof with two gables, we will say that only simple half-circle iron rhones—i.e., half-round eaves gutters made of cast iron—are to be put along the eaves on the back and front of the house. This has to be done just as the exigencies of the case may require and the circumstances allow.

To make the hooks for a 4£-in. iron gutter about (say) 48 ft. long (which gives eight 6-ft. lengths, minus about 1J in. off foF the slip, or overlap at each joint, if the lengths are cast exactly 6 ft. long), will require about 27 ft. of hoop iron, as, allowing for two hooks for each length, or one hook every 3 ft., there will be seventeen hooks, and each piece of iron of a different length. The shortest piece will be 19 in. long, which allows 11 in. to go up the roof, and 7 in. to support the gutter; every other piece is cut a little longer, say, one-eighth of an inch, which in this case, where the gutter is supposed to have a run all to one end, gives about two inches of declivity in all, or a quarter of an inch to each length.

When the pieces of hoop iron which are to form the hooks are cut, they are arranged as per Fig. 14, and a mark struck across them from A to c, A being 7 in. from the end B, and 11 in. from the end E, while c is 9 in. from the end D, and 11 in. from the end F. This arrangement gives 7-f- 11 = 19 in. as the length of the shortest hook, and 9 -f 11 = 20 in. as the length of the longest hook; the length of the others being afi intermediate between these.

In place of tarring the hook, when time allows, it may be painted, first with a coat of red lead, and then a coat of paint of the same colour as the gutters. Fig. 15. When galvanized hoop-iron is used, heating and tarring and also painting are generally dispensed with. This non-protection is not to be recommended, however. Each of the above lengths of gutter has a faucit end and a spigot, or plain end, the plain end of the one length fitting into and lying upon the faucit of the next length.

After these iron gutters have been put up it sometimes happens that they are blown down in a gale of wind; to prevent that, however, the gutters should either be tied to the hooks with copper wire, or else pieces of hoop iron are fixed to the roof at one end, and the other end put across the top of the gutter to protect it and keep it down, as per Fig. 19. For zinc gutters the hooks have to be made in the same style as above, but the lengths of zinc gutter, in place of being screwed together, with putty, &c, are soldered, while to keep the zinc gutter in its place an iron bolt can be passed through the bottom of the gutter and through a hole made for it in the bottom of the hook, and so it is kept fast, as per Fig. 19. The iron bolts above spoken of are about 1 in. long and i in. thick. The holes in the gutters, &c, are, of course, of a corresponding size.

Sheet lead used to be largely employed for these half-round eaves gutters, but it is now getting out of use in many cases, on account of the large adoption of cast iron. In some cases, malleable iron has been applied for the purpose is cross section of a half-circle cast-iron gutter, with a small bead or moulding along its front edge. Fig. 21 is cross section of a half-circle eaves gutter made out of sheet lead of from 6 lbs. to 8 lbs. per square foot. The front edge is turned round as shown, about & in. or J in. in diameter for spigot ends lying inside the union faucit, so that this union faucit is, of course, fully wider inside than the spigot ends of the gutters over all.
When the short union-piece is intended to go inside the two faucit ends of two gutters, it is styled a clip, and is simply a short piece of the gutter with two holes in it for the iron screw bolts. The union faucit has also a hole at each end of it for the bolts.