Thirty years ago, in my Back-to-the-Earth period, my husband and I built
a house in the woods.  We didn't have piped water that first winter, so
we collected the roof runoff.  There was no gutter, just a board
deflecting the flow off the roof into a clean plastic rainbarrel.  Acid
raid had not yet become a major problem in the area, and the water
didn't come in contact with any metals.  Usually we filled up barrels
from our neighbors' spring for drinking and cooking, and mostly used the
collected rainwater for cleaning.  By the following Spring we had
installed a pipe from our spring and enjoyed clear mountain springwater
inside our little house.  We survived, pretty much in tact.  We even
have two kids who turned out fine, way beyond their parents, and we can
still remember fondly the odd funny stories of building and living in
rural southwest Pennsylvania. 

I've never liked gutters and downspouts because there are such a hassle
to keep clean, but they are helpful in getting excess water away from
the foundation.  Our 1840s house has gutters and downspouts that are
historically appropriate to the building, but they can't go into working
cisterns and occasionally deposit water where it damages the stucco
face.  Some of the downspout extensions create pools of water.  We
should connect to the city storm water system, but the cost to provide
underground piping makes that option prohibitive.


QUINN EVANS | ARCHITECTS

Ilene R. Tyler, FAIA

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