Eaves
Replacement cast iron guttering and downpipe on an ‘early’ type house.
The bottom edge of the roof, where the wall and roof meet, is known as the eaves. Originally, the rainwater guttering on the early type houses would have been supported using metal brackets spiked into the wall or fixed to the rafter ends. For ease of fixing of replacement rainwater gutters fascias have been added to most houses. Later type houses would have been fitted with small eaves boards or fascias that would have been concealed behind the guttering in most cases.
The relationship between the roof slates, eaves and the guttering is important to get right to ensure that the large quantity of rainwater running off the roof is kept clear of the wall surface below.
Most Valleys houses have lost their original eaves detail having been replaced with over-deep timber or uPVC fascias.
If you are replacing your roof for natural slate, consideration should be given to restoring the eaves to its original form at the same time. If your eaves have been altered, check other houses in the street to see whether any original details have survived. If no original details survive on other houses, there may be clues as to the size and position of the original fascia at the wall head (old paint lines, etc. behind the modern, often deeper fascia).
In the absence of any surviving evidence, the replacement fascia should be of timber, with a simple chamfer at its bottom edge. The fascia should be kept as small as practically possible and the use of upside down Torus type skirting board should be avoided. Consideration should be given to using close-grained, resin rich, treated Douglas fir or other high quality timber to minimise future problems of rot, etc.
Deep, square-edged timber fascia boards should be avoided. Fascias should be painted and never stained or varnished.
uPVC fascias never match the detail found in traditional patterns and their modern profiles and fixing methods detract from the character of any old building.
Other forms of eaves details can be found in the Valleys, including open eaves in the early type houses and overhanging, more decorative type eaves in some of the later types. Wherever possible it’s important to restore the original details to help reinforce the traditional character of our Valleys houses.
Guttering and downpipes
Very little original guttering and downpipes remain, with the majority replaced by uPVC or, in a small number of cases extruded aluminium.
Consideration should be given to using traditional cast iron (or cast aluminium) gutters when restoring your house. Simple half-round gutters should always be used on the earlier type houses. Half-round and ogee pattern gutters are suitable for the later type houses.
Wherever possible use cast iron rainwater pipes (round with ears) unless evidence suggests otherwise.
uPVC or extruded aluminium rainwater goods should be avoided in restoration work as these never match the traditional form or connection details of traditional cast-iron and appear modern. In addition uPVC and extruded aluminium is not as robust as cast-iron or cast aluminium and is more susceptible to snow damage (at eaves) and vandalism (at street level).
