Unobtrusive downpipes

[puntloos]

Super high level my house should look something like the below. 

 

The pictured house doesn't seem to have external downpipes. I won't go that far but I am thinking to put square white downpipes in strategic positions to be as unobtrusive as possible. 

 

My questions:

 

1/ Are square downpipes a good idea in the first place? Do they have downsides I don't expect? Kinda feels gunk might accumulate in the pointy corners?

2/ Material? As noted I'd want them to be the same color as my render but from that point on I don't really care. Is it even doable to get a color close enough? Would you put the same render on the pipe? Or just go for white and hope that it doesn't stand out too much from the fancyschmancy off-white render color

3/ Positions? If I can I guess I'd put them in the house corner, flush with the front (and back) wall so the house looks slightly wider? Bad idea?

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by puntloos

[Onoff]

I'd say there is a downpipe hidden in that square column/support.

 

Goes into that Aico drain you can just see. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Onoff

[ash_scotland88]

There was a grand design that had a link chain down pipe, may even have also featured in building the dream too.

I thought it was quite smart looking, no idea how it may age though.

[markc]

DP`s in columns is common in commercial buildings.

Dont render the pipe, you wont get it to stick. Very easy to paint pipes to any colour you fancy - no different to painting a plastic car bumper or trim

[tanneja]

We already have a regular circular soil pipe in place, I assume I will have to settle for painting it same colour as the soffit / facia or render, either way it will be on show, and on one of the principal elevations of the house.  I was wondering if I could have a box section layered over the top with identical access areas as the rod points.  Probably all a bit too hard now the house is rendered with EWI also making the ask of attachments a bit more involved.  Is there anything fairly simple that can be done?

[puntloos]

5 hours ago, Onoff said:

I'd say there is a downpipe hidden in that square column/support.

 

Goes into that Aico drain you can just see. 

Interesting point. But that downpipe would only service the little roof, not the main roof.. although I guess you could sneak a few pipes here and there

 

3 hours ago, tanneja said:

 I was wondering if I could have a box section layered over the top with identical access areas as the rod points.  Probably all a bit too hard now the house is rendered with EWI also making the ask of attachments a bit more involved.  Is there anything fairly simple that can be done?

 

I was wondering about this but at the end of the day it has to be about access to the pipe if things get plugged up. Not sure if such a box would just remove all ease of access?

 

So no main problems with square downpipes in the first place?

[ProDave]

45 minutes ago, puntloos said:

So no main problems with square downpipes in the first place?

Yes.

 

A previous house I had, had square pipes.  The brackets did not grip the pipes and the pipes had a habit of slipping down out of the joints and fittings.

 

I only "solved" it by drilling a small hole in each bracket and inserting a small self tapping screw to grip the pipe.

 

A round downpipe, most brackets will close around the pipe and grip it properly.

 

This might have been just an issue with the particular brand of pipe fitted rather than a fundamental problem with square.

[AliG]

Assuming that your soffits and gutters are black/dark grey then a white downpipe connected to dark gutters will look a lot more jarring to people than a dark pipe hidden in the corners.

 

Don't forget the pipe doesn't go straight up to the gutter, it has to come away from the wall to meet the gutter, a large white piece under a dark soffit would look very odd.

 

The key thing is to try and design them to be in hidden corners and as unobtrusive as possible. So on the house above I would be looking to put them in the corners either side of the wall that sticks out above the front door, not at the ends of the front of the house.

 

I am not sure about square versus round, I think it  is more what suits the look of the house. I would recommending more expensive metal ones though. The plastic ones get damaged by the sun and look poor over time.

 

 

[puntloos]

Here's an implementation of 150x150 square downpipes, 2 in the corner, and 1 'artificially extending' the front of the house somewhat. As @AliG noted curving around the actual roofplanes is a hassle (can't we go through without introducing major issues?)

 

Would this work? 

 

Also, are there triangular downpipes to really squeeze into a corner? Or is that (again) asking for trouble?

Edited June 28, 2021 by puntloos

[AliG]

I guess looking at this picture the plan is to make everything white which would then be OK. The earlier picture with black windows and gutters was confusing me?

 

The number of downpipes required is driven by the amount of roof and expected run off.

 

That small piece of roof would be fine with only the downpipe in the corner, it doesn't need two. You would just create a run to the end where the pipe is.

 

However, the roof above that then runs down onto this one is large, you will need to be careful with the pipe in the corner running off the top roof. It might be better to have a wide flashing and the pipe run into that rather than across the tiles.

 

By the time you have brackets etc, it would never look like shown in the picture, the pipe at the end would stick out from the house with a gap. In this kind of case the better idea would be to put the pipe round the corner on the side elevation. Similarly you cannot put a pipe as tight in the corner as you suggest, it needs brackets to hold it up.

 

You cannot put the downpipe through the soffit as it needs a run off from the bottom of the gutter. It would be too high in the soffit and also the standard connectors attach to the bottom of the gutter not the side.

 

I am pretty OCD about hiding things and keeping things as tidy as possible, but there is a limit to what can be done. For example relative to the picture you will also need a strip of flashing all along the top edge of the tiles and at the left hand side. These will be harder to see from the ground than the angle shown. You don't really notice them once they are in. What people notice is things that are odd, like horizontal downpipes across a wall or pipes right in the middle of the front wall of a house.

 

 

 

 

[puntloos]

Haven't 100% decided if we want black or white windows.. I'm leaning towards black really. 

 

What does your design look like? Do you have any pictures or something that fairly closely matches your ideas?

[AliG]

We are black and white.

 

Downpipes generally tucked into corners. 

[Onoff]

18 minutes ago, AliG said:

 

 

Ah yes the Stargate on the right! Looking good.

 

[puntloos]

3 hours ago, AliG said:

We are black and white.

 

Downpipes generally tucked into corners. 

 

Why the tiny piece of roof?

 

But yeh looks like having black downpipes tucked in corners does 'contour' the shape of the house nicely.

 

 

[AliG]

8 hours ago, puntloos said:

Why the tiny piece of roof?

It is one side of a dormer. We designed the house as "modern arts and crafts" as we felt that fixed in with the area well.