No eaves/gutter with standing seam zinc?

[SuperPav]

Collective thoughts here please... One of the wings of our U shaped bungalow upstairs is going to be clad in vertical standing seam zinc, roof + walls. These walls are blockwork with 120mm cavity, and will be fully filled with Icynene (or alternative). Roof is vaulted ceiling with 200mm rafters on glulam ridge.

 

Only the sides of this section are clad in zinc. The end gable is exposed stone outer leaf. 

 

Below this on the 3 sides is a flat roof. 

 

The question is... to get the cleanest look possible, could we do away with any form of gutter, since the run-off would end up on the flat roof anyway?

 

The flat roof will have ballast or sedum trays on one side, and on the other side is above the garage, so I'm (perhaps naively) not expecting noise of run-off to be a particular concern.

 

The alternative will be a concealed box gutter on both eaves coming out through the gable wall with two downpipes down to the flat roof. As the roof structure is going to be going on soon, I want to get the details of this nailed down.

 

Hopefully the attached image shows what I'm talking about

 

 

[Ralph]

No expert but I would be a bit wary of not having gutters (especially here in Scotland)  and I'm not sure how you would finish the edge of the roof. We used standing seam steel and kept the gutters quite tight under the roof. I don't think they stand out too much. 

[SuperPav]

That looks amazing. In an ideal world, we'd want a "seamless" run from wall to roof.

So just testing the boundaries of physics to see how close we can get to that. Even if we had to revert to external gutters, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but that's the fallback!

 

[Mr Punter]

I think it could look quite crisp to have the wall and roof meeting seamlessly.  I can't see a reason it would be an issue. The are some uni halls near me that have this and I think they are finished in clay tiles.

 

[saveasteading]

Firstly a declaration. I think gutters are a good thing, recognising that rain happens and is best got rid of efficiently.

Also I don't like sedum roofs other than for appearance (from above?). Not 'green' not 'sustainable'.

 

Practically though in your case.

If water runs off an eaves onto a flat roof it makes a noise and wears out the surface, even steel.

After the rainstorm, the roof drips for many hours.

 

You will have sedum, so it will kill the plants and wash out the growing medium, then probably cause a blockage in the drainage channel and rwp.

 

You are going to have to do maintenance every few months, especially of the concealed gutters.

 

A matter of opinion perhaps but I also don't rate having downpipes running through the living room. The sound of running water may provide a 'connection to the outside world', but it is a worry for keeping clean and intact.

 

2 hours ago, Ralph said:

wary of not having gutters (especially here in Scotland) 

 

It rains everywhere in the UK. In the areas that have more extreme downpours (west coast and SE England) the water will power off at an incredible rate and cause damage.

I am interpolating from the drawing that there are also some valleys, which will concentrate the rain even more into spouts towards the middle of the roof.

 

Gutters and external downpipes would be a great idea. You won't feature in Architects' Journal but your house will last longer and you can relax when it is raining.