The Restoration Couple you tube channel, on which the couple share all sorts of projects and content based around the renovation of their North Somerset home, gets around 1 million views a month and is one of the biggest DIY/renovation channels in the UK. They have a predominately UK based audience which is made up of like-minded property renovators, both DIY and trade.
They started a full roof restoration in September as part of an ongoing renovation and video series on the channel and were initially looking at restoring and replacing all the Victorian cast iron on the house.
They’d been following Rainclear on Instagram and, always keen to find the best products and suppliers for the channel so they can be confident in what they are recommending to their viewers, they got in touch.
Identifying the gutter material, size and profile
The two photos above show the old Alumasc name and size cast into the aluminium gutter that came off the roof. The profile looked similar to the current Cast Aluminium Victorian Ogee that Rainclear stock but we sent out a 300mm sample length in the 125mm textured black, just to make sure that when it was held up, end- to-end, the profile matched and would fit together with the cleaned-up and recoated pieces.
Selecting the most suitable installation method
The ogee gutters on the roof had ‘tilted out’ as Ant, our MD at Rainclear, suggested to Tim due to no brackets or wedges being used to fix it originally. This would have reduced the full capacity of the gutters. Imagine the above gutter full of water in a high rainfall, and then imagine it being tipped forward – the result would be a portion of the rainwater tipping out over the front edge.
After the discussion with Rainclear regarding the use of brackets, wedges, batten, etc. to remove this tilt-out (there was a film about the Victorian Ogee ‘wedges’ vs the us of a ‘batten’ when ‘direct fixing’ Victorian Ogee on Rainclear’s blog that we shared) Tim, one half of The Restoration Couple – and the one you’ll see most of in the videos, concluded that using the fascia brackets would actually be best, for ease of installation, to resolve the tilt-out, and also to give a little room between timber fascia and gutters (which was the failure point on the original ones they had).
A question this raised for Tim, which would affect the slate layout, was how much the brackets added to the total projection off the fascia. To ensure the bottom slates were positioned correctly. Rainclear were able to confirm that the fascia would add 30mm to the projection.
Each end of the main house roof ended with an outlet which offset around to the downpipes on gable end. Above a photo shows the original state of things!
The front of the house already had an Aluminium downpipe, which they would get down and have powder coated themselves.
Deciding what would need replacing
They thought they might use that with the other restored components on the single story section and replace with new on the main roof. (which also had a cast iron section at the bottom).
They also had a small lead bay window roof which had Cast Iron Victorian Ogee guttering on it. (which may end up having a full ‘bare metal’ restoration video of its own).
So, the shopping list for the roof of the main house became:
Rear of house: 7no. x 1.83m lengths of 125mm Ogee Alu gutter, 15no. fascia brackets, a left-hand stop end, and a right-hand stop end outlet
Front of house: 7no. x 1.83m lengths of 125mm Ogee Alu gutter, 15no. fascia brackets, a right-hand stop end, 2no. Internal 135 angles, 2no. external 135 angles and a left-hand stop end outlet,
76mm Downpipes: 2no. 685mm 2-part offsets, 3no. x 3m lengths of cast eared downpipe, and 2no. cast eared shoes.
Choosing the colour
The roof timbers and other trim were being painted in a heritage colour which is very close to RAL 7044.
Agate Grey RAL 7038 was one of the standard RAL colours that were available to order in 1o days without a surcharge and was not far off, but it was hard to really tell from the computer screen. The Restoration Couple were tempted to go with black but were keen to use the more subtle grey as the downpipes and cast iron soil stack would be very visible.
Powder coating samples arrived yesterday and look great. Agate grey was not too far off but then a second sample pack arrived with the RAL 7044 and it was clear that it was a much closer match, so keen to go with that. Thank you, Fiona, for sorting the 7044, it worked great!
What help Rainclear was able to offer
The services Rainclear were able to offer to help included:
- Sent metal colour swatches/paint samples to matching the special heritage colour, RAL 7044 chosen for the Roof timbers, trim and Fascia boards – one of the benefits of Aluminium is its wide range of colour options, factory applied – so it lasts longer.
- Sent 30mm sample length of the current Victoria ogee size and profile – because of our metal guttering specialism we were familiar with all metal gutter options – (Ant was able to identify it by eye from the pic) but we like to be sure! So, the sample length sent out to be held up to the old gutter length just confirmed the match.
- Provided installation guides for both Cast Aluminium and Cast Iron Victorian Ogee and cast collared round downpipes on PDF and in a video (to identify the best fixing method – direct fixing vs. fascia bracket)
- Both Cast Iron and Cast Aluminium ranges were available from stock in Textured Black although a special colour ended up being ordered and powder coated to order.
The YouTube video
The episode featuring the Rainwater System replacement, includes mentions of Rainclear Systems’ contributions and:
- Talking through why The Restoration Couple wanted to stick with metal, and why they also decided on Aluminium (they had found a mix of cast iron and aluminium on the house)
- The evidence of the old Alumasc gutters surviving so well, and discovering it was made in the UK.
- Avoids the Aluminium to Cast Iron cross over – dissimilar metals should not be mixed
- And about the custom colour match with the paint scheme, another benefit of Aluminium – its wide choice of colours
- Showing the full install, explained by Tim in his usual engaging as well as informative style, with time-lapse and drone photography.
Rainclear were excited about this collaboration and look forward to sharing the finished project images as well as the inspiring installation videos.
Watch the gutters come off!:
Watch the completed gutter install video!
The Rainwater System installation Episode
Watch more of the the Restoration Couple’s Videos
www.youtube.com/user/TheRestorationCouple
You’ll find more than just Rainwater System installation inspiration and guidance.
Follow them on Twitter – www.twitter.com/RestoCouple
And visit their website – www.RestorationCouple.com
The friendly, knowledgeable team at Rainclear Systems are always happy to offer samples, colour swatches, technical advice and quotations.
Visit www.rainclear.co.uk to browse and buy Cast Iron and Cast Aluminium ranges online now, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for there, have questions or need any help call 0800 644 44 26 or email sales@rainclear.co.uk or download our installation guidance and check out our installation videos.