This is a paid product endorsement.

(Just kidding)

So, I have this big ol’ porch roof. It’s flat and held by only a few monster columns. The design is such that I don’t want gutters, be/c the downspouts would mess up the look of the columns and the gutters would mess up the look of the freshly stuccoed fascia.

However, water coming off the drip edge would either land right on the freshly stuccoed band around the edge of the porch beneath, or miss that and wear away the dirt beneath that along the drip line. The runoff’s traveling 25′ before touching down, so it has some force.

Finally committed to Rainhandler, be/c we seemingly have all the right conditions. We have a good way to attach their curved drip edge extender, and we have a big drop (22″ or so) from the drip edge to the Rainhandler. Also, we’re 12’+ from the foundation, so no problem there.

After stuccoing the fascia, attached the stuff. Wasn’t hard, except that I was having to lie on my front all day reaching over the edge with drills and screw guns. The roof got a little toasty up there, and I got a little bruised. But it went up easy enough.

Then, be/c it wasn’t raining, I tried my own water test with a jug of water. Darn it, the drip edge extender shot the water right past the Rainhandler. That’s not what I wanted. Called them. They were surprised, but sent some other-sized parts to try. Before they arrived, we got a real rain, and my test section worked! I guess that poured water behaves differently than rain. Lesson learned. So I installed the rest of the 85′ and waited for Frances to arrive.

Tonight it did just that, and it’s been a joy to watch the runoff–which before woulda worn a line in the stucco beneath, or the ground–completely miss the porch and spread out in nice harmless little drops anywhere from 6″ to 3′ away from the porch. It did exactly what they advertised. And it’s quiet, too. I expected to hear the water on the aluminum, but haven’t. It just worked.

Doesn’t mean I’d try it on a house without big overhangs or without ground sloped away from the footer or without the necessary drop from drip edge to louvers, but with the right setup, it does what they said it would. One more item off the honey-do list!