Rain diverter for rubber membrane roof?

Posted by on May 27, 2009, 5:53 pm

There's a small roof (about 6' wide by 4' deep) above my front door.
Rain and melting snow run off the front of the roof onto the stairs,
making them icy in the winter.

We got one estimate for about $600, because the contractor says we'd
have to rebuild the entire roof to change its slope. It currently is
a hip roof, and I think he wants to rebuild it to slope entirely to
the sides instead of to the front.

I'd prefer to just install a rain diverter strip. The websites that
describe them all show shingle roofs, but ours is a rubber membrane
roof with copper flashing at the edge. Is a rain diverter an option?

Jimmy

Posted by Nate Nagel on May 27, 2009, 9:09 pm

JimmyGeldburg@mailinator.com wrote:

> There's a small roof (about 6' wide by 4' deep) above my front door.
> Rain and melting snow run off the front of the roof onto the stairs,
> making them icy in the winter.
>
> We got one estimate for about $600, because the contractor says we'd
> have to rebuild the entire roof to change its slope. It currently is
> a hip roof, and I think he wants to rebuild it to slope entirely to
> the sides instead of to the front.
>
> I'd prefer to just install a rain diverter strip. The websites that
> describe them all show shingle roofs, but ours is a rubber membrane
> roof with copper flashing at the edge. Is a rain diverter an option?
>
> Jimmy

This may sound like a dumb question, but why not a gutter? Maybe
something like copper, since it's at the front of the house and
therefore probably noticeable?

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
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Posted by on May 29, 2009, 2:47 pm

> JimmyGeldb...@mailinator.com wrote:

> > There's a small roof (about 6' wide by 4' deep) above my front door.
> > Rain and melting snow run off the front of the roof onto the stairs,
> > making them icy in the winter.

...

> > I'd prefer to just install a rain diverter strip. The websites that
> > describe them all show shingle roofs, but ours is a rubber membrane
> > roof with copper flashing at the edge. Is a rain diverter an option?

> This may sound like a dumb question, but why not a gutter? Maybe
> something like copper, since it's at the front of the house and
> therefore probably noticeable?

That would be another option, but I thought it would be overkill for a
roof this small. There would also be the aesthetic issue of running
the downspout down the narrow wooden post holding up the roof.

Other similar (19th century) houses on my street don't have gutters on
their porch roofs. I'm not sure what they do have -- it's tough to
see a diverter from the ground.

Jimmy

Posted by Don Young on May 29, 2009, 10:49 pm

>> JimmyGeldb...@mailinator.com wrote:

>> > There's a small roof (about 6' wide by 4' deep) above my front door.
>> > Rain and melting snow run off the front of the roof onto the stairs,
>> > making them icy in the winter.

> ...

>> > I'd prefer to just install a rain diverter strip. The websites that
>> > describe them all show shingle roofs, but ours is a rubber membrane
>> > roof with copper flashing at the edge. Is a rain diverter an option?

>> This may sound like a dumb question, but why not a gutter? Maybe
>> something like copper, since it's at the front of the house and
>> therefore probably noticeable?

> That would be another option, but I thought it would be overkill for a
> roof this small. There would also be the aesthetic issue of running
> the downspout down the narrow wooden post holding up the roof.
> Other similar (19th century) houses on my street don't have gutters on
> their porch roofs. I'm not sure what they do have -- it's tough to
> see a diverter from the ground.
> Jimmy

You do not have to use a downspout. Just let the gutter dump the water to
the side like a rooftop diverter would.

Don Young

Posted by Han on May 30, 2009, 6:39 am

JimmyGeldburg@mailinator.com wrote in

>> JimmyGeldb...@mailinator.com wrote:

>> > There's a small roof (about 6' wide by 4' deep) above my front
>> > door. Rain and melting snow run off the front of the roof onto the
>> > stairs, making them icy in the winter.

> ...

>> > I'd prefer to just install a rain diverter strip. The websites
>> > that describe them all show shingle roofs, but ours is a rubber
>> > membrane roof with copper flashing at the edge. Is a rain diverter
>> > an option?

>> This may sound like a dumb question, but why not a gutter? Maybe
>> something like copper, since it's at the front of the house and
>> therefore probably noticeable?

>
> That would be another option, but I thought it would be overkill for a
> roof this small. There would also be the aesthetic issue of running
> the downspout down the narrow wooden post holding up the roof.
>
> Other similar (19th century) houses on my street don't have gutters on
> their porch roofs. I'm not sure what they do have -- it's tough to
> see a diverter from the ground.
>
> Jimmy

How about a nice bead of caulk along the edge to guide the water away?

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

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