Guttering

With the rainharvesting system now installed there's one missing link, the guttering. This is obviously needed to collect the rainwater from the roof to supply the tank.

We've endeavoured to use natural materials wherever possible at Hillside, and in particular have tried to avoid plastics, particularly uPVC, due to their environmentally damaging nature. This is best illustrated in our sourcing of timber window frames. But there are some things, such as electrical cable, that you can't currently supply without a plastic element. Our builder thinks this is the same for guttering, with uPVC being the norm as far as he's concerned. However, we've stuck our ground and have specified Lindab galvanised steel guttering to avoid the use of plastics. Steel has the benefits of being recyclable (unlike uPVC) and is lighter and less expensive than aluminium.

On the aesthetic front, galvanised steel also adds to the contemporary look that we're after, rather than boring old black (or white, yuk!) uPVC.

With the Lindab materials now onsite all we now need is for the builder to install them so that we can start filling up the rainwater tank.