Custom Downspout Funnels, Leaderheads, or Scuppers Details Page
(what ever you prefer to call them)

Introduction

We have run a successful gutter replacement business since 1993 with the help of our web presence at http://dmr-gutters.com , which explains our primary focus on custom rain management sheet metal products. We had found over the last few years that most of our clients for this sort of custom work are no local, so we built this alternative web site to specialize in these sort of orders. There are lots of sheet-metal shops who make simple generic sized 'V' shaped funnels that will certainly do the job in many cases. We can make them as well, but we pride ourselves in being a custom shop with an artistic edge. We also have a strong focus on durability. Most any other scuppers will be made with just a thin sheet metal that will fail before long. We build a funnel liner in most of our scuppers to take the abuse of running water over the course of the following decades. This way the outer shell is not compromised, and the liner can be replace if needed without replacing the expensive outer shell.

We are not the fastest for large orders, since we have no employees to speed up production. If we have a lot of orders currently booked there may be some delay getting to your order, so prepare to not have our custom work in your hands in under 2 weeks time. Because of this we prefer not bother with speedy credit card payment for swift order placement. We simply require half payment in advance mailed  to us in the form of a check. There is a link to our contact web page near the top and bottom of each web page for requesting a quote.

Why are there so few custom fabricators?
It seems there are not a lot of talented sheet-metal fabricators promoting their work on the web, or who are willing to correspond through e-mail with photos and diagrams needed for small projects.  Then willing to box up and ship it off to you.  It is not uncommon for us needing to respond with a dozen e-mails or so to work out the details with a client. It takes a good deal of swift attention and time.

Looking locally in the phone book for local sheet-metal shops can be taking a stab in the dark, since you cannot see what work they have done or get referrals. To do good custom work like this requires good geometry skills, imagination, and a high mechanical comprehension.  To work this out across these wires it takes good prompt friendly communication skills and discipline few seem to have.  Diagrams and digital photos have to be passed in order to work out crucial details, so this will work out just right.  Few are willing to invest that kind of personal time and effort to ask the right questions for small items, unless it was for a large development project.

Here is an ornate copper scupper we removed for replacement in 2002

It had holes worn through the walls of the thin copper it was made with and the solder had cracked open in several places, even though there were no signs of impact

What are our qualifications?
Of course what you see here on our web site is the best example of what we are capable of, but here is a little of our background:

David's Grandfather, (John William Rich) was a brilliant inventor of several famous things we use daily.  His Father, (William Dale Rich) is a natural born mechanic, who runs a successful health products distribution business through http://www.billrich.com.  David's Mother, (Carolyn Ann Collins), has enjoys many creative artistic endeavors.  David was tested in school to have an unusually high aptitude for math, spatial arrangement, and mechanical comprehension, if not the greatest scores in English.  At 17, he got his first professional contract to make a life-size Darth Vader for the promotions of Empire Strikes Back (first release) with working LEDs in the belt units and a lit light saber.

Tia runs her own spiritual healing business as a Reiki Master and a trained Hypnotherapist through her web site: http://inner-serenity.org , but assists David when she can. She has demonstrated a talent in artistic design. We have designed and authored hundreds of web pages you see here over the last decade.

Why we do this?
It is true we can make more replacing gutters locally, we are not able to charge enough for all the time and effort, when we cannot even come close to competing with the common industrial 'V' shaped funnels sold or mass-produced items from China or India with slave labor.  We do love being creative and getting to know people from different parts of the world, if only in some small way. You are likely to find us quite friendly and even chatty with our clients.

These scuppers may be something that can simply be mass-produced and stocked on a shelf waiting to be ordered, but it has been very rare we have been able to reuse a template of a scupper we made in the past, as clients have different size needs and desired looks they want. We do not stock any scupper, as we have not found one design that seems to be more popular than others. We encourage clients to be creative and tell us what they want to see in a more ornate scupper.

We are careful to respond to each e-mail within 24 hours, but it may take over 8 hours of our time to get all the details worked out over several weeks, depending on how fast the client responds back with the info we need.  Then several more hours to design and fabricate a simple $200 scupper.  This has to be a work of passion, since it is not making us a lot of money.  We do a lot better financially installing gutters locally, and remain very active with that work still.

PS: I recommend against round downspouts for several reasons listed on our Downspout Comparison web page

What metal is best for these decorative rain-catchers?
Silver: would be great, but far too expensive of course, so we have not had any inquiries for a sterling silver custom sheet metal work, but I'm sure it could be done.

Lead: is a thick soft easy to work with metal that can be cut with just a pair of scissors and shaped with bare hands.  It can be custom shaped right on the roof peak without any special tools, so most building contractors like this option best. It is so heavy it does not even need to be nailed down to the roof.  It will last and seal up the roof just fine, but it does not leave much in the way of decorative options and is not very useful for this sort of application.

Copper: is clearly the best option here.  It is a metal that is meant to be seen.  It will tarnish within a few months to a satin dark brown.  It actually takes nearly half a century to turn that chalky green.  This dark earth-tone look makes copper a lot more appealing to most people.  It will also stay clean, since it will not mildew.  It will also retard the growth of moss on the roofing below it.

The cost difference of cheaper metals is marginal with this sort of custom work, since it is typically only 10% of the cost for custom fabrication.  To help minimize cost; the standard in the industry is 12oz and 16oz copper. The thicker 20oz copper we only use for custom work is very good for archival quality to last for well over a century, unlike the old scupper shown above. It is sturdier, which is more dent resistant as well.

Copper also makes a great ridge cap for any roofing in areas that suffer from moss growth and would keep the top edge of the roof sealed better than the roofing shingles.

Warning: Other sheet-metal shops may say it is copper, but it usually is only a very thin sheet copper, or worse: only copper plated steel.  Solid copper will not attract a magnet, so it is easy to test for this, but it may be too late by the time to have it to test.  Copper thickness is different that steel gauges.  It goes by weight per square foot. If they say it is 24 gauge, that may mean it is only copper plated steel, and still very thin. The 20oz copper we use is about twice that thick.

Stainless steel: is a good strong metal that will last, but it remains that shinny mirror-like finish until it mildews.  Since it is about the same cost of copper, with out any anti-fungal properties, it is rarely requested, but strongly pushed by other sheet-metal shops for reasons listed below.

Warning: Other shops will push stainless steel like it was the best thing on Earth.  Especially for chimney caps.  That is because stainless steel is quick to fabricate, since it can be simply spot welded together.  They also do not need to worry about finger print oils making the metal surface tarnish irregularly.  You need to beware: they will talk about stainless steel, but actually substitute with galvanized steel to unsuspecting consumers, since that client will not see it start to rust for about a decade.  Well past most warranties.  Or parts of it will be galvanized steel like the screen or the bolts.  You can test this with a magnet. Good stainless steel will not attract a magnet.

Aluminum: can be used, but it is normally painted to make it less brash looking than galvanized steel or stainless steel. It has a good baked on enamel finish, but that still only has a 20 year or so life span for that paint. It will still hold water for many decades later, but it would look poor.  It would probably cost more to have it stripped down and repainted than to have a new cap made.  It will also mildew in areas like the NW here.  So because of these issues; we do not have many clients even ask about this option.

Galvalum: is better than galvanized steel, but again it is not worth the small savings difference of copper, so we do not even offer it as an option.

Steel: is a cheap and strong metal, but it will rust through far too soon to be practical and cause rust stains below if not replace before this happens.  Besides, the savings to you is marginal, since most of the cost of custom work like this is the labor and shipping.  It would save you less than 10% off the cost of using the thicker 20oz copper we use, so we do not even offer it.

These and some decorative fascia board covers were for a client in New Mexico (7-05).  We would up passing about 40 some odd e-mails and several diagrams back and fourth over the course of about two months to work out all the details of this order for his entry roof he was building.  This total for these two custom scuppers was $385

diagram #1

The fascia board is made with 3/4" birch plywood covered with white painted aluminum.  It is made to be under 9' long to fit in the maximum crate size DHL will transport. The assemble needed to be 26.5' across the front and 9.5' along the sides of the entry roof.

The Stevenson House (11/07)
2397 S. W. Montgomery, Portland, Oregon

She had me replace 2 built-in copper scuppers seen here, so they would last beyond the 50 year roofing. The last repairman had covered the rusty steel with aluminum foil used for cooking as a fix to keep it from leaking into the house walls, so of course that did not work. I could not believe my eyes when I saw it! The rust holes under that foil were large enough to pass my fist through.

Decorative & Simple scuppers I made in painted aluminum

Here was a set of 4 custom white painted aluminum 14" wide scuppers I made for a client here in Portland Oregon in late 2007 for $300 each installed:

This is a custom aluminum catcher basin to catch the rain water from a narrow valley.  It was made from a short straight gutter, with each end mitered, instead of just slapping on a pair of end-caps.  We flattened the back side to make the bottom a bit wider and made a new higher back side.

It has a 3.5" x 4.5" funnel mounted in the bottom as the outlet, reducing into a standard size downspout.  There is a double 'A' offset elbow right under it to divert the rain water back to the downspout on the siding. This sort of scupper runs only about $140.

We didn't need to go to this trouble, but it just makes it look a little nicer, without going to too much trouble like the scuppers shown above.

This is a custom aluminum catcher basin to catch the rain water from a different kind of narrow valley.  It was made from a straight 3' gutter.  Again, with each end mitered, instead of just slapping on a pair of end-caps.  It has a 3.5" x 4.5" funnel mounted in the bottom as the outlet, reducing into a standard size downspout going straight down the corner of the house.

The cost for this was calculated from the basic cost of the gutter needed to make this: $15, + the cost of mitering 3 corners: $120, + installing this funnel in the bottom: $50 = $185 total installed

This was the finished product from the wishes of a customer in West Linn Oregon.  He wanted to have the gutter split in half, and dump into a basin of some sort.  Knowing it would look terrible, and we would have no place to attach the basin to, we came up with this one piece unit that is also part of the gutter it's self.  We covered the top of the basin with a screening to keep the critters out, but we wanted to leave it accessible in case it needed cleaning.   It then goes into a large 3"x 4" downspout pipe, which is twice the size of a normal downspout.

The extra cost was around $550 installed for the 4' of gutter: $15, + 4 corners mitered: $160, + installing this large funnel tray under it: $300, + the extra large funnel under the tray: $75

This was the finished custom product for the downspout feature for a gutter over the back deck on a house in South West Portland Oregon.  As you can see from the glass sliding doorways how the gutter on the back deck was so low, it was just higher than a tall persons head.  We came up with this one piece unit to keep the down spout up as high as possible, since the headroom clearance was at a minimum.  I had to design it open at the top, since there is so little slope to it.  It then goes into a custom 3.5"x 4.5" downspout reducer that funnels into a standard 2" x 3" downspout.  the picture below shows just one side of the gutter over lapping into the custom tray.

We charged about $150 extra for this custom scuppers, instead of normal downspouts.

Our First Scuppers in White Painted Aluminum (1996)

This is a set of scupper we were contracted to recreate back in 1996 out of pre-painted aluminum.  They were for the outlets of the flat roof on an apartment building at 23rd N. E. Broadway in Portland Oregon.  We recreated this form from the original rusty steel scupper basins that were there on the building.  As you will see on this web page, we are able to fabricate most anything you can imagine, where the local suppliers do not carry anything ornate like these.  All they stock is a simple straight V shaped funnel with a squared off rim at the top.

This scupper funnels into a standard 2"x 3" downspout.  It is about 14" across the top, and sticks out about 7" from the brick wall.  The lower rim is about 9.5" wide.

We do not work much in aluminum any more when this sort of labor is involved, since copper would only add $10 to $20 to the cost, it seems silly to invest all that effort into an aluminum scuppers that would dent a lot easier and is prone to scratching and general paint failure. Copper has been the preferred choice of most clients, but that also means you will need to have copper downspouts as well, which increases the cost of your project a good deal.

This is a custom aluminum scupper we fabricated for a customer who has an unusual situation for a drain on a flat roof.  We took the rusted steel sample he brought to me to build this from.  It had some very special angles to it as you can see.

There is a blue square 5 gallon bucket just behind it to show some dimensions to this scupper.  The old rusty scupper is sitting on the blue bucket.

Here it is from a different angle.  You can see the rust on the old scupper