Cast iron rainwater systems

Half-round is the everyday traditional profile; ogee suits buildings where the gutter sits directly on the wall head or a timber fascia; moulded and ornamental sections belong on principal elevations and higher-status buildings. Downpipes are round or square, plain or beaded, with swan-neck offsets where the eaves oversail the wall face.

Hoppers are where cast iron earns its keep architecturally, and where bespoke work is most often required — collecting several runs, receiving an internal outlet, or reproducing a dated original.

Cast iron is supplied primed for site painting or factory finished. Black remains the default on heritage work, but full RAL colours are available where a scheme calls for a specific grey, green or off-white. Sections are jointed traditionally and fixed into sound rafter feet or timber, not into eroded stone faces.

Weight and access matter. On a tall or awkward elevation with limited scaffold, cast iron effect aluminium can deliver the same visual result at a fraction of the weight — we will set out both options with the cost difference rather than assuming.

Original cast iron is frequently repairable. Where the failures are joints, brackets or paint, we take the run down, strip it back to bare metal, re-prime, repaint and re-hang to a corrected fall, replacing only the perforated sections in matching profile.