ROOFING: An eco-friendly option to keep leaves out of your gutters

Fall will be here soon, and the tree leaves will find their way into the gutters on your new roof to clog your downspouts - resulting in potential water damage, dryrot or mold on/around your newly remodeled home. There are several types of solutions to help prevent gutter clogging, and here is one eco-friendly option that we wanted to bring to your attention.

The RainTube System is a tubular piping system that fits snuggly into your existing or new gutters.  The system is designed to prevent large debris such as leaves and pine needles from entering.  Tiny particles such as dust, fine seeds, and roof grit may still enter, but with proper sloping and drainage these particles will remain in solution and flush out through the downspouts according to the RainTube team.

The RainTube team outlines the installation process as follows:

• Your gutters and downspouts are inspected to ensure they are in good condition
• All gutters and downspouts are cleaned.
• RainTube technology is fit into your existing gutters. 

RainTube is manufactured by GLI Systems Inc., and it is made from 100% post-consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and can be recycled again if needed.  The products are manufactured in Oregon.  Ballpark pricing for the product is $5-6/ft (that includes installation) - pretty good!

Some interesting recycled plastic factoids from Raintube:

• The energy saved by recycling one plastic bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes.
• 17 one-gallon milk jugs are reused to make one 13′ length of RainTube.
• 227 one-gallon milk jugs are reused to protect the gutters of an average home with RainTube.
• There are about 1,000 milk jugs and other bottles in a recycled plastic party bench.
• If you lined up all the polystyrene cups made in just 1 day they would circle the earth.
• Americans toss out 14.4 million tons of plastic every year according to the Plastics Museum.
• Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
• Half of all polyester carpet manufactured in the U.S. is made form recycled soda bottles.

Other products created from recycled plastics:

• 14 20-ounce green soda bottles = one extra-large T-shirt
• 85 20 ounce soda bottles = filling for one sleeping bag
• 96 one-gallon milk jugs = one 6 foot long piece of 2/4 plastic lumber
• 1,200 plastic bottles = one 200 pound railroad tie
• 68,000 milk jugs (reinforced with fiberglass) = one 30 foot long bridge in New Baltimore, NY

 

 

 

 

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