The first few rains of the season remind us of how spoiled we are in the summer in regards to roof maintenance.
We have few/no trees over our house (save the eucalyptus to the left and the neighbor's sequoia a distance away) and all of our downspouts were clogged and a good 100gals of water was being held on the roof..
I've found that the ball-shaped covers/traps just trap the debris a bit higher up the line, but does make for easier cleaning as opposed to a stop happening down in the throat of the downspout, but with our new rain chains, I'm thinking they're gonna be more trouble than they're worth and we'd be best off without them — we'll see. Fortunately, unclogging them is as easy is poking a stick up into the hole and letting a whole bunch of crap fall over you. Fortunately, too, I'm presently dressed for the task, so it could be worse…
Anyway, check the roof.
and does the rain chain spit water absolutely everywhere? does it actually get water off roof?, Our roof is FLAT so it needs all the help it can get. or is the rain chain more decorative than utilitarian- I have my doubts before I run out and order one of these zen like things that may lead to a very unzen day if it doesn’t help remove water…
the chains help to direct the rain toward the ground — although there *is* quite a bit of splashing… best for area that have a bit of overhang (like in the picture). we have 2 areas where the drains are closer to the siding (the front being one of them) and i’m considering traditional downspouts here (we have traditional downspouts on the garden side of the house for tis reason). no downspout will actively *pull* water down, just provide guidance for drainage. all this said, the chains will work just as well as downspouts providing there isn’t something that the pending splashing will effect. the plus side is that there’s no way for them to really get blocked (like with leaves).