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Acreage owners, farmers and shop owners in Rocky View County

Eavestroughs for Acreage Homes, Shops & Farm Buildings Across Rocky View County

Acreages and farmyards around Airdrie, Crossfield and Irricana sit on open prairie where the wind has nothing to slow it down and hail has nothing to stop it. The buildings are bigger and more spread out than in town: long bungalow roofs, detached shops with steel roofs, and farm buildings whose roof water ends up wherever it lands.

We install and repair eavestroughs, downspouts, soffit and fascia on acreage homes, shops and farm buildings across Rocky View County. The work usually comes down to three questions: how much water a roof sheds, where it can be sent safely, and how the system will hold up to snow sliding off a steel roof.

Long runs and big roofs

Acreage bungalows and shops often have long, uninterrupted eaves. Runs over about 40 feet are usually pitched from the middle down to a downspout at each end, and large roof areas or steep pitches may call for 6-inch troughs and 3x4-inch downspouts to carry the water.

Steel roofs shed snow suddenly

Snow and ice can slide off a steel roof all at once. Gutters on steel roofs generally need snow guards above them or placement below the slide path, and even heavy hangers are not designed to catch a roof avalanche. We look at the roof before recommending a gutter at all.

Water sent where it belongs

Clay-rich prairie soils drain slowly, so water left at a foundation soaks in along the backfill. Extensions, splash pads and buried discharge lines can carry roof water away from the house, the shop floor and the well, ending on your own land rather than a neighbour’s.

Hail on open ground

The Calgary to Airdrie corridor is one of the most hail-prone parts of Canada, and exposed acreage buildings take it square. Heavier .032" coil resists denting better than the standard .027", and perforated aluminum guards stand up to hail better than fine mesh alone.

Shelterbelts and debris

Unlike most of Airdrie’s newer subdivisions, acreages often have mature spruce, poplar and caragana shelterbelts close to the house. Needles, seeds and cottonwood fluff plug troughs quickly, which is where guards and a regular cleaning schedule earn their keep.

Shops and ag buildings

Heated shops, equipment buildings and barns each have their own needs: water kept away from overhead doors so it does not freeze in the track, downspouts protected from equipment traffic, and oversized outlets on large roof areas.

Before we quote an acreage or farm building

  • The roof: shingle or steel, the pitch, and whether snow slides off it in one piece
  • How far the roof water needs to travel, and where it can safely end up on your own land
  • Where the well, septic field, driveway and overhead doors are, so discharge is kept away from them
  • Whether equipment traffic passes close to the building, which decides downspout placement and protection
  • What Rocky View County, or the town the property sits in, expects for drainage, which you should confirm with them
A detached steel-roofed shop on an acreage with a large eavestrough along its eave and a wide downspout to a splash pad, open prairie behind it.
Eavestrough on an acreage steel shop

Acreages & Farms: Questions

Can you put eavestroughs on a steel-roofed shop?
Often, but it depends on how snow leaves that roof. Snow and ice can slide off steel in one go, and a gutter in the slide path can be bent or torn off regardless of the hangers. The usual approaches are snow guards above the eave so snow melts off gradually, or setting the gutter low enough that sliding snow clears it. On some buildings the right answer is no gutter and good grading instead, and we will tell you if that is the case.
How far out from Airdrie do you travel for acreage work?
Rocky View County around Airdrie, Balzac, Crossfield, Irricana and Cochrane is our normal working area. For a property further out, call with the location and the size of the job and we will tell you plainly whether it makes sense for both of us to make the trip.
Where should roof water go on an acreage?
Away from the house, the shop floor, the well and the septic field, onto ground that slopes away and stays on your own land. Extensions and splash pads handle most downspouts; longer distances can use a buried smooth-wall line ending at grade, sloped continuously so it does not hold water and freeze. Rocky View County and the towns set their own drainage expectations, so it is worth a call to them before sending water toward a ditch or a neighbour.

Got a long roof, a steel shop or water in the wrong place?

Call with the building, the roof type and where the water is going now, and we will tell you whether eavestroughs, drainage or neither is the right place to start.