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| The new Provo Temple has bronze gutter and downspout brackets supplied by our company. |
We have been involved with some pretty awesome projects. Some, like the Provo Temple above, we supplied the hand crafted decorative hangers for the downspouts and gutters. We have three arms to our company; Rain Water Systems is a water conservation business combining gutters, cisterns and landscaping. A.B. Raingutters installs wild and elaborate copper gutter systems and A.B. Companies supplies specialty hardware to other companies, like Utah Tile and Roof who is doing the roof and gutters on the temple.
How do we make the hangers and cast the metal?
We use a sand casting method where an impression is made in a heavy oil sand and the liquid metal is poured in to fill the void. I use different foundries for different size orders and can make original one-off items or reproduce historical hardware and brackets. Many of the weather vanes I make are carved in wood and then cast in bronze. It's fun and artistic and a super niche market as sweat shop imports sell for 1/10th of my handcrafted pieces.
Some project highlights:
The Paradise Garden Rain Water Harvesting project. Nestled in a quiet corner of Trabuco Canyon was this magical horse property.
I got invited to Hawaii to install some copper gutters by the owners of The Castle in Hawaii. Hopefully the island Gods steer the lava away as the cottage I put the gutters on and the castle are currently at risk.
Some project highlights:
The Paradise Garden Rain Water Harvesting project. Nestled in a quiet corner of Trabuco Canyon was this magical horse property.
I got invited to Hawaii to install some copper gutters by the owners of The Castle in Hawaii. Hopefully the island Gods steer the lava away as the cottage I put the gutters on and the castle are currently at risk.
One of the oddest locations I got to work was a movie set. It was for a Christmas special. The script involved this guy running up these ornate gutters. So, a facade was erected, I did my thing, they faux weathered and aged them and the scene was shot. The whole street was there and gone in three days on the Disney Ranch n. of Los Angeles.
The Long Beach City College
I did all the copper gutters and re did the spheres and weather vane. It was almost nine feet tall and I was pleased to hear onlookers say they thought it was an original. This was the project that got me making weather vanes as I could not buy one big enough that was similar to the sketch the designer made. So...I made it from wood carvings and copper sheet metal.
I was lucky and got invited to do two large homes in Las Vegas. Good times were had by all.
One of my clients is Andrew Merrick of Aquatech Raingutters. He installed brackets and leaderheads on the " Baby Dell " that I produced. It's on Coronado Island and the ornate hardware has never looked better.
Paradise Gardens was on one of the most beautiful properties I had ever seen. There were raised garden beds fed by rain water. The lady was a sweet as any one I had dealt with in my career. Definitely the most beautiful rain barrel ever;
Lastly; the systems in Rwanda. Using my skills I was able to be blessed by turbo charging the rain water harvesting program through No Thirsty Child.
I'm heading back on October 15th 2014 to expand the team in to North and East Rwanda. This is a volunteer mission depending on donations for project funds. As you can see from here, we have a long way to go.
One of those inspirational quotes I like; " Keep calm and walk through the fire".
