Downpipes are essential components for roof drainage and play a crucial role in material estimation. This command displays a submenu which allows you to select and draw downpipes on your roof model.
Menu Path
Cover > Downpipes
🧾 What downpipes do
A downpipe represents the location where rainwater drainage will be installed. It appears as a 2D dot drawn on the line you select (typically an eave line). When all the materials for the job are tallied later on, each downpipe will generate the required components including lengths of pipe, connection pieces, offsets, and possibly an elbow or a shoe.
When you first click this command, the list of available downpipes is displayed. This selection becomes the type of downpipe for all the downpipes in the model. You can control the visibility of downpipes using the Utilities > Set-Display command.
🔧 Downpipe commands
Command | Function |
Select | Change the type of downpipe for this job |
Insert | Draw a new downpipe on your roof |
Change | Modify an existing downpipe's properties |
Delete | Remove downpipes from the model |
Show | Display supplier, size, finish and colour annotations |
Tally | Calculate downpipes and accessories for reporting |
🛠 How to insert a downpipe
Click Insert from the downpipes submenu
Select a line (typically an eave line) where you want to place the downpipe
The downpipe appears as a dot on the selected line
The Downpipe values dialog box opens automatically
Configure the downpipe parameters (see settings below)
Click OK to complete the insertion
The software allows up to 20 different downpipes to be inserted on one job.
🧾 Downpipe configuration settings
Setting | Description |
Height of gutter | The height of the gutter above zero. Enter a suitable value so the Reporting section can calculate the number of fixed length pieces of downpipe required |
Offset to wall | The offset distance to the wall so the system can determine the type of offset piece to use. Default is the horizontal distance to the closest wall. Zero means no wall was found nearby |
Base of downpipe | Drop-down list to assign the base piece: nothing, an elbow, or a shoe |
Dot Size | Size of the dot representing the downpipe location in millimetres (makes them easier to see on the drawing) |
🛠 Managing existing downpipes
To modify a downpipe:
Click Change
Select the downpipe in the model
The Downpipe values dialog box displays current settings
Make your changes and click OK
To delete downpipes:
Click Delete
Select the downpipes you want to remove
To show downpipe details: Click Show to annotate each downpipe with supplier, size, finish and colour information. Use mouse right click (Cancel) to remove this text.
💡 Material estimation
Use the Tally command to calculate downpipes and accessories. This tallies all downpipe components and accessories, confirming you have everything needed before proceeding to the Reporting stage.
The downpipes appear as solid dots on your drawing, with the dot size determined by your configuration settings.