Installing a rain diverter over the doorway to your house will make life a little easier the next time you come home during a downpour. While diverters are available at many building supply stores, they are not hard to make if you have trouble finding them.

Materials Needed

• Sheet aluminum
• Two straight 2x4s
• Two 3” or larger clamps
• Rubber mallet
• Utility knife
• Straight edge

Sheet aluminum is sold by the roll in the roofing section of building supply stores. You will need a piece 8” wide and two feet longer than the width of the door you plan to cover. While sheet aluminum can be cut with tin snips or even scissors, you can get a smoother more accurate cut using a utility knife and a straight edge such as a framing square.

Lay the aluminum sheet on a flat surface and cut it to length by scoring along the straight edge several times with a utility knife. Bend the aluminum back and forth along the mark until it breaks. Cut the sheet lengthwise to 8” wide using the same method.

Sandwich the sheet of aluminum between the 2x4s, leaving 2” protruding, and clamp it in place. The edges of the 2x4s must be straight and line up with each other, otherwise the bend will cause wrinkles in the sheet metal.

Start at one end and push down on the protruding aluminum while working toward the other end. Repeat this process several times until the sheet has been bent to a right angle.

Using the rubber mallet, or a hammer and block of wood, tap along the edge to finish the bend.

Remove the clamps and attach the diverter to the roof as detailed in the article Installing a Rain Diverter.

Tags: , drainage, rain

5 Comments on “How to Make a Rain Diverter”

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1. Larry Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 4:55 pm

   I need a rain divertor for a metal standing seam roof. Any suggestions? A standard metal divertor will not fit over the roofing rises.

2. pam Says:
   October 9th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

   have small upper roof on dormer and small shed roof over man and garage doors,and only a two-inch faschia with exposed short rafters on both. gutter would be too big and ruin design, but water from both roofs splashes both doors. How would I install a diverter at the edge of the roof shingles to divert water to either side of the shed? Would this work except for downpours? I’m in Maine.

3. eggnostriva Says:
   August 18th, 2010 at 5:51 pm

   If such a device had been designed, It would be available commercialy.

4. 

   Ben Erickson Says:
   August 20th, 2010 at 7:57 am

   Hi Eggnostriva,
   Premade rain diverters are available at home centers and building supply stores. Since we’ve had a lot of e-mails over the years from viewers that had trouble finding them premade, we decided to demonstrate how to make one yourself, too.

5. Bob Ciccone Says:
   September 24th, 2011 at 12:30 pm

   I need instructions for installing a roof deflector on under shingles on an angle. Can you help ?
   Thanks

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