This Omni Façade system was patented in 1974 by John Maloney. It was a gutter with a soffit receiver channel, built-in to eliminate the need for a wood fascia board. It was designed to redesign the system. This was mainly installed in and around Chicagoland. Some of it went up in Washington D.C., Arizona and Florida. We are well acquainted with the system and are one of the founding installation crews from 1976.
In 1996 an improved version of the Façade gutter was designed and went on newly started subdivisions. The previous version was kept on to complete subdivisions started with 1974 style Façade. The 1996 version is interchangeable with 1974 style.
In August of 2013, the owner of the roll forming machine discontinued manufacturing the Omni Façade product. Therefor the product has been known to be unavailable for some time. However, S & S Architectural Inc. purchased the machine in May of 2015. We are pleased to be able to offer this product once again, in limited colors.
Some contractors claim the Façade system is flawed or has problems. These claims are false and groundless. If installed properly, a homeowner has a clean looking system with nearly twice the rain carrying capacity of a 5 inch K style gutter. Even with 6 inch K style gutter rain carrying capacity is still less than the Façade. Omni Façade is fabricated from .032 gauge aluminum. K style gutter are usually .027 gauge.
Remodeling contractors want to replace the Façade system because:
- They are not familiar with the system.
- They will make more money with a complete teardown and conventional gutter refit.
- The age of the Façade system. Façade installed in 1974 is still up on the first project done in Glendale Heights. Removing 29 year old gutters and replacing them with anything always looks better.
- Some of the early installations of Façade where done poorly causing problems. Any system installed poorly will be a problem.
- If a section of seamless façade is dented the whole run must be replaced. This is true but what seamless gutter would not need a whole run replaced?
- No wood sub fascia to keep rafters in place. This idea that there is nothing to keep the engineered trusses in place would make you think it is floating in air. The 5/8 plywood decking is nailed from the peak of the roof to the gutter edge. Each truss is nailed to the top plate of the wall. The trusses are braced on the inside for sway. Just think if someone told you to remove your ceiling drywall and install an all wood ceiling to keep the trusses in place with you paying his bill.
- The Façade cannot be pitched. Again this is an absolutely false premise. My installations were limited to ½ inch pitch to the downspout. This drains the gutter with no standing water and keeps the level appearance of the façade. K style gutters need more pitch to increase the speed of water flow to the downspout. The Façade has no need to speed up the flow due to its inherent high capacity.
- Hard to work with. This is also false. Experienced installers are able to replace the gutter without removing the soffit panel, saving time and expense.
This is not an untried system. I have installed the Omni façade for 35 years. I have installed a job a day often 2 a day for 30 of those years. That comes to about 5,000 homes or 600,000 feet or 113 miles of gutter alone.
I have worked installing the Façade system from August 1976 until I installed the last downspout in a subdivision in 2008. I believe in this concept of super clean looks, nearly twice the rain carrying capacity, maintenance free aluminum, heavy gauge .032 gutter and from the builders side, less cost to install.
Compared to conventional rain carrying systems Omni Façade features nearly twice the capacity yet gives the appearance of a no gutter design. It’s a simple matter of clean design.