Today, let’s meet Gregory Kaufmann. He’s the owner of Gutter Helmet Northwest, a Gutter Helmet supplier which serves homes in the greater Seattle area in the state of Washington.

Kaufmann is a proud graduate of Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. He received his Master of Arts degree in Theatre and Film in 1973. While at Humboldt State, Kaufmann was a member of the Delta Psi fraternity and also participated in a theatre group on campus. He received an Arts Council award and was recognized as one of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.

Kaufmann has been the owner of Gutter Helmet Northwest since 2009. Not only does his business install Gutter Helmet products, but it also offers a wide array of related services. These include gutter cleaning and repair, as well as downspout installation and repair. In addition, Gutter Helmet Northwest is a full-service general contractor which can service both traditional and mobile homes. The company provides sales and service for roofing, siding, windows, and exterior doors. Gutter Helmet Northwest can also handle clients’ window cleaning, roof cleaning, pressure washing, and exterior painting needs as well.

Kaufmann is not shy about warning his customers about the dangers of gutter maintenance. He says that if you ignore your gutters, they can get clogged with debris and cause runoff water to overflow onto the ground near your home, which could lead to foundation problems. On the other hand, Kaufmann recognizes the hazards of cleaning gutters on your own. He says that he is aware of several cases where people have actually died while trying to clean their gutters. And falling isn’t the only danger: Kaufmann recounts one case where a man used a spray device to flush out his gutters, which atomized the standing water inside them. The man breathed in the particles and eventually perished from Legionnaires’ disease.

Kaufmann is not only a seller of Gutter Helmet products; he also has a long track record of using these gutter guards on his own homes. That’s because Kaufmann knows that there is no better gutter guard system available today.

If you have a residential or commercial property in the Seattle area, be sure to contact Gregory Kaufmann for all of your gutter and home handyman needs. Gutter Helmet Northwest accepts credit cards and does offer financing to customers. For more information, you can call 206-219-0566.

Image: photoholicsanonymous.blogspot.com

Here are eight options for keeping birds out of your gutters.

1. Gutter guards. There are different varieties of gutter guards, but they all work using the same principle: to allow water to flow into your gutters while keeping everything else out. These may have to be installed by a professional, but they can be very effective in fending off large nesting birds.
2. Hardware cloth. This is actually less like cloth and more like a galvanized steel mesh. You can place this 1/4-inch or 1/2 inch hardware cloth over your gutters and wrap it tightly to them with wires. Birds won’t be able to move it or slip underneath it.
3. Repellants. There are several types of bird repellants on the market, including those which come in granule, gel, or liquid spray form. Bird repellants don’t harm the birds physically; rather, they are formulated to emit scents which alter the creatures’ physiological states. This alteration makes birds uncomfortable with their surroundings, causing them to fly off and nest elsewhere.
4. Fright inducers. This is really a fancy word for decoys — like owls or eagles — which can be placed on top of a home near its gutters. There’s even a product called Scary Eyes which consists of an inflatable balloon that can be placed near gutters. But be sure that these fright inducers are placed before the birds take up residence in your gutters; otherwise, they won’t be effective.
5. Traps. As with other animal pests, the optimum solution may be trapping them and setting them free elsewhere. You can buy traps designed to ensnare pigeons, starlings, sparrows, or other kinds of gutter-invading birds. The key is to establish a feeding location to lure the birds toward the traps – like a relatively flat portion of your roof, for example.
6. Sound waves. These devices either send out sounds of predators which will scare the birds away, or emit high-frequency sounds which can be heard by birds but not humans. The products themselves are usually speakers that can be mounted near your gutters – but you may need several to cover your entire home guttering system.
7. Fake snakes. Believe it or not, those squiggly pieces of rubber often used for pranks can sometimes be effective in scaring away birds. The key is to attach them to a surface in or near your gutters so they won’t be washed into your downspouts by rainwater – or carried away by birds of prey.
8. Attack spiders. Yes, this is a real product. This attack spider is designed to detect motion and release an 18-inch cord from which it drops down onto unsuspecting birds, thus frightening them away. You’ll have to find a surface above your gutters where you can hang it (like on some eaves or siding).

Image: tic.howstuffworks.com

Here is a list of the 20 home improvement projects with the largest return on investment. All of the prices are estimates compiled by Remodeling Magazine’s Cost vs. Value Report for 2011-2012.

Costs can vary by region, so be sure to see how they compare against bids by contractors where you live.

The only consistent observation about the American winter of 2011-2012 is that it was very atypical. When you look at temperature and precipitation charts for this past season, you’ll notice a wide variation from the norm in almost every region of the country.

Images: climatewatch.noaa.gov

So what does this mean in terms of spring gutter cleaning?

If You Had a Wet Winter…

The south-central U.S. saw exceptional amounts of rain and snowfall, which was a boon to areas of Texas that have been suffering from one of the worst droughts in the state’s history. Above-normal precipitation readings were also recorded in Midwestern states like Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, northern Oklahoma, and even parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin. And while the Pacific Northwest is well-known for its rainy conditions, an abnormally high amount of snowfall was noted in the region this year.

If you live in one of these areas, you may find excess leaves, pine needles, and muddy debris crammed into your gutters. That is why it’s more important for you to promptly clean out your gutters than in past years. The accumulation of debris will retard the progress of runoff from spring showers, and the water may spill over onto the ground near your home’s foundation. After scooping and scraping out the stuff found inside your gutters, you should take a hose and run water through them to identify and destroy clogs that may have formed near or in your downspouts.

If You Had a Warm/Dry Winter…
For much of the nation, the recent winter was remarkable for its lack of snowfall. The major cities in the East posted relatively miniscule snowfall amounts, led by Boston with just 9.2 inches of snow (which is 75% below average) and New York with a paltry 7.4 inches (about 66% below normal). The upper East Coast also experienced warmer-than-usual winter temperatures and less precipitation than normal. And while the Southeast isn’t known for huge snowfall totals, residents there noticed a drier and more temperate winter as well.

If you live in these areas, you won’t have to do all that much gutter cleaning. However, you will have to be concerned about one particular nuisance: insects. Because of the mild winter, pest populations are expected to explode this spring. So you will still need to get up on your ladders to look for signs of ants, cockroaches, and stink bugs. You should also clean up even small pools of standing water in your gutters, since mosquitoes only need about a water bottle capful to breed. Finally, you’ll need to check the fascia boards where your gutters connect to your roof. These hidden spots could be excellent staging areas for termite infestations.

This winter will be remembered for many different reasons, depending on where you live. But all of us will have to take steps to ensure that our gutters are ready for the warmer months.

And many people would agree: cleaning your gutters is indeed a thankless chore.

Of course, there are plenty of companies who will gladly take that arduous task off your hands for a fee, including:

• G-Vac, which provides gutter cleaning services to customers all across the country. Last month, G-Vac’s Long Island office decided to help its community by offering to clean the gutters of the Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center in Huntington, New York. The business has pledged to continue providing this service annually to the shelter – all at no cost.
• P.J. Fitzpatrick, Inc., which also offers window, door, and siding services to customers in Delaware, Maryland, southern New Jersey, and southeastern Pennsylvania. Last summer, P.J. Fitzpatrick enlisted some 20 volunteers to clean the gutters of three homes in Delaware. Each of these residences were occupied by persons with multiple sclerosis, a disease which can make household tasks like gutter cleaning extremely difficult or impossible.
• Kaiser Permanente in Atlanta (whose employees, by the way, don’t clean gutters for a living). Members of the firm’s electronic medical records department, HealthConnect, partnered with the Community Service Board in DeKalb for a day of service this spring. Volunteers descended upon a group home in Tucker — which houses women with developmental disabilities — and proceeded to clean the building’s gutters, as well as perform other much-needed spring cleaning tasks.

Of course, you don’t have to be a company to be a Good Samaritan gutter cleaner.

• VINE Faith in Action is an interfaith volunteer group in south-central Minnesota which aims to assist senior citizens and individuals with disabilities in their community. As part of this mission, the organization plans to visit several homes throughout the summer and clean out their gutters.

But arguably the most selfless act of gutter cleaning was provided by…

• Selassie Ibrahim. She is a well-known actress in her native Ghana and across much of the African continent. Last month, she showed her altruistic side by going to Nima, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital Accra, to clean out the clogged gutters in the city’s market area. And Ibrahim did not simply supervise a team of volunteers — she was seen scraping away muck and debris herself.

It may not be the most glamorous act of charity one can perform. But cleaning out someone else’s gutters is sure to elicit heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

Image: tucker.patch.com

If you want something semi-permanent for chilling your drinks, but can’t afford an expensive built-in compartment, here’s an idea for you: how about a picnic table gutter cooler?

Image: lifehacker.com

Say, What?
It’s an inventive yet practical way to keep beverages not only cold, but also easily accessible. A picnic table gutter cooler is just like it sounds: one of your gutters substituted in for a plank in your picnic table. A fringe benefit is that you get to remove a table plank which may be stained, cracking, or rotting.

How Do You Make It?
Constructing a picnic table gutter cooler is easy. Measure the width of the table plank that you are going to take out to make sure it is approximately the same width as your gutters. Then measure the length of the gutter section you will be using and mark it on your table accordingly. You can either use a shorter gutter section and leave some of the planks on the ends; or you can use a longer gutter section and cut off the excess length.

Remove the picnic table plank with a hammer and hammer claw, making sure to pry out all of the nails. Then insert the gutter into the space and drill a screw through the side of the gutter into the side of the adjacent planks. For more durability, you can use metal brackets that attach to both the gutter and table if you like. Then put end caps on the ends of the gutter. (If you wish, you can install two picnic table gutter coolers on one picnic table.)

Putting It to Use
Now you’re ready to fill your picnic table gutter cooler! You can put cubed ice in about halfway up to the top of the gutter, or you can use crushed ice almost to the top. Then place wine bottles, beer cans or bottles, and other beverage containers along the length of the gutter cooler. (Tip: put wine on one half and beer on the other.) Presto! Your beverages are cool and within reach!

When your party is over, just remove the beverages and tip one end of the table up so that the ice and water runs downhill over your end cap and onto the grass. Then wipe the gutter with a damp cloth to remove any excess dirt.

With picnic table gutter coolers, all of your friends and relatives will be buzzing about how you were both thrifty and inventive!

Introducing: the vertical gutter garden!

Image: apartmenttherapy.com

This trend is sweeping through many cities and other densely-populated areas, because it allows green-thumbed individuals to “get their garden on” without taking up a large amount of space. Vertical gutter gardens are actually mini-gardens which are planted and nurtured inside sections of guttering that you would otherwise find on the roof of a house or building. And the best part is they are small enough to be placed on a patio, balcony, or windowsill.

It’s fairly easy to construct your own vertical gutter garden. First, obtain a few sections of aluminum, PVC, or plastic gutters from a hardware or home improvement store along with the proper number of endcaps. You can mount each section on a wall or fence using screws, nails, or hangers; but be sure to leave at least a foot of clearance between the top of one gutter section and the bottom of the next one. Then put an endcap on the ends of each section to keep the soil in.

Another alternative is to hang your vertical gutter garden from the ceiling or roofline. You’ll need to drill holes in the bottom of each gutter section, through which you will run lengths of chain, heavy twine, strong fishing line, or steel cables (with one end hanging from a hook at the top). Fasten bent rods or metal slats to the bottom of each gutter section to keep them from sliding downward.

Image: ahahomeandgarden.com

Shallow-rooted plants like violas, marigolds, and pansies tend to grow better in vertical gutter gardens. If you’re looking to raise produce, consider planting spinach, kale, arugula, or root vegetables like radishes or beets. Herb gardens containing cilantro, chives, and parsley are also a favorite choice.

Try to place your vertical gutter garden where it receives at least four hours of sunlight daily. For non-hanging gutter gardens, be sure to drill a few holes in the bottom to allow dirty water to drain out. And while you won’t have to worry about ground pests like slugs or snails, you might have to take steps to keep out winged bugs, birds, and/or squirrels or other furry critters. Consider covering your vertical gutter gardens with mesh or plastic sheeting, and place obstacles designed to thwart the path of squirrels.

Maintaining a vertical gutter garden is fun, therapeutic, and rewarding. So grab some gutters and tools, assemble your vertical gutter garden, pour in some soil and seeds, and start watching your garden grow!

How bad was it?  And what states were affected the most?  Let’s take a look, using official government data and maps, and parsing the news, to find which five states had it the worst in a mild winter.

What’s Average?

Before we begin, though, what’s “average”?  Fortunately, the government has been studying that for years: NOAA has tracked precipitation, snow cover, and average temperatures.  But no matter what was “average,” this winter has been anything but.

This map gives you an idea of just how warm it was for much of the country, but the big winner in the warm weather sweepstakes was New England.  In most New England states, the winter ranked as the 2nd warmest on record: one slot shy of being the warmest winter since NOAA started tracking temperatures.  In fact, across the northern part of the country, you have to get to the West Coast — namely Washington state — to find a winter that had average temperatures.

That may sound pleasant, until you remember that a lot of New England states have skiing tourism as a major industry.  And no state is more dependent on having a snowy winter than the Green Mountain State, Vermont.

Vermont: Warm Weather, Bad Economy
Vermonters are deeply nervous that record high temperatures meant a bad ski season and thus a bad year for local industry and businesses that depend on weekend skiers and winter snowbunnies to keep themselves afloat.  If the skiers aren’t showing up, and it’s not a sure thing that they have, Vermonters could be facing a rough time economically for the rest of the year.

The Good News: Not all the ski resorts will have a bad year.  Colorado had a heavy snow storm in early February that made the mountains fluffy and white…even if that was followed a few weeks later with a snowstorm that caught the state department of transportation completely flatfooted. Or as Twittering locals put it: #snOMG!

North Dakota Has the Biggest Temperature Change

Meanwhile, the state experiencing the most difference from its normal temperatures could be found not in New England, but in the Midwest.  Specifically, the state with Mount Rushmore: North Dakota.

Most of North Dakota experienced temperatures significantly above the norm: between seven and 10 degrees, in fact.  And again, that might sound pleasant, and it is.  But with an unfortunate side effect: North Dakota is at major risk for dangerous brushfires.  Worse, it’s paving the way for a violent, tornado-filled spring as the warm air flowing from North Dakota means nasty tornado-spawning thunderstorms hitting the rest of the Midwest.

The Good News: Honestly, there isn’t much, although New Mexico at least got to experience a little more snow than usual, without it fouling up their roads too much.

Kansas Nearly Breaks Records for Rain…and It’s Still Not Enough

For most states, it was a dry, dry winter…unless you were smack in the middle of the country, in which case there was more rain than you ever wanted.

Kansas is typically fairly dry, and this year was no exception, despite the record-breaking amount of rain falling on the state.  A recent torrential rain system pounded the Midwest, causing flash flood warnings in Oklahoma and Arkansas and tornadoes in Texas. Despite facing eight inches of rain, Kansas authorities were unconcerned, since it’d been an unusually dry year.

In fact, Kansas would prefer it be cold and rainy at least for another few weeks; the mild, dry weather means the winter wheat is sprouting early, making it dangerously susceptible to wildfires and freezes.

The Good News: At least the rain did some good in Texas, where the state has been facing the worst possible drought conditions, ranked D4, in the nation.  The heavy rain has mostly put a stop to that, with D4 conditions in Texas shrinking from 43.3% of the state to 14.3% by the end of February…a welcome lift to Texas’ parched agricultural industry.

California Is Parched

Californians, meanwhile, didn’t get any relief.  Quite the opposite: they got all the standards temperatures they were expecting, but far less precipitation than they needed, and definitely a lot less than the state wanted.

California has a fairly unique water situation: being as it’s such a large state, with terrain ranging from mountains to desert, it relies fairly heavily on snowpack; snow falling on its mountains, melting and running off those mountains.  Snowpack helps refill its reservoirs, irrigates its agricultural communities, and provides quite a bit of water to the southern part of the state.

So when precipitation is only 60% of the average, that creates some very serious problems across the entire state, triggering drought conditions.

And, just because not having enough water wasn’t rubbing it enough for Mother Nature, California is also facing a worse than usual wildfire season.

The Good News: At least Illinois got some much-needed rain, even if it doesn’t feel like it: they’re currently in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave.

So What Does This Mean For Homeowners?

First and foremost, be prepared for a spring and summer no less wild and woolly: part of the reason we’ve had these mild conditions is that weather patterns have gotten out of whack.  As they right themselves, we may see the weather decide to catch up a little bit: out-of-season rainstorms, heat waves, and other unusual weather are likely going to mark the next few months.

Secondly, check what your state and local government are saying to do to prepare. For example, if you live in an area where flooding is common, you might want to see what you can do to ready your house for those problems. And make sure your gutters are ready for the wild weather to come.

Finally, don’t panic, and if you’ve got some unseasonably nice weather, enjoy it: after all, this only comes along once in a while.

But what about your gutters? Are they a fire hazard?

It’s very possible. This winter, homes in New London, Connecticut and Riverview, Florida narrowly averted serious damage after fires were discovered in their gutters. If not for the keen eyes of neighbors, both of these homes could have gone up in flames – and even claimed the lives of their occupants.

Image: shedblog.com.au

So why exactly do gutters present a fire danger to homes? Because of what may be inside them.

It’s quite common for leaves, twigs, pine needles, and other debris to fall into gutters from the roof or overhanging trees. If this debris is allowed to build up, it’s like having a supply of flame-friendly kindling right in your gutters.

When this happens, it only takes a single spark to ignite the debris inside the gutters and cause a fire. This spark can come from burning trash piles, fireworks, a chimney, or nearby brush fires. Wind in the area can propel embers from the source to a gutter; in fact, firefighters caution that embers from an open fire often travel as far as a mile away from their origination point.

Clogged or debris-filled gutters represent one of the largest fire vulnerabilities for a building. That’s why firefighters and home improvement experts strongly urge homeowners to clean out their gutters regularly, especially if the weather is dry and windy. Scraping, vacuuming, blowing, or power washing the unwanted material out of the gutters usually takes only a few hours of work. For homeowners who don’t wish to clean their gutters themselves, there are plenty of contractors who will handle it for a relatively small fee.

One way to prevent gutters from becoming clogged in the first place is to install gutter guards. These products fit over the top of the gutters and keep debris out, but are designed to allow runoff water to flow easily into the gutters. Gutter guards are an excellent way to eliminate a potential fire hazard.

When you think of gutters, you usually think of water, not fire. However, allowing your gutters to become clogged increases the chances that your home will fall victim to fire. If that’s not a good reason to clean your gutters, we don’t know what is.

Image: davisw.wordpress.com

Here are the facts: uncleaned gutters can wreak a lot of havoc well before they come tumbling down. Here’s what can happen if ignore gutter cleaning. After you read this, you’ll be climbing up your ladder or picking up the phone and calling someone to address the problem.

Problem #1: Rotting fascia boards. If water begins standing inside a gutter, it may overflow the inner edge and begin seeping into the fascia boards of the house. Then when the gutters finally do fall, you’ll have to replace both your fascia boards and your gutters.

Problem #2: Broken fascia boards or soffits. Clogged gutters are heavier, which places more stress on the soffits or fascia boards to which they are attached. It’s not uncommon for gutters to remain attached to the wood – but then pull the wood down with them when they succumb to the excess weight.

Problem #3: Algae or moss formation. Leaves, twigs, and other debris that sit in a gutter for a long time can lead to the development of moss or algae. This, in turn, can damage shingles, fascia boards, and other places where wood is present.

Problem #4: Insect or rodent infestations. Any area where standing water accumulates is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and other nagging insects. An abundance of debris will attract squatting rodents and other critters which may eventually decide to explore the interior of your home.

Problem #5: Leaks. When the water standing in your gutters freezes due to cold weather, it expands the gaps between your shingles and your roof. Then, when it thaws, there’s a convenient gap for water to flow into the home’s interior and damage walls and ceilings.

Problem #6: Landscaping destruction. Remember all that time/effort/money you put into making the landscaping around your home beautiful? Clogged gutters will push runoff water over the edges of your gutters and ruin your meticulously-landscaped areas.

Problem #7: Slippery ice formation. If there’s just a cement sidewalk or a wooden deck below your gutters, the overflowing water will drip or trickle onto those surfaces. Then, when the next freeze hits, you’ll have a thin layer of ice around your home just waiting for someone to slip on.

Problem #8: Flooded basements. Did you know that the single biggest cause of basement flooding is pooled runoff water from clogged gutters? Therefore, in order to eliminate water down in your basement, you should look up to your roofline.

Problem #9: Sagging driveways. If runoff water starts pooling on your driveway, it can create pits or sags in certain spots (which may eventually turn into cracks). These areas can cause everything from trips and falls to stress (or damage) to your cars.

Problem #10: Foundation cracks. This is by far the most costly side effect of clogged gutters. A consistent stream of water flowing down to the sides of your home can cause the foundation to buckle, crack, or shift – and it won’t be easy to repair.