Gutter News & Information

Why is owning a home better than renting one?

Because your home is your castle and you can mold it into a perfect reflection of your tastes and needs. And if there’s something you want to change about your home, you don’t have to ask the landlord. You can tweak, alter, modify, embellish, and add on however, wherever, and whenever you wish.

Well, that’s not completely true. Depending on where your home is located, you may need to obtain a building permit before you make any major changes to your property.

Preventive maintenance is a key part of home ownership. People who ignore this duty regularly tend to incur sudden and expensive repair costs. In most cases, spending a little money sooner can help homeowners steer clear of major charges later.

Image credit: www.adjengineering.com

Good preventive maintenance begins with an inspection of your home’s exterior. Here is a step-by-step process for completing that task.

1. Foundation - Look for fractures at the base of your home or cracks that are climbing through exterior walls and splitting bricks. See if you can spot evidence of pooling water and/or foliage growth or roots right next to the structure itself.

Perhaps you are building a new home and are trying to figure out how to handle the runoff water from your roof. Or maybe it’s simply time to replace the dilapidated, worn out gutters that are currently surrounding your roofline.

There are a number of material choices you can pick from when deciding to install new gutters. But invariably, most homeowners are going to ask that all-important question: how much is it going to cost me?

So let’s take a closer look at how much different types of gutters cost.

Vinyl

Gutters can be victimized by Mother Nature in many different ways; everything from rust and corrosion to wind, ice, and snow can cause damage to gutter systems. But there’s one enemy of gutters that really has the potential to wreak havoc: hail.

That’s what Eltham College in Australia found out on Christmas Day, 2011.

theage.com.au

The man with the sunglasses is holding what’s left of the gutters from one of the school buildings at the northern Melbourne college. It’s been over a month since a December 25 hailstorm swept across the Australian state of Victoria on the southern coast of the nation. But the damage was so severe that it forced Eltham to remove the hail-smashed gutters from several of its structures.

Some homeowners swear by salting their gutters: they say that it’s an easy way to break up ice dams in the winter. Other people will tell you that the salt causes unfavorable side effects. If you ask Godzilla, he’ll say that it’s a good way to bring out their flavor. (rimshot)

In all seriousness, there is a big debate about whether salting your gutters is a good idea. So let’s weigh the pros and cons.

Pros

You may not be aware of this, but gutter systems have a long and storied history of combining fashion with function. The most obvious example were gargoyles, whose presence on buildings and churches did more than just ward off evil spirits or improve the structures’ appearances; they also strategically hid the drainage downspouts from the naked eye.

Nowadays, people are finding other ways to express their creativity through gutter installation. Here are eight of the best efforts we found.

1.

latimesblogs.latimes.com

Did you know that just a few large leaves or as little as 10 pine needles can be enough to block water from flowing through your gutters? Clogged gutters can lead to pooling water, flooding in your yard, and even cracking foundations. That’s why it’s extremely important to ensure that runoff water and snowmelt moves easily throughout your home’s entire guttering system.

So how often should you have your gutters cleaned?

It’s summer, and most teenagers are enjoying their time away from school by sleeping in, goofing off, and just generally lazing around the house and doing nothing.  As parents, we know how unfair (not to mention annoying) this is. So it’s well past time to follow that time-honored American tradition of making the kids do chores, especially the ones you don’t want to do, and paying them for it.  Consider this before making them an offer:

-        How hard is the job, and how long will it take?  Is it something they’ll have to do every day, or something that will only be done once?

Generally, it’s nice that your neighbors take an interest in maintaining their homes; cleaning their siding, getting their gutter free of standing water, maintaining their landscaping, that kind of thing.  It keeps up property values, it makes a good impression on visitors and prospective homeowners, and it just looks nice.  All of this is true … unless you live next to eighty-year-old Kevin Lavelle.

Lavelle, of the town of Stockport in the U.K., was a conscientious handyman, keeping his house exterior clean and neat. But he forgot one rather important aspect of it: wearing pants.  Or a shirt.  Or anything else.

If you’re concerned about debris clogging up your gutters, then you may want to consider a system of gutter protectors. These are usually gutter covers of some sort that are designed to keep out leaves and needles while allowing water to freely drain into the gutters.

If you’ve already started looking for gutter protectors, you’re probably well aware that there are various brands and types of gutter protectors to choose from. Here are five questions to ask yourself before purchasing one.

Source: http://www.sxc.hu