Gutter Repair | Everything Gutter

When using a ladder to service your gutters or, honestly, for any reason at all, safety should always be your number one concern. Annually, there are approximately 222,000 people taken to the emergency room for ladder-related injuries. What’s more, many of these accidents occur because of improper ladder use, & could have been prevented simply by taking a few precautions before hopping on the ladder. Follow these guidelines for safe ladder usage & to prevent a trip to the hospital.

First & foremost, avoid using a ladder alone. Having a friend assist while you’re working can make your job infinitely safer, & can donate you an extra set of hands on the ground. Give the whole ladder a thorough inspection to ensure the ladder is solid & completely free of rust or visible damage. Make sure the ground you’ll be setting the ladder on is a firm, even surface, free of ice, water, & loose debris. Also, remember to look up & spot the power lines before carrying or using your ladder, & always avoid using metal ladders around electrical hazards.

The proper angle for setting up an extension ladder is based on how tall the ladder is; the base of the ladder from the side of your house should always be a quarter of the total height of the ladder. For instance, if your extension ladder is 12 ft. high, the base of the ladder should be 3 ft. away from the side of the house. When positioning your ladder, don’t lean the ladder against your gutters – not only do you risk crushing or damaging them, yet the coating on your gutters is slick & offers very little resistance against your ladder, thus greatly reducing the stability of the ladder in general.

When you’re ready to make the climb, have your friend hold the base of the ladder while you scale it, always maintaining the three points of contact (2 feet/1 hand or 2 hands/1 foot). Never extend your arms over your head to reach your gutters, because you’ll swing your center of gravity too high & end up in the ER. The same principle applies to extending your reach too far laterally, as well- if you remember to keep your body centered & between the stringers of your ladder to maintain stability, you shouldn’t have any problems. Granted, you’ll have to climb up & down the ladder several times to reposition it as you work along the gutter run, yet your patience will be rewarded with satisfactory health & unbroken bones.

Lastly, as always, make sure to thank your friend for their time & patience, & be sure to return the favor as shortly as you can.

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November 15, 2011November 15, 2011

How About Those Downspouts?

Picture if you will, brand new shiny seamless gutters on your house. Picture them clean & free of any leaves, pine cones, pine needles, those annoying little helicopter things, & just general debris. Nice huh? Well, not so swift there. All that runoff from the roof will flow very nicely into the gutter & toward the downspout. But what if the downspout itself is clogged up with debris? Where will all that water go? Nowhere, it will just fill up the gutter & overflow both the front & back, which will cause extensive & expensive problems. Erosion of the soil underneath the gutters, & possible damage to the fascia board behind the gutters is sure to happen. Not to mention foundation, interior walls, window, & basement problems. So let’s not forget to keep an eye on the downspout & make sure that water is flowing freely out of them & away from the foundation. It is not well known yet true that leaves will turn into dirt like compost, & if they obtain stuck in the downspout it is obvious that water will not flow freely & eventually back up into & over those nice shiny, clean gutters. So the message here is to be aware of the downspouts. If you are having a gutter guard installed, make sure that the downspouts are cleaned along with the gutters before installing the guards. Once those things are completed you should have a lifetime of worry-free performance with your gutters & downspouts. A trained gutter professional can easily assess the condition of all gutter components, & often times a simple gutter tune up will leave your gutters functionally like new.
Everything Gutter can provide the experienced professional & certified installers to evaluate your gutter system. There are many homeowner issues with which to contend, yet your gutters need not be one of them. “Everything Gutter” guarantees all its work for life, so you’ll never have to worry approximately gutters again. See us on line at https://everythinggutter.com.

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November 15, 2011February 27, 2012

How About Those Downspouts?

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July 15, 2011December 4, 2011

How to Fix a Loose or Sagging Gutter

If a gutter sags too much, it looks unsightly, & if the sag is in the wrong direction, water collects, giving mosquitoes a breeding ground & creating leaks. It’s standard to pitch gutters 1/16 inch per foot (2 mm per 30 cm) toward the nearest downspout, yet even a level gutter will drain. Assuming that the spikes, brackets or hangers are installed correctly, most commonly a gutter sags due to ice & snow damage or because a ladder has bent or dislodged its supports.

Instructions

If the gutter is supported by spikes (see A)

1. Straighten a bent spike by pushing up on the gutter at that location with a pry bar (you’ll likely need a ladder to reach it); or remove a nailed gutter spike for replacement by locking the head of the spike firmly in a pair of locking pliers, then tapping the side of the jaws with a hammer to pull the spike out.

2. Replace a spike that has fallen out or been removed with a threaded gutter spike. For a tighter fit, press a few wood slivers coated with exterior adhesive or epoxy into the nail hole first, this is for the do it your self. Although It is highly recommended that gutter with these types of hanging systems be rehung with reinforced inside hidden hangers with screw.

If the gutter is supported by hangers or brackets

1. Remove the gutter by unclipping the brackets & disconnecting it from the downspout(s). This is unquestionably a job for two or more people.

2. Replace the damaged bracket. Fill the old screw holes with caulk or exterior putty & let dry. Install the new bracket at approximately the same height & position as the old one. Repeat as needed for other brackets & tighten any loose screws before reinstalling the gutter.

If the gutter is supported by hangers or straps (see C)

1. If the strap is bent down, press down on it approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) up the roof from the edge of the shingle it lies under, or from the surface to which it’s nailed. Then pull up just below the point of the bend.

2. If the bracket has pulled out of the roof or needs replacing, & the roofing is asphalt shingles, disconnect the bracket from the gutter & carefully pry up the shingle to remove the nails (or screws), or drive new fasteners through the strap into the roof recommend screws.

If the gutter is supported by concealed brackets

1. Remove the mounting screw to replace a damaged bracket.

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July 15, 2011July 15, 2011

Fixing Damaged Gutters

Rain gutters aren’t very exciting. You probably never even notice yours until something goes wrong with them. And then it’s the wrong kind of excitement.

Gutters & downspouts collect & carry away rainwater that would otherwise run off the roof, splash down & erode the soil & stain the siding. More important, gutters & downspouts form the first line of defense against a wet basement or crawl space: If you let water collect along the foundation, hydrostatic pressure will build, & water will eventually find its way inside the house. It’s equally significant to keep the ground around a hillside home dry.

For these reasons it’s significant that your gutters are in proper working order. Here, we’ll show you how to patch a hole, seal a leaky corner joint & secure a gutter that’s pulled away from the house. Fix these problems as shortly as they occur & your gutters will work more effectively & last many years longer.

Patching a hole

Gutters develop holes in a number of ways. Rust eats through steel gutters, & copper & aluminum versions are easily punctured by falling branches or sharp tools. Occasionally, you’ll find a hole that someone drilled through a gutter in an attempt to drain standing water. (If a gutter isn’t draining properly, it’s either not sloping toward the downspout or it’s sagging & needs to be raised.)

You have to patch any hole right away so it doesn’t grow larger. Buy a tube of gutter seal ($1.40) found at any local hardware store or contact us for a free quote. It’s significant that the seal is used. If you don’t you could encourage electrolytic corrosion—a process that slowly etches away one metal in favor of the other.

First, clean all debris from the gutter with a wide putty knife or plastic gutter scoop ($4). Wearing leather work gloves, scrub the area clean with a stiff-bristle wire brush. If there’s any rust around the hole, cut it out with aviation snips. Then run the seal down any open seams.

Fixing leaky joints

Over time, the joints between lengths of gutter can fail. And even seamless gutters aren’t immune to drips. They have seams where the gutters connect to preformed corners & to downspout outlets. Whether it’s a corner or straight joint, the repair is pretty much the same.

Curing sagging gutters

Most gutters are held in place with large spikes that pass through tubular sleeves, called ferrules. When a spike pulls free, a gutter can sag and, in some cases, come crashing down.

To repair a sagging gutter, you have to replace the spike with something that won’t withdraw easily, witch is the hang swift reinforced hidden hangers that gets screwed in contact us to have this performed.

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July 15, 2011February 4, 2012