Maintenance-Free Gutters Are a Homeowners Dream

Thanks to that big and brief rainstorm earlier in the week, most of the tree debris has fallen which makes now a great time to tend to your home’s gutters. Most people don’t think about this job until autumn when the leaves fall, but summer is actually the best time to give them a good cleanout. Now that most of the whirlybirds have fallen, it’s time to see for yourself just how much can accumulate over the course of a few months. 

Gutters are a vital part of your home’s ecosystem. They allow rain to travel from the roofline and through downspouts which deposit that rain safely away from your foundation, as long as they are installed correctly. This prevents too much water from building up around the base of your home, thus minimizing the chance of basement leaks and mold issues. However, if gutters are filled with leaves, twigs, and other tree debris, they will simply overflow, depositing the water at the foundation of your house, right where you don’t want it. Since homeowners don’t want to tackle the cumbersome task of cleaning their gutters twice a year, most gutter systems get overloaded quickly. This is why gutter guards are such a popular and smart option for a maintenance-free home. 

Gutter guards are metal adaptors that can be installed with new gutters or retrofitted to work with existing gutters. Made with heavy-duty aluminum, gutter guards have perforated holes to let rain in and keep everything else out, including tree remnants and nesting birds. One of the features that I like best is that they prevent snow build-up and potential ice dams in the winter. These are common problems that will deform and even tear down your entire gutter system with too much weight. Also, many gutter guards come with a 10 to 25-year warranty which is helpful for people with homes in more heavily wooded areas.

Gutter guards are a smart investment, but the kind of guard that you get largely depends on your home, its position, the trees around it, the size and age of your current gutters, and the condition of your roof. A pro will be able to recommend the best product for the job and will usually complete the install in just one day. Come autumn, you can sit back and relax knowing that your gutters are protected from debris and water can move freely from your roof down to the ground.

Bob O’Donnell is the owner of O’Donnell Bros. Inc., a Bristol-based home improvement company established in 1975. Email your questions for Bob to info@odonnellbros.com with the subject line “Ask the Pro.” All questions may be considered for publication. To contact Bob for your remodeling needs, call O’Donnell Bros. Inc. at (860) 589-5155 or visit http://www.odonnellbros.com. Advice is for guidance only.

Get Your Gutters Cleaned Before Autumn Leaves Fall

It may only be the third week of August, but soon we will be seeing the early signs of autumn. Do you know what that means? Every homeowner’s favorite job, leaf maintenance, is right around the corner.

Over the next two months, leaves, branches, and other debris will begin falling onto your roof and down into your gutters, building up over time. As winter approaches, this buildup can contribute to the formation of ice dams, a heavy mass of ice that settles on the edge of your roof where the gutters are installed.

The main job of a gutter is to create a pathway for water to move away from your home and through a downspout to deposit in a safe place away from your home’s foundation. This system is vital to a house; it makes sure water can flow freely and not cause leaks in your roof, attic, and walls. But if your gutters are blocked up, the water has nowhere to go and has no choice but to flow over, creeping up into your roof shingles and down through your siding. This kind of damage is both costly to repair and entirely preventable - so get your gloves on and let’s get to it.

To give your gutters a good clean you’ll need a ladder, a lawn bag or bucket, a small hand rake (or scoop) and a hose. Don’t be tempted to spray debris down the downspout with water; it’s likely that branches and leaves will get stuck inside, clogging it up and leaving you with a whole new mess to deal with.  Start at the downspout opening and work your way backward, collecting gunk away from the downspout and disposing it into your bucket. Work in small sections and don’t let your bag get too heavy – it could throw you off balance and land you in the emergency room.

While you’re making your way around the house, check for any gutter damage, such as sections coming loose. You want to make sure you get those fixed while the weather is good. Once you’ve finished the cleaning, you can give each section a good spray with the hose to check and make sure the water is running through and you don’t have any hidden build-up in those downspouts.

If gutter cleaning is a job you’d rather not take on, hire a contractor to complete the maintenance and then speak to them about putting gutter guards on your home. These wire or mesh overlays are installed on top of the gutter and prevent debris from entering the channel in the first place. They offer a great solution to a messy job and will provide you with peace of mind for years to come. You’ll want to get them installed now before the first signs of autumn to make sure your home is prepared for the onset of fall leaves.

Bob O’Donnell is the owner of O’Donnell Bros. Inc., a Bristol-based home improvement company established in 1975. Email your questions to info@odonnellbros.com with the subject line “Ask the Pro.” All questions may be considered for publication. To contact Bob for your remodeling needs, call O’Donnell Bros. Inc. at (860) 589-5155 or visit http://www.odonnellbros.com. Advice is for guidance only.

Choosing The Best Gutter Guards For Your Home

Did you swear that last autumn would be the final time you pulled that rickety old ladder out of the shed to scoop and sweep leaves and debris out of your gutters? If so, now is the time to make some decisions on a new solution to prevent water overflow and get rid of all that maintenance hassle. 

Back in the day, there were few options in the gutter market. In order to make sure the water from rain, snow, and ice came off your roof, you had to have an open gutter system to allow precipitation to travel through the connecting downspouts and out away from the foundation of your home. Open gutters, however, allowed not only water but leaves, whirlybird seeds and sticks to also deposit into the gutter, clogging them up and eventually causing overflow unless they were cleaned.

In the autumn, I get hundreds of calls from homeowners for gutter cleaning, many of whom don’t want to do it themselves because of the hassle, danger, and dirty work on the ladder. Luckily, over the past few years, gutter manufacturers have smartened up, creating shields to install over your current gutters, as well as closed gutter systems that can replace your current setup.

Gutter guards come in a variety of materials and sizes, but they are all designed to maximize water flow through while keeping leaves and twigs away from the water channel. The least expensive option is steel mesh screens which slide in and sit above the gutter lip itself. That arch design helps to ensure that debris can’t get stuck in the back of the gutter and they generally come with a five-year warranty against rusting or corrosion.

A step up from mesh screens is a heavy duty aluminum option which can be fitted from the front and back, avoiding the need to remove roof shingles for installation. These products come with a ripple design to prevent leaves from drying on the surface and they are generally backed by a 20-year warranty so you don’t have to worry about replacing them every few seasons. I like these because the design strengthens the gutter which comes in very handy during major snowstorms when many homes in the area suffer from heavy and dangerous ice dams.

Finally, we have the Rolls Royce of gutters, otherwise known as Leaf Relief. These heavy aluminum gutter shields can drain nearly 30 inches of rainfall in one hour, which is 15 inches more than the highest rainfall ever recorded (for inquiring minds, that’s 12 inches in one hour in Holt, Missouri). For homeowners who want no maintenance, this is the gutter product for you. The 25-year no clog, no overflow warranty gives it the same lifespan as a new roof and the inset design makes it invisible from the road. Best of all, dry debris blows away with just a six mile per hour breeze. 

No matter what type of gutter guard you choose, you want to make sure it’s the best product for your home. While any gutter guard will reduce debris getting into your gutter, the right guard will depend on the trees in the area, how much rainfall you get, the position of your home, and the size and age of your current gutters. Once those factors are taken into consideration and the appropriate product is chosen, you can say goodbye to messy cleaning and sit back to enjoy the beautiful falling leaves this autumn.

Bob O’Donnell is the owner of O’Donnell Bros. Inc., a Bristol-based home improvement company established in 1975. Email your questions for Bob to info@odonnellbros.com with the subject line “Ask the Pro.” All questions may be considered for publication. To contact Bob for your remodeling needs, get in touch with us here. Advice is for guidance only.