Archive for October, 2009
How Can I Unclog a Rain Gutter that is 25 Feet Above the Ground without a Ladder?
Can I send something up and into my downspout to unclog a gutter?
The spout that is clogged gets very few leaves. The gutter is 20 years old and has never clogged before.
you can try for local hardware store and see what hose attachments they have to clean gutters
Is there a trick to fixing guttering?
My guttering overflows, no blockage just need to fix it.
Hi, I would suggest getting on a ladder and looking down the gutter to see how it slopes. If it is a long stretch of gutter, and by this I mean over 50 feet long, then the center of the gutter should be pushed up under the drip edge as high as it will go. Each of the ends near the downspouts nearly 20-25 feet aeay from the center high point of the gutter needs to have about a 3/4-1 inch drop from the highest point you can push it up. This will allow the water to slowly run down to the downspouts and not act like a raging river if the slope is too much. Never have the gutter low in the center. If you do need to seal any joints, I recommend the silver Kristies adhesive, that comes in a tube much like caulking. It can be applied on wet surfaces and when it cures, is like steel, so be careful and make sure you get it where you want it. Clean up with a wet rag before the glue sets. One other brief pointer. You need to make sure the bottom flat part of the gutter is actually laying flat. If the gutter is tipped outward, then it will fill up with a lot of water before it ever begins to hit the downspout for drainage. If it rains rapidly, then it will collect at a greater rate than it can drain, thus overflowing. Good luck and be safe.
P.S. Leaving the gutters like this for too long will cause the flow that hits the ground next to the house to soften and loosen the soil around your foundation. If you are unsure that this is occurring, check your sidewalk next to the house (if you have one) and if the sidewalk slopes away from the house, then you lucked out. If it slopes toward the house, chances are that you could have serious foundation problems in the future.
Anyone know of a good reliable gutter cleaning company in the NW burbs of Chicago?
I need second story gutters cleaned and re-caulked. If anyone has a good recommendation it would be appreciated. Thanks!
Bruno Radowski
337 Grove
Wood Dale IL.
The Nuts n Bolts of replacing old guttering
Gutter Guard Test Results
http://www.AsktheBuilder.com host Tim Carter reveals which gutter guard system worked best on his home during his gutter guard test.
Duration : 0:3:51
How to estimate gutter cleaning – GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Marketing Podcast
http://www.gopherforum.com If you are looking to submit some bids this season to clean leaves out of your customers gutters make sure you read this article first.
John got on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum and asked his gutter cleaning question. He wrote I have been asked by a neighbor to do a gutter cleanup. She has gutter shields in place but wants to make sure everything is cleaned out and down spouts are good. Her house is 2200sq. and about half of the home has gutters.
I do not think this job will take over 1.5 hours but have no idea what to charge her. I have never done this for money just on my own and folks house. Any help would be appreciated.
One of our forum members responded by saying I charge $1.00 per foot for a single story and $2.00 per foot on a 2 story. For people I have lawn contracts with I do it free Spring and Fall.
I found that a 2 liter soda bottle (cut down) works well for cleaning the gutters. Its pliable enough to get down into the gutter. Take a bucket with you to but the debris in. If you just dump it on the ground, the mess is harder to clean up than the gutters are.
I have been doing a national survey with those who provide gutter cleaning services and the charge of $1 to $2 per linear ft seems to be standard across the country. You would charge more for gutters that are higher up or more difficult to get to than lower ones.
Here are some common beginner pitfalls lawn care business owners find when offering gutter cleaning.
* On my first job, I just emptied the gutters onto the ground. It took me about 25 minutes to clean the gutters and over an hour to clean the mess from dumping the debris. It was on the walls, the ground, the windows, etc. Since then I have taken a bucket to empty the debris in.
* I used to charge by the hour for gutter cleaning, now I charge around $1 per linear foot.
* If the gutters are easy to reach I charge $1.00 per foot. If the gutters have trees growing out of them, then its $2.00 per foot.
* The first time I ever cleaned gutters, I brought a power washer and blew them all clean.When I went down the ladder, it was a mess, lawn, house windows, screens, everything!!! Lets just say that those people got a free home power-washing!!! Learn from mistakes, right?
Remember to review the job site before you create your estimate. Are the gutters on the first floor or the second? Do they have weeds growing out of them? Are you going to be able to reach them? Use a scoop to clean the gutters and empty the scoop into a bucket. Minimize your cleanup time. Charge between $1 and $2 a ft for gutter cleaning and you should be alright. To join in on this discussion further, visit the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum here.
If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts, estimate and proposal forms. Download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. Check out my lawn care business blog at http://www.lawnchat.com and my lawn care business forum at http://www.gopherforum.com
Duration : 0:6:36
7” White Gutter Screws (25-pack)
These tough screws may be used as replacements for gutter spikes, or for new installations. As a replacement, the existing mounting holes may be reused. For new construction, you’ll need to use the screw itself and a hammer to tap a clearance hole through the gutter at each screw location. Use a ferrule or block of wood as a backup to avoid crushing the gutter. When the gutter is raised into position, each screw will already be in proper position. Our gutter screws have a number 3 Square recess, a white painted head to match the gutter, and a galvanized shank to minimize corrosion. Two standard packages are available, each including an equal number of gutter screws and gutter ferrules, and one #3 driver bit for an electric or cordless drill. These 7” screws are for 5” gutters. Made in the USA. Screws, strongScrews by Application/strong, Gutter Screws
Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars [Clean]
![Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars [Clean]](http://clear-gutters.com/wpshopping/uploads/1921484349.jpeg)
The cover of Norman Cook’s breakout Fatboy Slim album, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, was a good clue to the contents, picturing as it did thousands of LPs straining the racks in Cook’s record room — undoubtedly just a small portion of his massive collection of sampling material. Inside, Cook unfolded a party record for the ages, long on fun (though understandably short on staying power), chock full of samples pillaged from all manner of obscure soul shouters and old-school rap crews, triggered and tweaked ad nauseam. With his third LP, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, Cook pulls away slightly from the notoriously fickle pop charts and crossover kids courted on his last record. Instead, he makes a conscious attempt to inject some real hedonism back into the world of dance — he is a DJ, after all — and sure enough, the cover matches those aims: It’s a long shot on a beach (Ibiza or some other far-flung shore), with the sun shining out of someone’s behind. The intro even pokes gentle fun at the loved-up RB tradition with an extended sample from some by-gone soul artist waxing overly poetic about his girlfriend. From there, Cook tears into an acid techno rampage named “Star 69,” a track that takes few prisoners and sounds closer to Plastikman than Propellerheads, though it does include the Fatboy Slim trademark — a rather blue vocal sample repeated continually for nigh on a minute (funnily enough, the track was entirely removed from the clean version of the album).Cook; the most patented big beat anthems here, “Ya Mama” and “Mad Flava,” include all the expected displays of crowd-moving hip-hop calls, unhinged beatbox funk, continual drum breakdowns, and plenty of rawk riffs. The first single, “Sunset (Bird of Prey),” is another potential crossover move, featuring what is easily the album’s most recognizable sample source — Jim Morrison from the Doors. Borrowing from Morrison’s posthumous LP of poetry An American Prayer, the “collaboration” works better than could be expected, with Morrison’s pseudo-mystical, surreal vocal — “Bird of prey, flying high/In the summer sky, gently passing by” — floating over some comparatively atmospheric breakbeat funk by the Fatboy. Sniffy electronica purism aside, though, Cook remains, if not the best overall producer in the dance world, certainly in its top rank, with an excellent ear for infectious hooks, tight beats, and irresistible grooves. On advice from friends the Chemical Brothers, Cook recruited collaborators for the first time — nu-soul diva Macy Gray, funk legend Bootsy Collins, fellow superstar DJ/producer Roger Sanchez — and the two tracks with Gray, “Love Life” and “Demons,” are arguably the highlights of the entire album. In a similar fashion to David Holmes, Cook’s ample production talents are served best with a vocalist lending focus, and “Love Life” is a seven-minute ride veering from dirty, warped funk to noise-heavy hip-hop breakdowns while Gray scats, growls, and purrs with clearly audible glee. After Bootsy’s joint (the surprisingly bland “Weapon of Choice”) and a hackneyed social-message track (“Drop the Hate”), Gray returns to save the album with another unbelievable performance on the half-resigned, half-hopeful gospel soul of “Demons.” The closer, “Song for Shelter,” is a masterful stroke of sun-splashed house recorded with help from Roger Sanchez and an ecstatic serenade to the dance music experience by Roland Clark (interpolated from his single “I Get Deep”). In all, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is possibly Norman Cook’s best possible statement after being — nearly simultaneously — picked up by a multitude of notoriously fickle pop consumers and thrown away by his previously rock-solid dance fan base. The hooks are unmissable and there’s plenty of big beat techno from a master of the form, but there’s also a good amount of mature material that would undeniably appeal to many listeners in the dance world if they ever condescended to give it an objective listen.
- John Bush, All Music Guide
How do I determine depth of gutter for cross sectional area?
A rain gutter is made from sheets of aluminum that are 24 in wide. The edges are turned up to form right angles. Determine the depth of the gutter that will allow a cross-sectional area of 52 sq in.
To make the gutter, two sides will need to be bent
upward from the bottom. Call the size of each side
side "y" and the size of the bottom "x". Thus
we know that:
bottom + left side + right side = 24
x + y + y = 24
x + 2y = 24
Solving for y:
x + 2y = 24
2y = 24 – x
y = (1/2)(24 – x)
y = 12 – (1/2)x
We know that the cross sectional area is just the
bottom dimension times the side dimension:
x * y = 52
x * (12 – (1/2)x) = 52
12x – (1/2)x^2 = 52
0 = (1/2)x^2 – 12x + 52
0 = x^2 – 24x + 104
Using the quadratic equation:
x = [-b +/- sqrt(b^2 - 4ac)]/2a
x = [24 +/- sqrt(24^2 - 4(1)(104)]/2
x = [24 +/- sqrt(160)]/2
x = 5.68 y = 9.16
To check:
5.68 + 2*9.16 = 24
5.68 * 9.16 = 52