Did you know that one of the most dangerous Do-It-Yourself projects is climbing a ladder? Good thing GutterBrush helps you stay OFF that ladder when it comes to cleaning out your gutters. This year 43 million homeowners will take on 57 million home improvement projects. Of those intrepid folks, one in five will be injured, according to the Home Safety Council. Here are five of the most common do-it-yourself mishaps—and how to avoid them.

Climbing a ladder

Falls from ladders and stools sent over 246,733 Americans to hospital emergency rooms in 2009 (the last year for which full statistics are available) according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Experts from the CPSC, HSC and Consumer Reports recommend the following:

• Use the right ladder for the job. Always select a height that doesn’t require you to reach up or out in a way that destabilizes the ladder; keep your belt buckle centered between the rails.
• Set up your ladder on a firm, level surface. With an extension ladder, the base should be one foot away from the wall for every four feet the ladder reaches up.
• Use your stepladder only in the open, A-shaped position and lock the spreaders.
• Don’t step above the labeled maximum height. Beyond that point, the odds of an accident increase significantly.

Mowing the lawn

Lawn mower-related injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms totaled 86,000 in 2009. The most common injuries were caused by debris, such as rocks and branches, being thrown by the mower’s spinning blades. Here’s what to do:

• Send the kids into the house or well away from the area you are mowing.
• Check the lawn for debris (twigs, rocks and other objects).
• Wear sturdy shoes with sure-grip soles, never sneakers, sandals or bare feet.
• Never refuel the mower when it is running or while the engine is hot.

Using power tools

Home power tools resulted in 83,204 emergency room admissions in 2009. The most common injuries involve cuts, especially to the fingers and hands. The Power Tool Institute recommends.

• Don’t wear loose clothing or jewelry that could become entangled in moving parts.
• Unplug the power cord before you change a part or do any trouble-shooting on a tool that is jammed or won’t start.
• Wear safety glasses with side shields.

Working with paints and other chemicals

Accidents involving paints, solvents, lubricants and cleaning agents caused 53,907 emergency room admissions in 2009. Injuries often include chemical burns and breathing problems. Here’s how to avoid mishaps:

• Store and use pool chemicals according to the manufacturer’s directions.
• Gasoline is dangerous inside a home or garage—vapors can explode with just a tiny spark.
• Keep chemicals and cleansers in their original containers and don’t mix them.
• Wear gloves, goggles and masks if the product’s label says to do so.

Using a chain saw

Chain saw accidents sent 26,593 to the emergency room in 2009. Kickback—where the tip of the saw snaps up and back toward the user—is involved in one in four injuries. Cuts to hands, fingers, legs and feet are typical and usually require multiple stitches. Here’s how to stay safe.

• Wear eye and ear protection, gloves, tight-fitting clothing, cut-resistant leg chaps, boots, and a hard hat with a protective face screen.
• Grip the saw with both hands and keep both feet firmly on the ground.
• Saw only tree limbs you can reach from the ground while holding the saw below your shoulders.
• Avoid sawing with the tip of the chain and bar, where kickback typically occurs.

When it comes to your safety, snow sucks. Sure it’s great to look at, take pictures of, ski down, and throw at friends and / or enemies. However, if you see that your roof has a foot of snow on it and it’s not melting… you may start to get concerned. Luckily, GutterBrush helps get the melted snow (water) safely and quickly down your drain. But what about when you don’t have GutterBrush (gasp!) or the snow is simply not going to melt anytime soon.

It’s Not Worth A Trip To The Hospital

There is a simple way to remove snow from your roof. It doesn’t cost much and you don’t have to climb up onto your roof. However, you should know that no amount of snow is worth a trip to the hospital so be safe out there. Use a ladder when necessary, to pull snow from hard to reach places, but only with the help of a friend or neighbor. Ladders are unsturdy; you should never climb one without someone below you holding it still. Safety is, and should always be, your first priority. Don’t take any  chances with snow removal. It’s simply not worth it.

Ready for the amazing trick? Here goes:

The safest way to clean snow from your roof is with a snow rake. It’s basically a long pole with a flat piece of aluminum attached to the end. A snow rake is ideal for hooking snow and pulling it from the roof. You can build your own by welding a long pole-shaft to a flat piece of aluminum at a ninety degree angle, but for the less adept person, one can be bought on-line or at a local hardware store.

If you’re looking for an already-made snow rake or other ideas on removing snow, there are places that sell snow rakes online like TheRoofRake and other places that actually blast off your snow / ice with steam. (We are in no way affiliated with these companies but wanted to keep you in the know.)

It’s Exhausting

Raking away snow from your roof is very exhausting work but can be made easier by following a few simple steps:

• Use a layering method (short strokes) when raking, pulling the first six inches to a foot of snow off.
• Gradually work your way back from the roof ledge to the center.
• Don’t allow the rake end to come off the roof when pulling the snow over the ledge. By keeping the rake on the roof, you save time and effort as you work.

To protect shingles, don’t use the blade to break up the ice by dropping it against the roof. Without snow cover, ice will melt and flow into the gutter. You don’t have to remove every flake of snow, just enough to alleviate the pressure and weight of snow on your roof.

What Do You Think?

We want to hear your experiences with any of the products mentioned or simply get your advice on how to remove snow from a roof. We have about a foot on ours right now and any advice helps. Thanks!

We’re all about DIY projects at GutterBbrush. In fact, we are going to be featuring some of our favorite DIY projects on this blog in the coming days. First off, we’ll start with what we know: gutters. They’re crucial to your home but are often overlooked. Here’s a quick rundown of why DIY projects (and gutter cleaning) rock:

(1) Climbing a Ladder Can Be Dangerous

A significant number of people fall from ladders every year. Serious back, head, neck, bone, and soft tissue injuries are often the result of those falls. A significant number of people fall from ladders every year. The GutterBrush simple gutter guard minimizes your need for climbing a ladder in the first place and thusly greatly reduces the chances of suffering any ladder related injuries.

(2) Helps Keep Water Flowing Through Your Gutters

When your gutters become clogged with leaves, they can actually do more damage than not having gutters at all. With The GutterBrush simple gutter guard, normal weather patterns and the principles of gravity and surface tension cause leaves and debris to drift to the ground. Unlike gutter protection appliances like gutter helmets, gutter guards, and leaf guards rainwater filters through the GutterBrush and continues to flow freely into your gutter and downspouts.

(3) Helps Prevent Frozen Gutters

During cold weather standing water in gutters can freeze into heavy beams of ice. Gutters are sometimes damaged because most are not built to sustain that much weight. Also, during the day, the ice begins to melt, thus soaking the fascia. At night, the water refreezes and pushes the fascia outward. The GutterBrush simple gutter guard keeps water flowing away from the house and can prevent ice from forming in the first place.

(4) Helps Stop Wood from Rotting

Standing water is one of a home owner’s biggest challenges. If gutters do not function properly because they are frozen or full of debris, the soffit and fascia boards will absorb rainwater and start to rot causing the need for very expensive repairs. The GutterBrush simple gutter guard prevents this from happening by maintaining an unimpeded flow of water through the gutter channel and out the downspout.

(5) Avoid the Expense & Liability of Hired Help

Cleaning gutters on a ladder is expensive and dangerous for anyone. Hiring someone to do the job may make you liable for any injuries they receive. Also, other gutter protection systems such as gutter guards, gutter helmets, and leaf guards are much more costly than the GutterBrush simple gutter guard and require professional installation. That’s just one more thing using the GutterBrush simple gutter guard can help you avoid encountering.

(6) Helps Keep Your Landscaping Beautiful

Clogged and saturated gutters can threaten your expensive landscaping. Rain has nowhere to flow except off of the roof and onto plant life below. An uncontrolled flow of water will drown plants, erode soil, and create increased expenses for you over the life of owning your property. While leaf guards, gutter helmets, and gutter guards can become clogged with leaves and debris The GutterBrush simple gutter guard maintains an unimpeded flow of water through the gutter channel and out the downspout without damaging landscaping or eroding soil.

(7) Helps With Pest Control

Most clogged gutters are generally damp, dark places filled with leaves and debris. This is one type of environment insects and several types of mice seek out and often find entry points into a house through gaps in soffit and fascia boards. Just like gutter protection appliances such as leaf guards, gutter helmets, and gutter guards, the GutterBrush simple gutter guard prevents this situation from occurring.

(8) Helps Protect Your Foundations

One of the key contributing factors to the stability of a house depends on the ability of the soil to absorb rain. Builders construct homes to stand up to soil conditions assuming that drainage systems carry water away from the home. When gutters and gutter protection appliances like leaf guards, gutter helmets, and gutter guards fail, water moves toward the foundation. When soil becomes saturated, leaks can occur, and cause the foundation to shift or crack causing both a dangerous and costly situation. The GutterBrush simple gutter guard can prevent this from happening by maintaining an unimpeded flow of water through the gutter channel, out the downspout and away from the foundation.

(9) Helps to Prevent Mold and Mildew in Attics and Crawl Spaces

Attics and crawl spaces are very similar to gutters. They are awkward to clean or work on. If water is kept away from these places there is no worry about fixing what years of mold and mildew have damaged. The GutterBrush simple gutter guard can prevent costly mold and mildew from developing by maintaining an unimpeded flow of water through the gutter channel and out the downspout.

(10) One Less Thing to Worry About

Life is filled with many things to worry about but your gutter protection system need not be among them. Stop stressing about a potential failure of your gutter protection system and increase the enjoyment of your home. The GutterBrush simple gutter guard is a guaranteed way to stop stressing about this facet of your house so you can increase the enjoyment of your home.

Even though great strides have been made in achieving equality in both the workplace and household, women are usually still the ones who do the household chores and the home cleaning tasks. However, when it comes to cleaning clogged gutters, most women are not looking to engage in this task and often frown at the idea of getting their hands covered in the dark, smelly muck in the gutters. Even independent minded women who do not usually ask favors from men, wouldn’t have the interest of performing a cleaning task which may leave their hands smelling unpleasant for weeks. However, GutterBrush gutter guard has delighted many women since its introduction to the market seven years ago. Aside from being an effective gutter guard against leaves and falling debris that can cause clogs and water overflow in gutters, there are at least three reasons why this simple gutter protection system has attracted the interest and gained the favor of female customers.

First, it is the easy installment feature of GutterBrush that curries favor with the ladies. Many women are not very interested in technical features and thus, they tend to get easily bored with most talk about complex gutter protection systems that require professional installation or routine maintenance. GutterBrush harnesses  a simple design of repelling/blocking debris while allowing water to flow right on through. GutterBrush is so simple, there is not even a need for a sales representative to explain how the product works and how the product is installed. It can be done simply and easily.

The second reason is that GutterBrush greatly reduces any gutter maintenance needed to keep them working properly.  Any product that does not require daily or weekly cleaning is likely to be appealing to everyone. Thus, a gutter protection product such as GutterBrush that barely needs maintenance once or twice a year is certainly an irresistible product to the do it yourself homeowner and this obviously includes a large population of women who fit that bill.

The third reason this product is so very appealing is the price. Both men and women are probably very interested in economical products and services in these challenging times and Gutterbrush fits the bill on both counts. Other systems can cost thousands of dollars to purchase and then have installed where GutterBrush can be purchased and installed for only a few hundred dollars for the average sized home. The bottom line is that everyone can benefit from GutterBrush due to its being simple, affordable and effective.

As always, whenever you start a home improvement or maintenance project safety must always be in the forefront of your mind. that’s right, safety first. Always.

What is a Snow Guard?

A snow guard helps prevent snow and ice accumulated on a roof from dropping to the ground before it melts completely. Snow guards are a very cost-effective solution that protect homes and businesses from the elements in cold weather climates. Though they do not stop the snow from falling completely in the areas where they are installed, they do prevent large loads of snow from dropping at one time.

Where Snow Guards Are Used

Particularly useful when installed above in entryways, parking lots, gutters and expensive landscaping, these simple additions to a roof can provide accessibility to your property throughout the entire year by stopping excessive snow pileup at key locations.

Snow guards are typically installed by gutter installation companies or roofing contractors, but for experienced do-it-yourselfer, this is a project that can be tackled with the right tools and supplies. Snow guards can be purchased at your local home improvement supply company or directly from the retailer.

This small addition can make all the difference if you live in a climate with cold, long winters where snow typically piles on your roof. Look into this easy fix and enjoy your entryways and other key areas being clear of snow and ice.