The GutterBrush Blog

There are many materials available for asphalt driveway maintenance including emulsified liquids, plastic fillers and solid cold-patches. For a complete driveway rejuvenation, you may need all three. Before tackling any maintenance or repair, check your driveway for these conditions:

• Impressions left by car tires after the car has been parked on the drive overnight. This is an indication of poor construction.
• Heaving or tilting during cold weather, or buckling or cracking with the spring thaw. These are signs of poor drainage.

To repair these troubles, you’ll need a new driveway. Fortunately, such problems are not common. More likely problems are minor cracks, crumbling and chuckholes, which are relatively easy to repair. The procedure and materials used depends on whether you’re repairing cracks, filling low spots, patching or seal-coating your driveway. Your local retailer can help you select the products you need for making repairs.

REPAIRING CRACKS

• You should fill any cracks in a blacktop drive as soon as possible to keep water from getting under the slab and causing more serious problems. Cracks that are 1/2″ and wider are filled with asphalt cold-patch, sold in bags and cans. Narrow cracks are treated with crack-filler, which is available in cans, plastic pour bottles and handy caulking cartridges.
• Use a masonry chisel, wire brush or similar tool to dig away chunks of loose and broken material from the crack.
• Sweep out the crack with a stiff-bristled broom. Your shop vacuum will also work well.
• Use a garden hose with a pressure nozzle to clean off all dust. If the area is badly soiled or covered with oil or grease drippings, scrub it with a strong commercial driveway cleaning agent. For a patch to adhere, the crack must be free of all such things. After using a cleaner, rinse the area with water.
• For a deep crack, fill it to within 1/4″ of the top with closed-cell plastic backer rod or sand before applying a patching compound.
• Apply the crack-filler.

FILLING DEPRESSED AREAS

• Depressed areas, sometimes called “birdbaths,” cause water puddles on the driveway. If not too deep–less than an inch–these areas can be filled so they’re even with the surrounding surface. Sweep away all dirt, hose down the area and remove any oil or grease by washing with a detergent or cleaner.
• The surface may be slightly damp when applying the patching material, but make sure there is no standing water.
• To help the new material adhere to the old, prime the area with emulsified liquid asphalt, which is often simply called “driveway coating.”
• Then, use a trowel to spread asphalt cold-patching material into the depression, filling it level with the surrounding surface. Smooth the patch, then tamp it with a metal tamper or a 5′ to 6′ length of 2×8 or 4×4 lumber. Used vertically, the lumber has the surface area and weight for successful tamping.
• Allow your blacktop patch to dry for 24 hours before seal-coating the entire driveway.

PATCHING POTHOLES

• For potholes, first dig out any loose material and dirt down to a solid base. It’s best to undercut the edges slightly to provide a “key” for the patching material (Fig. 6). Make sure the edges of the asphalt around the hole are firm.
• Clean all dust and debris from the hole and surrounding areas.
• If the hole is very deep, fill it to within 4″ of the top with gravel. Tamp this down firmly.
• You don’t have to work with hot-mix patchers as professionals do–cold-mix patching products do an excellent job of repairing driveways. Fluid cold-patches that come in cans may need to be stirred before use. Use a strong stick or a stirring attachment chucked into your electric drill.
• You can prime the repair area by painting it with emulsified asphalt liquid. Priming helps the new material bond to the old. Then apply the cold-patch material, patting it down occasionally with a shovel or trowel to help compact it and prevent air pockets from forming (Fig. 7).
• Put in a 2″ depth of cold-patch and tamp it firmly or roll it with a garden roller. Add more material in 2″ lifts, tamping each lift. The next-to-last lift should fill the hole to within an inch of the top. Tamp it as shown in Fig. 8.
• Now add more patching material, filling the hole and mounding it slightly above the surrounding surface. Tamp it down as firmly as you can. You can tamp it by hand or by repeatedly running your car’s tire over it (Fig. 9).
• Fill in any low areas with more cold-patch mix. Compact it until it’s even with the driveway surface.
• Allow the repaired area to cure for 12 to 36 hours before driving on it, and give it two to five days to cure before seal-coating the entire driveway.

Do you need a new roof? Are you trying to decide how to save some money on the job? One way people try to do this is to place the new roof installed over an existing layer of roofing. This technique is quite common in many areas and many roofing contractors don’t see any problem with this method and have no problem trying to sell homeowners on a lay-over or go-over as this technique is called.

Don’t do this. EVER.

Here are the top five reasons laying a new roof over an old one is a terrible idea.

First, there are sure to be areas that have or had leaks and they can’t always be addressed properly

There is a good chance that your old roof had some problem areas including possible leak spots, whether you noticed them or not. Without tearing off the old roof and properly identifying these types of trouble spots and determining where the leak was coming from and traveling to it is impossible to tell what areas of your roof may need some special attention.

Second, any rotted wood under the existing roofing will only get worse leading to an even more expensive fix down the road.

There could be areas that have rotted wood hiding under the old roofing. These rotted areas need to be identified and replaced before a new roof is installed. Obviously if your roofing contractor is only doing a lay-over roofing installation then these rotted areas will remain covered up and only get worse as the years go on. Also the nails holding down the shingles in areas with rotted wood cannot properly do their job and you have a much higher risk of shingles blowing off in those areas.

Third, the eaves, rakes and valleys always need special treatment and not doing so will cause more costly repairs later.

This is a big one. The eaves, rakes and valleys of your house need special attention when your home’s roof is being installed. This is especially important in colder climates like Massachusetts, where we are located. In the winter time the eaves of your house are under attack by Mother Nature, whether it is through ice dams, snow build up, or just the constant freezing and thawing that occurs throughout the winter season. When a new roof is properly installed the roofing contractor needs to put new aluminum drip-edge around the entire perimeter of your roof.

Next they need to apply a 3 foot wide section of ice & water barrier around the perimeter as well as in any valleys on your roof. Then they can begin to install the new roofing. Without tearing off the original roofing there is no way to properly install the new drip-edge or ice & water barrier. On a lay-over type of roofing install, the roofing contractor is counting on the existing products on the home’s roof to still be up to par and be able to handle the winter conditions. All too often the old products fall short whether it was because they have outlived their lifetime, were sub-par to begin with, or maybe they were never there to begin with (all to often the latter is the case with ice & water barrier).

Fourth,  the extra roofing weight is no good for old rafters and can cause structural failure and safety hazards in the structure.

One of the more obvious problems with a lay-over re-roof is the added weight of the extra layer of shingles. On most newer homes this is not an issue, however many older homes have rafters that are considered undersized by today’s framing standards. It is not uncommon to see 2×6 rafter systems on many of these houses. Now in most situations a 2×6 rafter is undersized to begin with and you certainly don’t want to be adding the weight of a new roofing layer on top of an old roofing layer to these already undersized rafter systems.

Fifth, adding a roof on top of another roof will lead to a shorter roof life expectancy.

Most responsible roofing contractors agree that a lay-over roof will decrease the new roof’s lifetime by about 25%. This fact alone means that any money you might have saved by doing a lay-over, as opposed to a tear-off and new roof install, was only a short term savings. In addition, you now have 2 layers of roofing that will need to be removed the next time your roof is done and that will also add more cost to the job

Tearing off the old roof and then installing a new one is always superior to laying a new on on top of an old one. And as always, do not forget your gutter protection system needs!

GutterBrush can prevent this from happening.

Excessive amounts of water overflowing from your gutter system could cause a number of serious problems around your home, some of which could cause you hundreds if not thousands of dollars to repair. But there are just some things that no gutter protection system, even GutterBrush, can solve. One of those situations is a heavy deluge of rain that courses down a roof’s slope and into the gutter with such force that it can not be properly channeled into the gutter and out the downspout. However, leaking or overflowing gutters should never be ignored and a properly installed and clean gutter system should function to move water safely down the gutter and out the downspout in every other type of rain. If they leak or overflow during normal conditions perhaps we can help you to maximize the effectiveness of your gutters and gutter protection system during normal rainfall conditions.

First, if your house is fairly long where the gutters are continuous along the entire length and the only downspouts are on both ends this could cause some over flowing and leaking to occur. Most homeowners prefer this gutter/downspout configuration for aesthetic reasons because a downspout does not have to be installed right in the middle of the house which is usually right near the entrance to the house. However, often times only having a downspout at the end of the gutter system leads to the inability for the gutter system to handle the volume of rain that is falling. An effective solution to this problem is to have the one end raised just as high as you can so that the flow will be sufficient for the water to exit the preferred main exit end before ever running over. You can also investigate the installation of a large gutter on your home’s exterior to accommodate larger volumes of water flow.

Second, make sure your gutters are not leaking as this can lead to the misidentification of the problem you face. To quickly and effectively repair a leaky gutter, first remove debris and wash out the gutters with water. Second, apply a silicone gutter seam sealant to gutter seams, exposed nail/screw heads, and minor holes as needed. Third, you should absolutely replace any section of gutter that is pitted or rusted through. Fourth, make sure that all gutter sections are secured properly to the fascia boards and replace any rotted fascia boards as needed. Fifth, install drip flashing around all roof edges. Finally, fill the gutters with water using a garden hose to check for leaks and proper drainage. Next time it rains watch the gutters for leaks and overflows. If water still overflows the gutters, then you may need to adjust the slope towards the downspouts and or add additional downspouts as previously mentioned. In addition, you might consider installing larger downspouts that will help prevent gutter overflow but these should be coupled with the installation of downspout extensions to divert water away from the house structure in order to avoid costly water damage to your property.

We have seen a significant increase in finished basements being used as living rooms and bedrooms especially as families become more extended due in part to the current financial situation. Therefore, using this usually reserved storage space for living areas can result in problems that can be both annoying and uncomfortable humidity, but can also cause significant health problems for those who live and spend time in them. Mildew and mold can easily occur and flourish in damp areas as well as in carpets and upholstery. Completing a basement before taking the actual water issues, if any, present can easily lead to the creation of health problems and/or substantial damage to the building itself. Well then, where does the water come from?

If the area near the foundation is not level or slopes toward the house, it is most likely that the water will be directed towards the foundation and into the basement. Often the earthen floor next to the house’s foundation is filled without proper compaction and/or drainage plans. To correct this one needs to grade the earth around the house away from the foundation wall, not less than one inch per foot for at least six feet.

Gutters and downspouts are also very important to keeping water out of the basement living space. These systems keep the water from running down the side of the house and pooling around the foundation followed by seeping into the basement. It is important to keep the downspouts emptying far enough away from the home so that this water penetration is less likely to occur.  There are other components to keeping the basement dry but they fall outside of the scope of this author’s technical and practical skillset. However, you can find this information quite easily on the world wide web.  Stay dry this spring and keep your property protected as well!

According to recent survey results gleaned from the National Governors Association the already fragile conditions of states’ economies are set to further weaken. Vermont Governor Jim Douglas suggests that,“The situation is fairly poor for a lot of states around the country. In fact, most states. What we’re finding out from a fiscal standpoint is that the worst is yet to come”. “Economists have declared the national recession over. But for those who are still unemployed, for those who have lost their homes, it’s clear that as a nation we have a long way to go.”

This recent survey suggests that the states have $18.8 billion of budget gaps yet to be closed in fiscal 2010. This comes after they have already imposed measures to eliminate budget imbalances totaling $87 billion in the fiscal year, which for most started during the summer of 2009. All the while the budgets currently being drafted for fiscal 2011, states foresee shortfalls of $53.6 billion and for fiscal 2012 $61.6 billion while at the same time states’ revenues have plummeted for four quarters in a row.

What is most interesting in these in these most challenging times is that all states except for one, Vermont, are required to balance their budgets, so during the recession they have drastically cut spending on basic programs, laid off workers and boosted revenue through raising taxes and fees.

Ice dams, which form on eaves and overhangs and create rather large icicles, are a common sight this year because of all the snow that has fallen in the area. Ice dams form as warm air from a home’s attic escapes through the roof and melts the bottom layer of snow. As the water runs down the roof and reaches the overhang, it refreezes because there is no heat. Ice then collects and backs up underneath the shingles and, in some cases, into the siding. Some homeowners are already dealing with the effects of ice dams, from water leaking through their roofs, to large, dangerous icicles hanging down from eaves. Ice dams do not have much at all to do with gutters or gutter protection systems. But as soon as the  ice dams start, that creates a big problem and homeowners should not try knocking them off or chipping at them. Such attempts can lead to roof damage or damage to eaves, gutters and edging, not to mention personal injury if someone were to fall from a roof or ladder.

Homeowners can help prevent ice dams by quickly removing snow from the lower section of the roof after each snowfall to keep the ice from building up. This allows for any snow melt to flow down the shingles and into the gutters. One strategy is to use a snow rake when the snow is dry and light. Simply rake back the snow five to six feet up your roof, that’s all you have to do and most of the time, this is enough to solve the problem. Heavier snow requires more sophisticated options and as always the GutterBrush Guys, LLC  never want you to do anything that will put you at risk and potentially result in a very costly accident.

In order to address ice dam issues long term a homeowner should photograph the ice dams that have formed on their house and use those as a guide next spring or summer for a contractor to seal areas of the attic where warm air may be escaping. As counter intuitive as it may seem Summer is the best time to deal with ice dams and the roof malfunctions that cause them.

Even Scott Brown and Martha Coakley can agree on the importance of stopping ice dams from occurring on any roof!

Roof with ice dam schematic for your consideration