The GutterBrush Blog

Rain gutters come in several different profiles and sizes depending on the application. Standard rain gutters for residential homes are U shape (half round) and a K style.

Residential rain gutter channel sizes are typically 5 and 6 inches in diameter. You measure from the back of the of the gutter to the front lip of the gutter. Actual measurements are as follows:

• “5 inch” gutters actually measure 4.25 inches in diameter
• “6 inch” gutters actually measure 5.25 inches in diameter

Rain gutters also come in some other sizes for special applications. These include:

• “4-inch” (actually 3.25 inches) which may be found on manufactured homes or screen houses.
• “7-inch” (actually 6.25 inches) found in commercial applications
• “8-inch” (actually 7.25 inches) for industrial applications.

GutterBrush Simple Gutter Guard is made to fit all of these sizes and shapes. Note that if you have half round gutters you may be able to see the top part of the brush; however, it will see operate effectively.

Check out the various sizes available at http://www.gutterbrush.com/gutterguard-products.htm

photo by Stephen Dunn, The Hartford Courant

We want your snow pictures! In exchange for your generous effort, we’ll enter you into our giveaway. No strings attached, none of that nonsense. Here’s how to take part:

What Kind of Picture?

We want to see how much snow you have in your area! Just send us a photo of your house, neighborhood, pet (see picture on right of my dog), kids, or anything.

If you don’t have any snow in your area, feel free to send us your favorite photo from your neck of the woods. For example, if you live in Florida (the one state that didn’t get snow this week so far), send us a picture of the beach or a thermometer showing the above-freezing temperature!

How To Send In The Picture

It’s easy! Just post the picture to our Facebook Wall here! We’ll reach out to you so we can find out where to send your prize if your name is drawn. Speaking of which…

The Prize

If you send us a snow pic, we’ll enter you to win 12 feet (yes, feet!) of Gutterbrush for free! No strings attached.

We’ll draw the winner at random at noon on Monday January 17th so send your picture into our Facebook page by then!

Hope everyone stays safe and warm out there!

So… You have procrastinated cleaning out your gutters, but still want to get it done before Winter.  Better hurry, you only have 5 days left before Winter officially arrives!

While you are up there taking care of this dreaded but necessary chore, why not spread some holiday cheer and highlight your freshly cleaned gutters with Christmas lights for all to enjoy!?

Christmas-Lights-Hanging-On-Colonial-Style-Home-Gutters

If you really want to have a rewarding gutter cleaning experience you could also install GutterBrush Simple Gutter Guard while you are up there and make regular gutter cleaning a thing of the past.

Here are some helpful tips we found for hanging Christmas lights from your gutters.

1.  Measure the length of the gutter where you want to decorate by running a tape measure along the wall below. Add the distance from the gutter to the power outlet so you know what length extension cord to use.

2.  Purchase gutter hangers in the Christmas section of your local department or hardware store. They are small and plastic. One side has a oblong hook to clip onto the gutter and the other side has a hook or clip for the wire of the Christmas lights.

3. Test the lights. Before you plug them in, visually inspect your light strings, looking for broken or missing bulbs and worn or defective wires. If you discover faulty wires, replace the strings entirely. If bulbs are broken or missing, replace the bulbs.

4.  Set up a ladder.  If your home’s gutters are low, you may be able to use a stepladder; otherwise, plan to use an extension ladder. Place it firmly on flat ground and lean it against the gutter, or better yet, use a ladder stand off / stabilizer like Ladder-Max to make your experience on a ladder as safe and secure as possible.  If you must lean the ladder against the gutter, place a short piece of 2 by 4 inside the gutter to reinforce it.

5.  Hang the lights along the gutters.  Your objective is to hang lights as easily and safely as possible without damaging your home’s trim or walls.  Attach the wire of the string of lights to the clip side of the hanger.  Hangers should be placed approximately every 12 – 18 inches.

6.  Plug in the lights and start belting out Christmas Carols to celebrate a job well done!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
GutterBrush Guys Ltd.

www.GutterBrush.com

888-397-9433

This is the time of year when a cold snap can come in anytime and catch you by surprise if your home is not yet prepped for winter.  Here are nine things to check in preparing your home for the coming winter season.

1. Heating System: Your home’s heating system is the front line of defense in keeping your home warm. You need to make sure the furnace or boiler is working before you need it.
2. Air Conditioner: Your window air conditioner or central air conditioner condensing unit needs a little prepping too in order to make it through the winter. You need to prepare the condensing unit for storage including cleaning our leaves and covering the condenser.
3. Chimney and Fireplace: A wood burning fireplace and chimney can be a major source of cold air leaks and other issues in winter. Make sure to check and inspect your fireplace, including making sure the flue operates properly and checking your firebrick.
4. Plumbing: Burst pipes from freezing can cause some of the most expensive repairs in the home. Make sure you protect your plumbing from freezing with techniques such as heating and insulating your pipes. It is also critically important to remove your hoses from any outside faucets.
5. Insulation: The simple process of insulating can reduce energy costs. this includes getting an insulating blanket for your water heater, foam sealing gaskets for outlets and blocking fireplace drafts with a piece of fiberglass insulation.
6. Weather-stripping: An easy way to reduce you heating bill from infiltration is to reduce these drafts of doors and windows with simple weather-stripping.
7. Roof and Gutters: Check your roof and gutters for leaves and debris. Frozen wet leaves in gutters are major source of damage. Protect your gutters with a gutter protection system like GutterBrush.
   
8. Sprinkler System: Another key element of your home winterization plan is winterizing your sprinkler system to prevent your lines from bursting.
9. Landscape: Lastly comes preparing your landscape and equipment for the winter including outdoor deck, furniture and lawn equipment preparation.

By taking a few hours and preparing your home for winter you can get closer to a trouble free winter and just sit back and enjoy the scenery!

They sure do look nice but they are also the primary reason a house should have clean gutters and gutter protection.

Falling leaves and other rotting debris can get stuck in the gutters of a house that are unprotected. This may not seem like a big deal since from the ground a person cannot see the leaves and rot in the gutters, but rot and leaves in gutter can create big problems including significant water damage and landscaping destruction. Gutters are on the house to help with drainage and gutter protection such as gutterbrush makes this an easier job. When the gutters on a roof are filled up with, leaves, debris and rot they no longer can work properly. Once a gutter that is not protected with gutter brush simple gutter guard  is clogged there is no longer any room for water to flow down through the gutters from the roof down the downspout and out to the ground. When the water backs up in the gutters it can spill over in places that can cause water damage to the house and landscaping. Many basements will become flooded because there is not proper drainage from the roof because the gutters are clogged and remain unprotected. The water needs a place to go and if it is not draining in the right place it can cause a lot of water problems. GutterBrush can solve this problem simply and effectively.

Rot and leaf guards

A great way to protect roof gutters from falling leaves and water damage is by using  the gutter brush simple gutterguard. However, there are many companies that make  leaf guards for roof gutters so please shop around for the one that will work best for you. But be sure to choose one that can be used on your particular size of gutter. Water must be able to pass through the guard, but leaves and other debris should not be able to get through to clog the gutters. Gutterguards like gutterbrush simple gutter guard are easily installed and  fit the size of the gutter perfectly.

Cleaning roof gutters

One very simple, but time consuming way to protect a home from clogged gutters is for a person to clean out the gutters. A person can hire someone to clean their gutters or do it themselves. It is kind of a messy job but does not require a lot of tools to complete. A person will need a ladder, gloves, a garbage bag, and a small tool (such as a trowel) to get the leaves and rot out of the gutter. Since the leaves fall from the trees in the fall, it would be smart to clean out the gutters after the leaves have all fallen from the trees and then install gutter protection so you are ready for the rainy season and falling leaves in the future. That way the person does not have to clean out the gutters more than once. However, in some parts of the country the first snow may fall before a person is able to clean out their gutters. If there is not a day during the fall that a person can clean out their gutters they should try to do it as early in the spring as possible to avoid drainage problems.

Lose the trees to solve the clogged gutter problem?

Trees are beautiful in any yard. They are a great addition to landscaping. But when these beautiful trees hang over a person’s house they can cause more harm than good. Not only could it be dangerous when there is a strong wind but even a soft wind that blows the leaves off of the tree can cause some damage. Leaves from a tree that hangs over a roof can easily get caught in the gutter more than a tree that is across the yard. To alleviate the problem a person can cut down the trees that have a lot of leaves that hang over their house. It is important that a person takes a lot of precaution when cutting down a tree that hangs over their house. A branch could easily fall and damage the house. A person could hire someone who cuts down the trees professionally to do the job. This is probably not the best course of action from an environmental or aesthetic perspective and could be avoided by using a gutter protection system such as gutterbrush. Either way you should think long and hard about how to protect your property form costly water damage due to clogged gutters.

Good luck and remember to put safety first!

Are you hunting for a better way to keep leaves and other debris out of your gutters? There’s plenty of options on the market but almost all of them involve costly installation. Almost all of them. GutterBrush is so simple to install that it should take you just a few minutes to get almost your entire house done. No hassle. No continued expense.

We do not know anybody who likes cleaning rain gutters on their property. It’s time consuming and often, frankly, completely nasty, especially if you do not keep up with it on a somewhat regular basis. If you are like many homeowners and think “I’ll take care of that next weekend”, you could end up with massive clogs in your gutters and downspouts…clogs which will cost hundreds of dollars to repair because you have to call a gutter professional to come out, take down your downspouts, clean them out and put them all back together. Instead of spending all of that time and money, why not just install a gutter brush?

The original gutterbrush simple gutter guard will save you time and you won’t have to worry about costly clogs in your downspouts. The product looks like a giant pipe cleaning brush and it sits in your rain gutter channel and acts as a barrier for leaves, twigs, seedpods and other debris while still letting water pass through freely and out the downspout.

Installation is simple and fast. The most difficult part is climbing the ladder up to your roof to set the original gutterbrush down inside of it. But that’s it…you’re done! More importantly they are easy to clean if you ever need to do so. All you have to do is climb back up that pesky ladder; pull the brushes out, remove the debris and put them right back into place.

Why spend a bunch of money if you don’t have to? Why spend a bunch of time cleaning something if you don’t have to? The original GutterBrush is very affordable and you can install it yourself in about an hour and a half and it lasts all year (studies have proven they can also keep your gutters from freezing in the winter). Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Don’t be fooled by imitations that are manufactured outside of the USA using sub standard materials. Insist on the original GutterBrush SImple Gutter Guard!

visit www.gutterbrush.com for more information about this great product.

All of us here at GutterBrush are always on the lookout for simple,  effective and affordable ways to help people protect their property. Here is a common scam that police are always warning homeowners about this time of year. The scam artists in this ruse target homeowners by pretending to be out-of-work handymen. they approach homeowners and offer to do work around their property, usually cleaning gutters or paving driveways. The suspects claim they are out-of-work because of the bad economy, but say they still have their equipment and can offer the homeowner a good deal. The scam artists then tell the victim they need cash up front to purchase supplies. After pretending to start the work, the suspects then take off with the money. Always beware of paying for any home improvement job up front. Also, ask for insurance certification from the contractor as well as contact information you can verify. We hope this helps you avoid becoming a victim of this common scam.

Have you already decided to move rather than remodel only to realize, like so many others in the same boat, you are still thinking about remodeling anyway? Why? To make your house more appealing to would-be buyers, cut the time it takes to sell it and maybe even get more cash in hand when you sell is why. While you’re remodeling that other part of the house why not tuck in a new master bedroom suite above the addition? You’ll get all of your money back when you eventually sell your house, right?

Not so fast. While many home-remodeling projects are a great way to add value to your home, not all of them are ironclad cash-back guarantees. Before you invest a significant amount of your precious home equity into remodeling projects, it’s wise to do a little homework on what kind of payback you can expect for various home projects in your area.

A good place to start is the Cost vs. Value report published annually by the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, and Remodeling magazine. The report provides a synopsis of the top projects, the average costs of the projects and their average rate of investment return at resale. It also gives you a city-by-city guide on what various home projects will pay back at resale. Real estate experts caution that these numbers can differ significantly depending on your state, city or even neighborhood. So use these numbers as a starting point, but consider getting the advice of a Realtor and/or remodeling contractor before you commit to a big home project. These experts can familiarize you with remodeling payback figures tailored to your state, city., or town.

The fourth project of five to potentially boost your home’s resale value is a mid-range siding replacement. This more modest variation our first ranked project (upscale siding) includes replacing 1,250 square feet of siding with new vinyl siding and trim.

Average payback: 95.5 percent of cost
Estimated job cost: $7,239
National average resale value: $6,914

The value of this project is in its immediate curb appeal: New siding cleans up a house quickly. However, vinyl may not be appropriate and could actually detract from a home’s value in historic neighborhoods or upscale areas where traditional wood siding is still the preferred material.