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GutterBrush has actually been reported as being able to absorb the heat of the sun and actually help melt ice dams before they turn into dangerous problems. So what is an ice dam?

Ice dams are typically the result of improper insulation resulting in a “warm roof.” Snow melts on the roof and water trickles down near the rain gutter/eave area where it freezes again and builds up as a block of ice.

GutterBrush Gutter Guard will have no effect on this process, but when the sun comes out, the black GutterBrush Gutter Guard bristles absorb heat and have been reported to promote quicker melting of any ice build up.

GutterBrush can also be used to protect your rain gutters safely with gutter and roof heating cables.

Plus by using Gutterbrush your gutters wont get clogged with debris that causes unprotected gutters to pool with rain water and freeze.

The home improvement and maintenance experts at Lowe’s offer some guidelines for assessing and dealing with storm damage:

Checking the roof

Your roof and gutters will often take the brunt of a storm’s power. After a storm, check out roof shingles by walking slowly around your home and inspecting from the ground. Use a good pair of binoculars to look for lifting or missing shingles around the edges, valleys, plumbing and furnace vent pipes and the chimney.

You can also inspect your roof from inside the attic. Discoloration of the decking or plywood surface of the roof could signal problems. And if you can see light coming in around plumbing vents or the chimney, it means the flashing needs to be repaired or replaced.

Roof repairs can be difficult and dangerous for homeowners, even if you’re an adept do-it-yourselfer. So be careful when climbing on your roof to inspect damage, especially after a storm when damage is unknown. Ask for professional help at your local home improvement store if you have any doubt about your abilities. You can also visit www.Lowes.com/roofing for more information about patching or replacing your roof.

Maintaining your gutters

Clogged gutters and downspouts can keep water from being carried away from your roof. Follow this gutter health checklist for obvious signs of failing gutters:

• Gutter hanging off the roof
• Downspout disconnected from the gutter or house
• Missing gutters
• Water in the basement or elsewhere inside the house
• Leaking or dripping gutter seams
• Overflowing gutters

Gutter damage usually takes one of three forms – holes, cracks or sags. You can easily repair minor sags or pin-sized holes yourself. If careful inspection reveals a pinhole, use an abrasive pad to clean the area. Then, cut a piece of material – the same kind as the gutters – that is 1 inch larger than the hole on all sides. Using a stiff brush, spread a bit of gutter repair compound on the area around the hole and place your patch over the top. Cover the patch with another layer of compound to ensure a good seal.

To repair minor sags, simply add a new hanging bracket to the sagging area or replace an existing one if it’s old or damaged. Screw in the bracket until the gutter is back in proper alignment. Be sure to use hanging brackets that are designed for your type of gutter system.

Cracks or more serious gutter damage may require professional help.

Read more of this terrific article over at the Bonners Ferry Herald.

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

For more information about World Water Day visit http://www.worldwaterday2011.org/

We’ve heard back from quite a few GutterBrush customers that incorporate GutterBrush into their water re-use system. These customer use rain barrels to collect water their roof to be re-used in gardening and etc. It turns out that GutterBrush makes the process much easier by keeps leaves and debris out of the gutter and therefore out of their rain barrels.

We thank those customers for letting us know about their efforts to make a difference in our world and how our product assisted them in doing it.

Please enter your comments here on how you conserve or reuse water.

(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.

I need GutterBrush? Yes you do.

Clogged gutters can cause major problems for your home. As water backs up, it can flow behind the gutters saturating your fascia board and trapping moisture. Over time this moisture will potentially result in rot, mold and mildew. Protect your home with the simple, affordable, and most effective gutter guard available today. Your home is a big investment and we all want to protect our investments so why not take a step towards doing that with GutterBrush? GutterBrush is a no nonsense Gutter Protection System that makes gutter protection technology available to you in a simple and easy form while remaining affordable. Our GutterBrush system is so straightforward, it’s the obvious choice. Save time, money and protect your home and family with the GutterBrush Simple Gutter Guard System.

The GutterBush gutter guard gutter protection system from GutterBrush Guys, Ltd. will help prevent autumn leaves and other seasonal debris from clogging your gutters and potentially damaging your home and landscaping. Our GutterBrush gutter guard is also a great home improvement idea and one you should consider unless you enjoy cleaning clogged gutters and downspouts every year.

The GutterBrush gutter protection system helps carry leaves, seeds, pine needles, and other debris off the roof during rainfall, allowing rain to enter the gutters but preventing leaves and everything else you don’t want in the gutter from entering the gutters. The leaves and debris slide off the cylindrical gutter guard and fall to the ground below keeping your gutters free of leaves, needles, debris and the like.  Another bonus of using GutterBrush is that they can be installed by anyone who is comfortable on a ladder and this usually only takes, on average, about a couple of hours to install 120 linear feet of GutterBrush including cleaning the gutters.

You can’t go wrong with our simple, affordable, and effective GutterBrush gutter guard system for protecting your gutters this fall and your home year round. Please contact us at 888-397-9433 or info@gutterbrush.com with any questions you might have or to get your very own GutterBrush.

Clogged Gutters Are A Disaster In The Making! Protect Them From Clogging With Gutterbrush!

Gutters perform one duty: controlling the water around your home. If debris keeps gutters from doing their job, you can wind up with some serious problems. By following these simple gutter cleaning tips, you can help avoid major and expensive home repairs.

• Leaking Gutters: Clogged gutters are the number one cause of basement water problems. When gutters are clogged, roof water overflows and accumulates around the foundation. If this happens, basement leaks may be moments away.
• Cracked Foundations: Clogged gutters can cause excess water against the foundation wall to weaken the footing and lead to foundation wall cracks. This is particularly true in the colder months when built-up water at the foundation freezes and causes a condition known as “frost-heave” which can cause severe cracks to foundation walls.
• Rotten Wood: Water backing up from clogged gutters will cause moisture damage to the wood fascia around the house. The rotted area will quickly get worse if the leak is not eliminated by cleaning the gutters.
• Leaking Roofs: In winter, ice dams can form on top of clogged gutters. Snow then builds up across the top of the clogged gutter and freezes. During the next thaw, water running off the roof is blocked by the frozen snow and backs up into the house. This can lead to major wall and ceiling damage.
• Slippery Sidewalks: Overflowing gutters can deposit water on walks and driveways where it can freeze and cause a tripping hazard. Avoid this problem by keeping gutters clean and the spouts extended away from any traffic areas.
• Cracked Driveways: Misdirected and clogged gutter spouts often cause driveways and walks to sag and crack.
• Washed Out Landscaping: Any newly installed plants, grass or trees can be killed by excess water from clogged gutters. Overflowing gutters can cause severe erosion and put an early end to young plantings.
• Wood Destroying Insects: Bugs love moisture. Keeping gutters free of clogs and keeping the soil dry around the foundation perimeter can force bugs to go elsewhere for a tasty snack of dampened two-by-four.

If you think your gutters need a good cleaning, here are some important tips to follow:

Safety First: If you are not comfortable with heights or don’t use tall ladders regularly, cleaning gutters is not a job for you. Consider hiring a handyman to help. If you decide to do the gutter cleaning job yourself, watch out for hidden hazards like electric lines and bee’s nests.

Clean Gutters: Using a ladder, work gloves and a hose, clear the gutters beginning at one end and moving to the other. Always work from the ladder and not from the roof, where you could fall off. If you find any loose gutter sections, tighten them up as you go along. It may help to have a supply of long lag bolts to use when replacing loose or missing gutter spikes. Lag bolts won’t pull out like spikes, so you usually don’t have to do this more than once.

Spray Spouts: When you get to the end of the gutter where the spout is, spray the hose down the gutter spout to make sure it’s clear. If the spout is clogged, water will back up and cause problems. Clearing clogged spouts can be a chore. Try removing the debris from both ends and flushing out the rest with a hose. If this doesn’t work you may need to take the spout apart to clear it. Once the spouts are clear, make sure the discharge end is extended at least 4 to 6 feet away from the house to avoid problems.

Install Gutter Guards: Once the gutter system is cleaned and properly adjusted, consider installing gutter guards such as GutterBrush to avoid a repeat performance in the future.

There are many types of gutter guards available. Filter types work very well. Screens can be effective in the short run but eventually allow debris to get through. Clogs will reoccur and can be even harder to clear since the screens will need to be removed first. Leaf blocking guards, which look like a metal louver that is installed above the gutter, are a more costly but more effective option at keeping leaves off gutters. The louvers allow water to leak into the gutter while washing leaves over the side.

No matter what gutter product you choose, it is important that you check gutters periodically as well as be mindful of signs of clogging like over-flowing in a rainstorm.  Maintaining a clean gutter is the single most effective way to avoid a whole host of serious and expensive problems.

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.

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 second project of five to potentially boost your home’s resale value is a midrange bathroom remodel. This includes updating an average 5-by-7 foot bathroom that’s at least 25 years old with moderately priced fixtures, a double-sink vanity, a ceramic-tile floor and vinyl wallpaper.

Average payback: 102.2 percent of cost
Estimated job cost: $10,499
National average resale value: $10,727

Improving an existing, but outdated, bathroom is almost always a good investment because an up-to-date bathroom makes your home look like it’s been kept in good repair, and that’s what all prospective homeowners are looking for.

However, do not try to personalize the bathrooms too much or spend megabucks trying to turn them into ultimate home spas. Your home is a valuable asset, and you want to treat it respectfully whenever you remodel. In other words, think twice about adding a pricey imported soaking tub or three separate shower stalls for your growing family’s convenience. Those renovations might not fit the taste of a buyer 10 years down the road. If that happens, the money you spent on your bathroom renovation is down the toilet, so to speak.