A clothesline and gutter protection are immune from the events causing the Toyota recall.

Sean — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:13:53 +0000

The invention of the clothes dryer may have revolutionized laundry in the modern world the same way gutter protection did the attempt to keep gutters clean, but in current times with an increasing focus on conserving energy and money a natural alternative for many families is the move to drying your laundry out on a clothesline in the yard as well as harvesting clean water from gutters. It is estimated by some that clothes dryers use between 10 to 15 percent of all domestic energy and in our current economic climate there stands to be a lot of savings for the average home owner if they trade in drying all their laundry in the dryer to using a clothesline instead.

An outdoor line to dry your clothes on costs only as much as your particular set up; the arrangement that works best for you will likely depend on your individual yard. Some home owners like to have one long clothes line that stretches the length of the yard which can be stationary or can be accessed via a pulley system from the back porch, while others prefer a more compact rotary style clothes line that employs a single pole with concentric circles of lines that radiate outward which allow for a large amount of laundry to be hung in one small space. Perhaps it is time that such an environmentally-friendly (and pocketbook friendly) activity was more widely embraced the way it once was.

Brown and Coakley are in a close race and don’t agree on much but they likely agree that ice dams are harmful.

Sean — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:32:43 +0000

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

The GutterBrush Blog » Helath care

A clothesline and gutter protection are immune from the events causing the Toyota recall.

Brown and Coakley are in a close race and don’t agree on much but they likely agree that ice dams are harmful.