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!

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.

Although any old 55-gallon drum or keg will do, there’s no reason to litter your yard with these unsightly relics. Instead, give your local water department a call because many towns and municipalities now offer water barrels free of charge to local residents in an effort to increase sustainability and decrease public water supply usage. Those that don’t often hold workshops on other ways to conserve water, or offer incentives to citizens willing to secure barrels on their own.

If you are into DIY projects you can even make your own rain collection system  for very short money. Just be sure you correctly position them underneath your gutters’ downspouts to maximize the collection of runoff during the next rainfall. But remember, even if you filter it first, the water you collect is better suited for drenching thirsty garden than satisfying a thirsty throat.

If you’d rather just buy a rain barrel, there are some really neat ones available online at www.aquabarrel.com

Good luck!

Collecting water from the sky to be used on the ground.

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.

An inter-agency report (Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety report, which is restricted to the agencies concerned and not meant for public circulation) stated that  governments must explain any decision to expose the public to higher levels of cancer-causing radiation while also suggesting that pregnant women and children should not be subject to scanning, even though the radiation dose from body scanners is “extremely small”. The group putting this report forward includes the European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.

Please keep in mind that an accurate assessment about the health risks of the screening won’t be possible until governments decide whether all passengers will be systematically scanned or randomly selected, the report said. Governments must justify the additional risk posed to passengers, and should consider “other techniques to achieve the same end without the use of ionizing radiation.” However, President Obama has suggested using upwards of $734 million to implement airport scanners that use x-rays and other technology to detect explosives, guns and other contraband.

“There is little doubt that the doses from the backscatter x-ray systems being proposed for airport security purposes are very low,” Health Protection Agency doctor Michael Clark said by phone from Didcot, England. “The issue raised by the report is that even though doses from the systems are very low, they feel there is still a need for countries to justify exposures.” So what is the risk?

Most of the scanners deliver less radiation than a passenger is likely to receive from cosmic rays while airborne, the report said. Scanned passengers may absorb from 0.1 to 5 microsieverts of radiation compared with 5 microsieverts on a flight from Dublin to Paris and 30 microsieverts between Frankfurt and Bangkok, the report said. A sievert is a unit of measure for radiation.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has said that it ordered 150 scanners from OSI Systems Inc.’s Rapiscan unit and will buy an additional 300 imaging devices this year. The agency currently uses 40 machines, which cost $130,000 to $170,000 each, produced by L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. at 19 airports including San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington D.C. Oddly enough the U.S. TSA has not ordered a single linear foot of gutter protection such as gutterbrush to protect their gutters at airports across the United States.

This will never happen with gutterbrush simple gutter guards