The GutterBrush Blog

You’ve got a few extra minutes so you grab your watering can and dump a bunch of water on your dry flowers. Simple enough.

Or is it? If you water your annual and perennial flowers badly, you’ll waste time – and have sickly plants. Water them well and you’ll save yourself time and be rewarded with healthy, beautiful blooms.

1. Water early in the day. Watering in the cool of morning (even before dawn) minimizes evaporation if you’re using a sprinkler. It also allows foliage to dry off quickly, preventing fungal diseases.
2. Avoid wetting the blooms. Some blooms close up if wet or fall off in a hard spray.
3. Water occasionally and deeply rather than often and lightly. You want water to soak in as deeply as possible, encouraging the plant to send down deep roots. The soil should be moist to the bottom of the plant’s roots when you insert your finger into the soil.
4. Learn to look for signs of dryness before flowers wilt, including a loss of sheen on leaves and hard soil surrounding the plant. Never let flowers wilt. This weakens them and makes them more prone to a host of diseases.
5. Check flowers in containers once or even twice a day, since they can need watering that often in hot, sunny or windy weather.
6. Let technology help you. If you have difficulty keeping up with watering needs, check out your local garden center’s supplies of soaker hoses, drip emitters (including some for containers), and timers to connect to your outdoor faucet. Or try adding water-absorbing polymer crystals to your containers – the crystals can cut watering needs significantly.
7. Mulch. Not only does this suppress weeds, but it keeps the soil around your flowers cool and moist, minimizing the need for water.

Helpful Tips

• In optimum (loamy) soil conditions, most plants need 1 to 2 inches of water per week.
• As you design and plant your garden, try to cluster plants according to watering needs.
• Avoid planting flowers whose watering needs will be difficult to keep up with. If you live in New Mexico, for example, it’s silly to fight nature by planting water-guzzling plants. Source: eHow.com

We understand that choosing a good contractor for your project may not be an easy decision to make. To help you in the process of choosing a professional landscaping contractor, or for that matter, any type of contractor, we thought that we could offer some helpful advice. Below are some factors to consider when choosing a contractor.

This is the advice given most often to consumers, “Make sure your contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured.” In short, if there are bonding or insurance requirements, these need to be fulfilled in order to get licensed. So, the real question should be, “Are you a licensed contractor?

In order to obtain a contractors license in most states, they must (1) meet the experience requirement for each classification; (2) have an owner or qualifying party pass two written exams, one for business and the other for the skill; (3) Provide proof of Workers’ Compensation Insurance and tax licenses from the Dept. of Revenue for state transaction privilege tax; (4) Provide proof of Tax liability bond, and Licenses bond; (5) pay a license fee and residential contractors must contribute to the Contractors’ Recovery Fund.

The other piece of advice given most often to consumers is: ”Get several bids so you can compare price.” Contractors all understand how important price is to your decision making. It is important you understand the pitfall of only considering price when there are so many other factors that affect you decision. In order for you to be able to compare price, all the bids have to be for the same project, the same products, the same specifications, and the same quality of work. Most contractors will try very hard to give you what you want at the price you want to pay. They will even find cheap products and inexpensive subcontractors to help you meet your budget. Be careful what you ask for and how you ask for it. Remember that the bid is only the starting point in your negotiations with the contractor and not necessarily the bottom line.

Keep in mind that the lowest bid may not necessarily be the best bid, and that an unusually low bid may be cause for alarm. In this case, the contractor may not fully understand the scope of work; may be inexperienced and is underestimating the amount of labor and materials required: or may be planning to cut corners by using inferior materials, low-paid, inexperienced workers, or not following local building codes. You could end up paying to repair or replace work much sooner than if your project was done right the first time with qualified workers and quality materials.

A good contractor will not put a dollar amount on the back of a business card and hand it to you. A contractor should prepare a complete Proposal that refers to the scope of work. It should be broken down in different areas with the price clearly spelled out and with specific brands and models spelled out. A contractor should help you establish a budget that you are comfortable with. The best contractor will listen to you and be respectful of your budget. They should share design ideas with you about your project and help you understand how your decisions and different materials affect the cost. Finally beware of contractors who refuse to give a written estimate or contract. Verbal statements never hold up in court.

A contractor’s reputation is one of his most valuable assets. A good contractor is very willing to share his reputation with his future clients. A reputation is something that sticks with a contractor for years. It takes years of reliable work, many satisfied customers, and enduring relationships with suppliers to build up a good reputation. The best contractor has many references, has testimonials from past customers who had projects like yours, and exhibits a history of pleasing his customers and completing jobs in a satisfactory manner.

The success of a project can hinge on the communication skills of all the people involved in the project. The good contractor understands the value and importance of clear communication. They should value your questions and practices clear communication. Furthermore, the good contractor makes sure there are no misunderstandings, asks for feedback on a regular basis.

We hope that we have helped you better understand all of the common advice given to consumers and then share all of the other elements that will help ensure a successful project.

This absurd video is both entertaining and educational. A rarity to be sure.

In the below video, Al discusses the 3 universal truths that apply to growing grass and not having it turn into brown icky mush. I don’t want to spoil these helpful truths for you so you’re just going to have to watch this rather ridiculous video and laugh / learn along with it!

Enjoy!

Ever wanted to spiff up your backyard with a nice wooden fence? Perhaps you need to keep your dog from wandering or the deer from eating your newly-planted flowers. Luckily, there are a ton of great videos available for free to teach you how to best install that new fence this Summer. Here’s some of our favorites!

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

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.

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

We’re all about DIY projects at GutterBbrush. In fact, we are going to be featuring some of our favorite DIY projects on this blog in the coming days. First off, we’ll start with what we know: gutters. They’re crucial to your home but are often overlooked. Here’s a quick rundown of why DIY projects (and gutter cleaning) rock:

(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.