Hi All,
Well I agree with most of the comments about not leaving everything to
the "Professionals" since like others (and Mike Holmes) I too have seen the
unbelievably bad results of supposedly professional morons.
However, I too was worried about gutter cleaning even though my house is
a single story. Because of that when I had to replace the rotted facia
board on the back of my house I used a product that's available in Richmond,
VA. (I don't know if it's available anywhere else). I have FlipClean
gutters: http://www.flipcleanguttersystems.com/index.html. Unfortunately I
could only afford the FlipClean gutters on the back of my house and I really
miss them on the front of the house. So I'm half safe when I clean my
gutters.
The info on the website touts how easy it is to clean these gutters. It
really is as easy as they claim. There are a few downsides. One is that
the debris dumps in a straight line along the ground. However, so far at
least, cleaning up the stuff on the ground is safer than climbing the ladder
to clean the gutter ;-) Another downside is that one of the sections was
not installed with a correct tilt and tends to collect water. If I go too
long between cleanings I just grab the gutter with the pole from as far away
as I can and jump back so the nasty water doesn't splash on me. I probably
should have bitched to the installer but I didn't for some probably stupid
reason. And the last thing I don't like really doesn't have anything to do
with the FlipClean gutters but with my roof. The valleys in the back of the
house collect pine needles at an incredible rate mostly because of the
combination of the roof's fairly shallow pitch and the vigorousness of the
&*&*^$ pine tree shedding needles in the fall.
From what I understand the FlipClean system (the hinges) are (or were) a
patented product. As I recall the guy running the company was the son of
the inventor and he refused to sell me the hinges so I could install them on
the front and the garage myself. He claimed "insurance liability" was the
reason but I think he just wanted to maximize his profit.
I've seen other different products on the Internet that you can buy as a
kit but it still was too expensive for my budget. One link I have from Tilt
N Clean (from 2003) is dead.
I'm skeptical about the many other gutter caps/covers/etc. since my
house is surrounded by pine trees and those %^&^&$# needles would probably
overwhelm any such system. I've looked on-line at many other products and
from what I saw not a one of them address pine needles. I've also heard
(admittedly anecdotal) stories about gutters protected by one brand needing
periodic cleaning because of mold build up, and also the installing company
needing to be involved when the roof is reshingled.
Well that's enough blathering for now . . .
Mark Watson
1956 Daimler Regency Mk II '104' long term resto project
1965 Ford Falcon - I just gotta get her back on the road!
various transportation pods,
garage missing the back gutter because the original one was steel(!!!) and
rusted out and the front one is just about to completely fail due to rust!
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Brooks
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 10:23 PM
To: shop-talk at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] gah. Moron press.
I know of three guys who lost their fathers in gutter cleaning accidents, so
I hire that one out. I'll do just about anything else. . . .
When I do hire a contractor, I require proof of license and insurance before
you have a signed contract.
Jack
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