At Home In The Woods

[Pops15]

I suspected the cabinet maker had construction delays in mind when he proposed that pay schedule.

As for leaf guard systems...they all have their faults.
I like Rainflow better than the metal screens. I've used it several times and my customers love it. I installed it on my Mom's house and I'm going to install it on my own house. It's far superior in keeping maple seeds out than metal screens.

Rain Flow - Total Gutter Production

 

[Pops15]

Another suggestion. When you get gutters installed go with the larger or "commercial" size gutters and downspouts. I had them installed on my house and never had an issue. They handle a larger volume of water much easier.

Also if you plan to put underground drain lines in for the downspouts do not use the black plastic flexible tubing. With them small sticks and debris can get caught inside them and they dam up. Go with smooth white PVC type pipe, either schedule 20 or schedule 40, very little chance of stuff getting hung up inside them.

6" as opposed to standard 5" gutters are becoming more popular for residential installations around here.

 

[eepete]

We did the 6" gutters, and have no trees too close to the house, and the only trees semi close are on the east side (winds tend to be from south to west around here). 4" galvanized downspouts. Smooth 4" PVC drains. So no gutter cleaning problems.

Last house was deep "In The Woods", had "standard" extruded plastic covered aluminum gutters. The 3x4 rectangular down spouts were on them, drains were 4" corrugated plastic. Have had to clean drain lines twice by futzing about with a garden hose. Tried various gutter guards like the ones you posted. Still had to clean the gutters each year, but at least it was on my schedule. So if go this route, pay attention to how hard it is to remove the guards. That house had them attached with aluminum sheet metal screw, so it's a pain. We had gum, pine, oaks and hickory trees, so lots of different sizes of debris.

Extruded 4" rectangular gutter is cheapest, 6" half round metal gutter most expensive. So you are back in familiar territory here reference time, money, and perfection. Young pups trade their lack of money for time and energy, old dogs hopefully can throw extra money at it and save the time and energy (and sometimes they just can't do something anymore).

The old house had the plastic coated aluminum facia on the ends of the roof rafters, no horizontal board. So we could not go back and easily change out the cheaper 4" extruded gutters for the 6" ones. The brackets that hold the big gutters are more extensive and can't go into the end of a rafter. If I were doing it all over, I'd make sure there was a horizontal board at the end of the rafters which the facia was attached to, go with the cheap gutters, and plan to change them out sometime in the future and save for it. This would probably be done in 20-25 years when the house needed a new roof.
I would put in the smooth PVC (3" or 4", depending on how much area the root has) now because you won't want to tear up all your lawn and landscaping down the road. Be sure you have 1/4" drop per foot of run so they self-clean.

Hope this makes sense.

Pete

 

[Obed]

Today I worked on putting a drain tile below the spot where the electrical runs will go through the basement wall. You can see the two holes in the basement wall here.

I dug down about a foot below the holes in the wall. Seven feet below this point at the footers there is another drain tile for the basement. I just want to make sure that water won't seep through the holes in the basement so that's why I'm installing another drain tile. The holes are covered by the Bituthene so you cannot see them. I put down some landscaping fabric and added some gravel. My internet search revealed that there are many different methods of installing drain tile. I chose to use this method.

I got this far when the rain stopped me. I capped off the pipe on both ends. On one end I primed and glued the cap. Yes, I use primer on drain pipes because I'm not a professional plumber. On the other end I put on a temporary cap. After the electrical lines are installed, I will fill in the trench so I can get to this area better with my tractor and will extend the drain tile.

 

[Obed]

On a side note any reason you didn't put the utilities in before the foundation? or at least stub them out 2-3 ft from the walls?
My back is hurting from all the hand digging you have had to do!

tom

Tom,
My back is hurting too! I can thank the no longer hired construction manager for all this work I'm having to do. He didn't think ahead and backfilled everywhere. Now I get to "un-backfill". Trust me, I think about your question a lot when I'm out there digging. There are a number of things that just took him a few minutes to do that will take me weeks to undo. I hope there's something I'm supposed to learn from all this that will make me a better person.

Obed

 

[Diamondpilot]

Having trees next to a house is heaven and ****. Your maintenance goes way up on the house.

IMO, gutter guards only work marginally. Now, our slope is pretty shallow on the Washington house, but the guards we have purchased seem to need as much maintenance as going without guards.

Once a dry leaf gets wet, it turns into rubbery paper that will not blow off the roof, generally bllocks then builds up at the roof / gutter/ gutter guard line, and creates more havoc than it resolves.

You just had a great gutter cleaner added to your family. I would put that money for gutter guards into your gutter cleaners college fund, but that is just me.

I could not agree more. I got that job from about 13 on at my folks place. They tried every type of guard built and none worked well. I still had to get up there and clean it out.

At my place now I just wait till its dry and blow them out with the leaf blower before I mow. I have to do this about 3-4 times a year but is a 30 minute job for both my home and pole barn.

Chris

 

[Obed]

I'm starting to think that I might want to avoid using gutter guards. I'm pretty sure I don't want to have to unscrew them in order to clean the gutters. Our roof pitch is 8/12. I have walked on our roof and it feels pretty steep to me. The back side of the house is too tall for me to consider cleaning the gutters while standing on a ladder.

I'm not as brave (or as young) as the guys in this picture. So I'm thinking that when I clean the back gutters, I'll tie myself with a rope to the chimney and lie on my stomach on the roof to clean the gutters. Unscrewing gutter guards sounds painful and dangerous while lying on the roof.

I'm not sure whether or not I like the gutters that have the guards that would cause the water to overflow the gutters during strong rains. The RainFlow product Pops mentions looks interesting.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I'm really in debt to you guys for taking the time to help us build our house.

Obed

 

[Obed]

I suspected the cabinet maker had construction delays in mind when he proposed that pay schedule.

As for leaf guard systems...they all have their faults.
I like Rainflow better than the metal screens. I've used it several times and my customers love it. I installed it on my Mom's house and I'm going to install it on my own house. It's far superior in keeping maple seeds out than metal screens.

Rain Flow - Total Gutter Production

Pops,
Have you seen this product in use on houses with lots of trees near the house?

Thanks,
Obed

 

[CurlyDave]

Obed:

8/12 is a very steep roof pitch.

The roof will be slippery from water, wet leaves and possibly ice. Falling off will ruin your whole day.

Tying yourself to the chimney with a rope sounds like a way to re-enact an old-time hanging. At a minimum get a proper harness to wear.

I have seen and used gutter cleaners that are essentially long extensions for a leaf blower with a U-turn at the far end. You stay on the ground lift the end up into the gutter and blow out the leaves.

Needless to say the disadvantage is that you get a full & complete shower of all the stuff in the gutter coming down on you, but a rain slicker and a logger's hard hat will make it a lot easier to take than a fall from the roof.

Better yet, hire it done. In Grants Pass I can get a guy to clean my gutters for $100. I don't know what his technique is, and I have never watched him. But that is chump change for not having to take the chance of falling off the roof.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So, up until we purchased the house in Washington, I have not lived in, nor owned, a house that had gutters...

As I see it, the point is to move water away from the house (keep the foundation relatively dry) and keep any person walking under dry. That said, I have not seen a lot of gutters that didn't leak or have other issues.

There are some serious architects and engineers, why gutters?