At Home In The Woods

[clemsonfor]

Very nice. Cast Iron Bell Mainatinence describes how to restore a bell. They mentioned that you can put a coat of WD40 on the underside of the bell once a year to protect it. I'm trying to decide whether to paint the underside or use WD40.
Obed

If you don't paint with rattle can on the underside I would use something beter than WD. I would either use like liquid wrench or pb blaster or diesel, something that will soak into the metal than WD that basically EVAPORATES.

 

[clemsonfor]

It's gutter cleaning time again.

Shortly after climbing up to the top the fully extended ladder, I felt something. I looked down and saw that my little girl was starting to climb up the ladder. We quickly rectified that situation.

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I got to try out my new ladder levelers. I LOVE THEM! These levelers are really easy to adjust. The combination of the levelers at the bottom and the stabilizer/standoff at the top made the ladder very stable. I found myself adjusting the levelers even when on the "level" ground. A 1/2" dip in the ground can make a big difference 24' up the ladder. After using these levelers once, I wouldn't own a tall ladder without them.

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Cleaning the gutters around the big dormer on the back side of the house was not fun. I had to climb down the roof to the dormer and pull the leaves out the gutters with a broom handle. I left 2 feet of leaves in the farthest end of the gutters. It just wasn't worth the risk to try to reach them.

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as much time as you have spent up there have you considered getting those screens you [put on the gutters to keep leaves out? I don't think there that expensive.AS much as you enjoy projects I think you could install them with the wife in a few hours.

 

[clemsonfor]

Now that I have my ladder set up, the only part of cleaning the gutters that really made me nervous was cleaning the gutters on the sides of the large dormer in the back of the house. I had to climb down the step 8/12 pitch roof to get to the gutter. I suppose I could put gutter gards on the gutters on that dormer so I would not have to get up on the steep roof.

View attachment 291612I'm not excited in general about gutter guards. I've seen a lot that just don't work well. I heard lots of gutter guard owners complain about the oak tree fuzzies and other trash that still get into the gutters. The last thing I want to do is to have to remove a gutter covers on a 24' high roofline in order to clean the junk out of the gutter.

so if the tassles get in there you may have to clean them that way every 6 -10 years? But a good rain will wash those tassles down, I don't think they would be an issues. My grandmother had a bout a 4-5k sqft house and she had oaks around it and gaurds, I don't think I remember them being removed since they were in stalled or at least the last 6 years or so she lived there.

 

[PAGUY]

Why not invent a PVC attachment to a leaf blower that can access the gutters from the ground? You could just walk along the side of the house and avoid the ladder climbing altogether.

 

[Obed]

Why not invent a PVC attachment to a leaf blower that can access the gutters from the ground? You could just walk along the side of the house and avoid the ladder climbing altogether.

Something like that would be useful. I would need about a 20 to 25 foot long PVC blower extension to reach the gutters. Will a leaf blower handle an extension that long?
Obed

 

[Obed]

We had 5 turkeys in our back yard. Somehow they survived Thanksgiving.

 

[Rad1956]

Something like that would be useful. I would need about a 20 to 25 foot long PVC blower extension to reach the gutters. Will a leaf blower handle an extension that long?
Obed

Obed:

I have a high side on my house as well -- I climb up on the short side of my house and use the leaf blower from on the roof -- it is much easier and quicker, and I feel safer.

 

[Obed]

Obed:

I have a high side on my house as well -- I climb up on the short side of my house and use the leaf blower from on the roof -- it is much easier and quicker, and I feel safer.

If I could walk on my roof, that's how I would do it. Cleaning my dad's gutters was easy. He has a 4/12 pitch roof. I just got on my hands and knees at the edge of the roof and threw the leaves out of the gutters with my hands. That didn't take long at all.
Obed

 

[Obed]

The temps got down to the mid-20s. In the morning we noticed that our water pressure in the house was low. When we went down to the basement utility room to check things out, we could hear water flowing through the pipes. I went out to the garden and found that our scarecrow sprinkler we use to scare the deer away had frozen and burst. We had forgotten to turn off the water at the garden spigot. Fortunately, we did not bust any pipes. Things could have been much worse.

 

[Obed]

The hydrostatic transmission on my lawn mower didn't sound right so I had to rake leaves by hand at the entrance to our property. I had sworn I would not rake leaves by hand ever again but I did not keep my promise to myself.



Yesterday I added some oil to the lawn mower's transmission and it seemed to do better. I am finally thinking about a new lawnmower. I have really liked this mower but it is about 20 years old. I might get a Kubota again. I would consider a John Deere but I didn't have a good experience with one of the two closest John Deere dealers when I had my tractor maintenanced. The Kubota dealer is much closer than the other John Dealer.

I would like a reliable mower with hydrostatic transmission and enough power to blow leaves. The mower must be able to mow in reverse without a bunch of trouble. Some mowers these days will shut off if you put the mower in reverse while the blade is turning. With all the safety gadgets, one of these days it will be easier to cut the lawn with a hand sling than with a lawnmower. I normally buy used stuff; however, I'm a little tired of mowers that don't work when I need them. At $300 per small engine repair shop visit, you can pay for a new(er) lawnmower pretty quickly.

In general, shopping (for anything) does not excite me. I would much rather cut firewood than shop. In fact, I would almost rather go to the dentist than go shopping, well ... almost.