A well-functioning guttering system is essential for protecting a home against water leaks and foundation problems. However, many homeowners tend to make mistakes that adversely affect the efficiency of their guttering. Here are eight common errors – four of which occur during installation and four which homeowners make while maintaining their guttering.
It’s a sad reality that property crimes — robberies, home burglaries, and business break-ins — tend to increase during poor economic times. This trend may also manifest itself in other ways, like thefts of raw materials, scrap metal, and other items which can be sold or redeemed for cash.
When people think of gutter cleaning or replacement, they often view it in terms of how much money it will cost them to do it. But they don’t realize the potential cost savings that well-maintained gutters provide for a homeowner. Here are six examples of how gutters actually save you money.
We all expect a certain amount of wear and tear to plague our home. If finances are an issue, then addressing many of these problems can be put off for a while. But there are certain trouble signs that shouldn’t be ignored if you want to avoid a major (and costly) disaster in the future. Here are eight of those home problems:
The 2012 edition of the Pittsburgh PA Home and Garden Show was record breaking in terms of attendance. Show patrons came from all over during the two weeks to check out the latest and greatest from the home improvement sector, a Princess Diana collection, and a chance to win $50,000 in a home-makeover contest.
Baltimore, MD — March 13, 2012 – Americans anticipating tax refunds this year are more likely than in years past to invest their refund check into home improvements. Because the U.S. housing market is still in early recovery mode, many homeowners want to make improvements to their homes for the long term, both to improve their own enjoyment of their home, and to give them an edge in selling once the housing market picks up again.
If you did not have a chance to make it out to the Dulles Expo Center last week, you missed a great home and garden show put on by our good friends at Marketplace Events. The show got started on Friday, February 24th and the dream gardens were a big hit and our Gutter Helmet booth with 3 running water displays and two televisions playing our consumer video on a loop.
Many homeowners face a conundrum when it comes to gutter maintenance. On the one hand, they recognize the importance of keeping their gutters clean. They know that allowing precipitation runoff to flow through their gutters freely will prevent water from pooling around their home and damaging their foundation.
The gutters that encircle your home’s roofline are great for collecting runoff water and preventing it from seeping into the ground next to your home’s foundation. But they won’t do you any good if the water is not successfully directed out of your downspouts and away from your home.
This past Sunday concluded our participation as an exhibitor at the 2 week long Philadelphia, PA Home Show, organized by Marketplace events. Our Gutter Helmet booth location was excellent. We spoke & met with a lot of prospective customers about the importance of gutter protection for their home rain gutter systems.
Homeowners want to keep their rooftop water runoff flowing smoothly all year round. But with so many things that can go wrong, how can your ordinary Joe keep up with maintaining his gutters?
It’s almost winter, and homeowners in snowy climates know what that means: ice dams. Ice dams are, of course, chunks of ice that form on your roof and trap snow melt. The melt freezes, then melts, then freezes, then melts, wrecking your roof, straining your gutters, and generally making the winter as miserable as possible. Fortunately, you don’t have to put up with it, and you can do more to stop it than just shoveling out your downspout and making sure it’s clear. Here are three great ways to ensure the melt goes off your roof and stays off.
No, you’re not seeing the classic gag that people pull off every April Fools’ Day. Nor are you looking at a design test for the common Christmas decoration of Santa hanging off a gutter: click this link to see two grown men doing pull-ups on a gutter system they’ve just installed. It’s actually a demonstration of how much weight a gutter can take, and it’s pretty impressive on its own. But it’s also an illustration of why testing is important … and how your gutter is only as good as the way it’s installed. Read more
Sectional versus seamless: it’s an ongoing argument. But there is one fact about seamless that you can’t dispute: unless you plan on buying a $20,000 machine and going into the gutter installation business, you’ll need to hire a contractor to install them, and that means seamless gutters cost more. But is that cost really worth it?
Americans want to do whatever they can to preserve the appearance and structural integrity of their houses. One way to do this is by ensuring that the home’s gutters are in perfect working order and clear of debris so that rainwater can flow smoothly away from the residence.
This week we received a negative post via our Facebook page with the first sentence indicating Gutter Helmet is a ripoff! As I must admit, I practically choked on my coffee when I saw the feedback for the first time Monday morning. Nonetheless, like every review that requires action we responded immediately and reached the customer offline to discuss her concerns and eventually came to a solution.
For over 30 plus years, we have seen many competitor products come and go in our market offering a host of different products that aren’t what we would consider a permanent solution for clogged gutters but more less a temporary/cheaper solution for homeowners to choose from. One of the most important aspects to look at when reviewing a gutter protection system for your homes rain gutters, in addition to the guarantee that a company provides, is the bracket that supports and reinforces the overall protection system including your existing gutter system. A support system should ultimately do three things:
Gutter Helmet Systems announces the expansion of their gutter protection business into the northern New Jersey and Philadelphia markets. Gutter Helmet Systems installs and services specialized gutter cover products manufactured by Southeastern Metals Company, a Gibraltar Industries Company. Gutter Helmet’s gutter protection products protect a home’s gutter system from leaves and debris while allowing for proper water management. The company also offers HelmetHeat, a self-regulating cable that is hidden within a Gutter Helmet panel, melting snow and ice from the eaves in order to help prevent leaks and damage caused by frozen gutters and ice dams.
If you’re thinking about hanging new gutters yourself, be careful. There are plenty of mistakes to be made. Improperly installed gutters can damage your house or even put your safety at risk in the wrong situation. Here are the five most common gutter mistakes, and how to avoid them:
This months Gutter Helmet showcase home is located outside Baltimore, MD. Our certified Gutter Helmet installers installed approximately 500 feet of standard 12 inch bronze Gutter Helmet and 18 inch panels on this beautiful home with 5k style gutters (half round gutters around front porch of home).
For the homeowner, figuring out what to install in their gutter system can be confusing at best. A downspout is obviously important, since you don’t want your gutters to overflow, but where should you install it? Where should the water go? What size should you use? Fortunately, once you know the basic facts, it’s easy to figure out. All you need is some patience and a calculator.
Hello everyone. Hope everyone in the Northeast is enjoying this burst of mild temperatures that will hopefully last until Spring. The furry little guy a couple weeks back may be right after all this year. To set the table, throughout 2011 we will be showcasing some jobs & homes in which we installed Gutter Helmet. The range of jobs showcased will give our readers an idea of how Gutter Helmet was installed on different style homes and roofs in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia. No two homes, roofs, gutters are created the same, therefore, in terms of installing gutter helmet gutter panels over existing rain gutters can sometimes present a challenge to our professional installers.
The Northeast has received a record setting amount of snow this Winter. With every passing week, it seems we have a chance of a major winter weather event. Roofs and rain gutters in the Northeast are taking a pounding this season. The golf season for many including myself seems so far away at this point.
The chilly weather has finally arrived in the Northeast…Burrr! The cold winter is a stark reminder to homeowners in the Northeast about last winters 80 inches of snow! I hope that most if not all have addressed cleaning out gutters and downspouts now that all the leaves have dropped . If you have chosen not to clean your gutters, you still have time to schedule a cleaning service to come out to clear everything including the valleys on your roof before the seasons first heavy snowfall.
Take a minute after you read this post to go to the upstairs of your home and peak out a bedroom window at your gutters. Yuck, right, all that debris & leaves? Yes, it’s that time of year again where you need to start searching in Google and Yellow Pages for a gutter cleaning service to come out and clear your gutters from leaves, debris, twigs, etc.
Last winter the Mid-Atlantic region was hit by a series of monster snow storms known as “Snowmageddon.” The storms dumped two to four feet of snow on much of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, left hundreds of thousand of residents without electricity, and caused extensive property damage. One of the most dramatic effects of the extreme weather was the series of homes left with gutters dangling from their eaves. The ripped-off gutter syndrome was the result of ice build-up and gigantic icicles that dripped from gutters around the Mid-Atlantic region.
Gutter Helmet Systems announces the launch of “Helmet Heat,” a new product used in conjunction with the Gutter Helmet protection system to prevent dangerous icicles, ice dams, and snow from accumulating in gutters. By warming the eaves enough to melt snow and ice, Helmet Heat can help eliminate ice damage, slippery steps, hazardous walkways and many other serious safety hazards caused by snow and ice. Helmet Heat also removes the necessity of climbing onto the roof to clear icicles from the eaves, a common cause of wintertime falls and injuries. Read more
In a time when everyone is watching their pennies and trying to spend wisely, is it worth investing in a gutter guard protection system? Will the value of the protection system and aesthetic value outweigh the upfront cost? In this article, we explore common problems prevented with a gutter guard protection system to help you determine for yourself, if you should consider the investment. To understand the value, let’s first look at the value of gutters themselves. Gutters capture rain and snow melt and direct it away from your home. Without gutters, water would run down the façade of your home and pool up around your foundation. Over time, the water will corrode your homes walls and foundation, causing costly structural damage, water in your basement, and landscape erosion. Gutters are critical to protecting your home.
The end of summer means different things to different people. Back to school. The start of football season. The start of foliage season. If you are homeowner, it also means it’s time to start routinely cleaning out your gutters. Pine needles, dead leaves, acorns and twigs are just some of the many forms of debris that can gather in your gutters over the course of the summer. This build up can prevent water from properly draining down your gutters downspouts. Keeping your gutters clean and free from debris is important all year, but especially as fall rolls around and the buildup of debris is hastened by dying tree branches. Read more
