Month: February 2020

Gutters are essential for any commercial property. In most cases, they’re needed for a building to be up to code because stormwater runoff can be so damaging to the property as well as those surrounding it, that regulations need to be followed that dictate the size of the gutters and how far they direct the water away from the property and those around it. Often, commercial properties consist of…

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This post first appeared on https://gutterpros.com/

When the snow begins to fall in our little corner of Oklahoma, most conscientious homeowners have a plan of attack to ward off the worst of the weather. We shovel the driveway. We salt our walkways. We keep a pile of wood warm and dry so we can build a nice, cozy fire. But what’s your plan of attack for your gutters? What about your pipes?

Unfortunately, if you’re not taking the proper precautions, you could be at risk for the formation of ice dams. Once the worst of the snow has hit your home and begun to melt, it will flow naturally into your home’s gutters. If your gutters are not draining correctly, however, this snowmelt could result in some standing water along your gutters. As the water slowly flows out of your drain, it can freeze and thaw several times. This process of thawing and re-freezing can cause thick blockages known as ice dams.

Here are some facts you may not know about ice dam formation in gutters and pipes in Oklahoma City, OK.

Ice dams can cause real damage

The formation of ice dams can lead to overflowing or damaged gutters. Without professional attention, they can result in severe damage to your roof, deck, yard or gutter system.

They can form in clean gutters

You may think that you’re not at risk of an ice dam if you are in the habit of regularly cleaning your gutters, but you’d be wrong. Though they’re more likely to appear in poorly-maintained gutters, an ice dam can form even in perfectly clean gutters, as well.

It doesn’t take a lot of snow

It may not come as any surprise that an ice dam is more likely to form when there is a significant snowfall. Still, you may not be aware of how little snow it takes to cause ice buildup in your gutters. In fact, any amount of freezing precipitation could create an ice dam.

Gutters aren’t the only part of your home at risk

It’s important to understand that ice dam formation isn’t relegated to just your gutters. Ice dam formation in gutters and pipes in Oklahoma City, OK is a very real thing. When the temperature is regularly fluctuating between freezing and not, ice blockages can form in your pipes, as well.

Ice dams can form on the frozen edge of the roof of a home without gutters, too, so it’s important to stay vigilant.

We have your gutter solution

If you need help identifying and rectifying ice dam formation in gutters and pipes in Oklahoma City, OK, there’s only one team you can count on: the pros at L & S Seamless Guttering. For over 35 years, we’ve established ourselves as the area’s most reliable gutter contractors.

At L & S Seamless Guttering, we take immense pride in offering a massive list of gutter services, including the fabrication of gutters, patio covers, carports, surface drains and more! Commercial or residential, we can meet your needs and then some. For honest service at a competitive price, give us a call and schedule your free estimate.

This post first appeared on https://lsseamlessgutter.com/

 

Hearing professional advice that it’s time to replace the roof is a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Not only is it an expensive home improvement task, but it’s also often a drawn-out process that involves working with insurance companies, estimators, contractors, and builders.

Every year, homeowners choose to go through the intense, costly process of replacing a roof unnecessarily. These individuals spend thousands of dollars and waste a significant amount of their time, as well.

Instead, all the roof needed was a thorough cleaning for a fraction of the cost and minimal effort.

If a roof is missing shingles (or has lasted more than 25 years), it is likely time for a full replacement. If the color is darker than it should be, or there are black streaks across the surface, then perhaps, all you need is a thorough roof cleaning for the structure to return to perfect function and appearance.

Propel Pressure Cleaning is here to ensure that you don’t replace your roof when it isn’t genuinely warranted. Keep reading for four reasons to clean your roof instead of replacing it.

1. Increase Your Roof’s Longevity

Routinely cleaning your roof is crucial in extending its lifespan. It helps to prevent damage from going unnoticed, and counters wear and tear.

Keeping your roof clean and clear saves plenty of money in the long-term. You’ll be able to wait longer before replacing the structure, and you won’t have to spend as much on repairs in between, either. The roof will continue to add to your home’s curb appeal instead of detracting from it as it protects you from the elements.

2. Roof Warranty

Many homeowner warranties require regular roof cleaning to keep your policy valid.

If you don’t clean your roof annually, there’s a significant risk that your insurance won’t cover any of the replacement costs when it is most needed.

Keeping up with the preventative maintenance on your home is essential, even if you have a multi-year warranty. When you have our team standing by ready to help, cleaning your roof is one of the easiest tasks to complete.

3. Increased Curb Appeal

It’s important to stay on top of your home’s curb appeal. The way your home looks from the street isn’t only going to affect you when you have plans to sell the property, it’s a cost-saving matter, too.

Cleaning your roof will give the entire home a new and polished look without having to change any of the design, decorating, or landscaping elements, for example.

4. Cheaper Than a Roof Replacement

If you keep up with cleaning and maintaining your roof, you will continue to reap the benefits of a like-new roof for much longer. There is no reason to prematurely re-roof when you can have all the benefits of a new roof at a fraction of the cost.

Call Us Today

Propel Pressure Cleaning are the roof cleaning experts in Warner Robins, GA. We do what it takes to keep your roof looking fabulous and lasting longer.

Call us today for a free estimate on roof cleaning or replacement.

The post 4 Reasons to Clean Your Roof Instead of Replacing It in Warner Robins GA appeared first on Propel Pressure Cleaning.

You’ve known for some time now that those old, sagging gutters of yours have got to go. They’re an eyesore and they do nothing for your home’s curb appeal. Making the decision to replace them is the first step. Next, you weigh your options: aluminum? Vinyl? Or do you go all out and invest in beautiful copper? No matter what material you choose for your gutter replacement, new gutters will protect…

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This post first appeared on https://gutterpros.com/

Let’s face it, ice isn’t exactly a good thing for your home. We all know that burst pipes can cost a family a tremendous amount of money, which is why so many emphasize the fact that you should keep your pipes warm during the winter. However, this isn’t the only way that ice can adversely affect your home. A lot of snow, for example, can damage your roof considerably. 

You should also be aware that ice in your gutters can cause serious problems, beyond the normal issues that arise with water damage. Every family should understand that gutters are also an important area of the home to protect. Ice can not only damage your home, but can also damage surrounding power lines as well. Here’s how you can take steps to make sure that your home and family are safe from ice and water damage.

What Can Happen?

We often don’t think about situations involving safety until it’s too late. For example, many residents who are used to certain weather patterns in a specific region might ignore tornado or hurricane warnings. Others might simply be unaware of what can happen to your house if you leave it susceptible to the elements.

Did you know that branches might actually pose a safety hazard? If a branch freezes and falls on your house, you might regret not having taken a look at the branches around your house and trimming them. 

An ice dam can also cause serious water damage and lead to additional water leaks in your home. It might even cause a gutter to fall off completely, believe it or not. That’s one of the reasons why you want to consider a strong gutter guard to keep your home safe through the winter.

No one wants to imagine a scenario where a storm knocks out electricity. But let’s face it, this can happen. In this situation, you should understand that a generator is extremely useful. If the storm leads to criminals attempting to break into homes, a generator can also help keep your fire alarms and burglar alarms on as well.

Why Choose K-Guard?

It can be tough to find which products are actually going to be useful and which companies really believe in their product. Anyone can spend time reading consumer reviews or trying to get tips from friends and family, but why can you actually trust K-Guard for your gutter needs? There are multiple reasons why K-Guard is the best choice.

First and foremost, K-Guard offers a lifetime warranty. It simply doesn’t get better than that in terms of saving time and money. If you want to keep your gutters clean and deal with ONE company that is willing to offer you a lifetime warranty, why wouldn’t you consider it? It should be noted that the lifetime warranty is offered through individual dealers, and you should contact your local dealer for more information.

Secondly, the patented K-Guard system offers unique strength and durability that the competition simply can’t match. The all-weather polymer helps K-Guard stand up to pretty much any weather conditions imaginable. In fact, you might end up using the same gutter system for over a decade with no problem! This kind of strength is essential for those who are worried about the effects of ice on their home. 

The K-Guard system also understands that homes want to retain a modern aesthetic, which is why the rounded curves of the system are much more appealing than other gutter systems out there. Why not choose a custom color and add something helpful to your home that also improves its appearance?

The K-Guard system is also able to drain more water than smaller systems, which makes it a more efficient system to use. This also means that larger debris can be flushed/filtered out, while it might remain if you use competing gutter systems.

Overall, we have established that K-Guard systems have the following advantages:

1. Lifetime warranty
2. Stronger and more durable than the competition
3. Won’t take away from your home’s appearance (likely adds to it)
4. More efficient than the competition

Make The Smart Choice

There are many companies that will claim that their gutter system will keep your family safe, but are they confident enough to offer a lifetime warranty? Even if the gutter system is efficient, will it change the way that your house looks, which could potentially affect its resale value? Icicles don’t exactly keep your home looking the best that it could be.

Weather might not be predictable, but K-Guard is the kind of strong and reliable gutter system where you can have a sense of mind about your home, no matter what the weather. Consider contacting K-Guard for more information and to keep your gutters safe from ice as soon as possible. If you are interested in a trusted company with a strong and safe product for your home, feel free to contact us today at (614) 568-7777 for the best gutter system for your family.

This post first appeared on https://www.kguard.com

What are Ice Dams?

Ice dams are blockages of ice that are formed in your gutters after a snowfall. During and after a snowfall, the snow on the roof of your home can be warmed two ways leading directly to snowmelt. One way is through the sun’s rays which are refracted through the ice crystals of the snowflakes that have collected on your home’s roof creating warmth and melting the snow. The other way is through the heat from the inside of your home escaping through the attic and warming your roof decking, also leading to snowmelt. When this snowmelt reaches your home’s cold gutters it can freeze into ice. This process of thawing and refreezing creates ice dams in your gutter system. These dams can cause water to back up under the shingles of your roof or behind the fascia boards where it can lead to damage to the roof decking, wall sheathing or the ceilings and walls of your attic.

While this process is taking place, most of the damage that ice dams can cause does not occur or will not be seen until several days after the storm when the snowmelt has thawed and refrozen several times. Here are 6 facts you should know about the damage these ice dams can do to the integrity of your gutter system and your home.

6 Damaging Facts About Ice Dams

There are many things to keep in mind when protecting your home from ice dams and their damage.

 

1. Ice dams can happen even when there is little to no snow on your roof. Ice dams are less about if or how much snow has fallen. It is really an issue of ice and freezing temperatures.

 

2. It doesn’t take much actual moisture to form an ice dam. While heavy snowfalls can create ice dams more quickly, any amount of snow or freezing precipitation can cause damaging ice dams.

 

3. Gutters are not the only place where ice dams form. Blocked or clogged gutters can fill with ice and provide the foundation for an ice dam. But ice dams can form on a cold edge of a roof on a home without gutters. Additionally, ice dams can occur even when your gutters are perfectly clean, so make sure to watch out for ice dams and contact a professional even if you’ve recently had your gutters serviced.

 

4. Gutters can be damaged by ice, even without the formation of ice dams. Ice is heavy. A blocked gutter filled with 50 pounds of ice will be damaged, with or without the formation of an ice dam. Make sure to remove any ice deposits in your gutter before any damage can be caused.

 

 

5. Ice dams are not always visible from the ground. Often, ice dams are easily identifiable by the icicles hanging from your gutter. They may also form in harder-to-see areas such as above skylights or in roof pan areas that are out of sight.

 

6. Ice dams can cause damage even when they are very small and thin. The slope of your roof matters here: a steep roof will generally be ok with a thin ice dam, while a lower-pitched roof can incur significant damage from even a 1-inch thin ice dam.

3 Ways to Prevent Ice Dam Damage

While there are clearly many ways that ice dams can damage your home there are also a few ways to prevent ice dams from forming:

 

1. Perform regular maintenance on your heating system. By keeping the attic and roof of your home cool you can minimize the amount of snowmelt that occurs. Make sure to have your heating system checked for any weak points that might lead to unintentionally warming your attic.

 

2. Keep up with the health of your attic. Make sure that your attic floor is properly insulated and that your attic itself is well ventilated in order to maintain uniform roof temperature. Check to make sure your ceiling is correctly sealed and that there are no leaks of hot air into the attic.

 

3. Protect your roof by installing water and ice shield under the shingles at the edges of your roof, at the chimney and skylights and around any vents. You can also have heating coils installed at the edge of your roof to keep any snow from refreezing.

Ice Dam Prevention and Maintenance

If you are worried about possible ice dam formation on your home, call the professionals at Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning to have your gutters and roof checked for any possible issues.

 

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This post first appeared on https://nedstevens.com

As winter comes to an end, the weather gets a little warmer, the days get a little longer, our clothes get a little lighter, and we start to think about spring cleaning our homes. Typical spring cleaning checklists include cleaning out the kitchen of all that leftover holiday candy, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and dusting the blinds to let in that spring sunshine. Just as it is important to clean the inside of the house, it is just as important to make sure the outside of the house gets some meticulous TLC. Read on to discover what is on this year’s pre-spring home maintenance checklist to make sure your home is as clean and organized on the outside as it is on the inside.

Your Pre-Spring Home Maintenance Plan

Just before spring is the perfect time of year to reseal any exterior woodwork. Decks, railings, fences, and any other outdoor structures made of wood benefit from staining or resealing every year or every other year. If done properly and regularly, resealing the woodwork around the outside of your home will help keep it longer and remain in better condition.

This is also a great time of year to check for signs of termites and other pests. Termites, small winged insects that can invade your home and chew through the wood, flooring and even wallpaper of your home undetected, tend to “swarm” in the spring as the ground warms up. If your home has sustained any damage over the winter due to rain or snow, your home might be susceptible to a termite invasion. Make sure to check your home for any structural damage to mitigate any unwanted termite intrusion.

That sliver of time just as winter is ending and before spring begins is also the perfect time to inspect your roof. You don’t need to climb a ladder for this one. Just visually inspect your roof for any signs of damage such as missing shingles, metal pipes that may be missing or damaged or anything else that might look out of place. Making sure to protect the integrity of your roof is vitally important before moving into the rainier spring season.

Spring Cleaning Your Home’s Gutter System

One of the most important things you should do for your home before spring really gets underway is to clean your gutters and downspouts. A clogged, damaged or blocked gutter system can not properly carry drainage away from the home effectively and can lead to flooding and other possible structural damage.

Year-Round Gutter Service

If the process of checking your home for gutter damage seems overwhelming or too dangerous, don’t hesitate to call Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaners. Our team of professionals will gladly come to your house to inspect your gutters and to make sure they run smoothly, cleanly and without any leaks. Our certified gutter experts know exactly what post-winter damage to look for and just what care is necessary to make sure your home will be prepared for whatever spring might throw your way.

Get $25 Off Your First Gutter Cleaning!

This post first appeared on https://nedstevens.com

When performing routine gutter cleaning – which is best done in the fall – it’s important to also take an up-close-and-personal look at your gutters and take stock of their condition. Although gutters are an unimportant afterthought to many homeowners, they play an essential role in protecting your house from devastating water damage. This is why it’s so important to ensure that your gutters are leak-free and in good repair at all times. 

How Long Do Gutter Systems Last?

While there are a number of factors that must be taken into consideration when estimating the overall lifespan of a home gutter system, such as local weather conditions and the amount of maintenance it receives, the National Association of Home Builders estimates the average life of galvanized steel and aluminum gutters at 20 years. Copper gutters, meanwhile, can be expected to last up to 50 years.

Signs That Indicate It’s Time to Replace Your Gutters

No matter what type of gutter system you choose, if you don’t have home gutter guards it will be necessary to clean out your gutters at least twice a year to ensure they remain in proper working condition. In addition to keeping the gutters clear of clogs, gutter cleaning also allows you to identify problem areas before they turn into bigger issues. As you clean, keep an eye out for the following signs that your gutters need to be replaced.

• The gutters are bent, dented or have cracks or holes that can’t be repaired
• The gutters show signs of rust
• The gutters are buckling, sagging or pulling away from the house
• Seamed gutters are starting to come apart at the seams or have become loose
• Water leaks into your basement after a heavy rain
• You notice peeling paint or rust stains around your home
• The wood on the soffit and fascia is rotting
• The landscape underneath the gutters shows signs of erosion

While it’s sometimes possible to perform gutter repairs to reattach gutters that are separating from the house or adjust gutters that are sagging, it’s necessary to completely replace downspouts and gutters that have deteriorated to the point that they’re beyond reasonable repair.

Let’s Talk About Your Gutter Needs

For more information about the top gutter systems as well as the best gutter guard systems for your home, get in touch with Gutter Helmet by calling (800) 824-3772. We can connect you with a local dealer who can also provide you with a free estimate on the installation of a Gutter Helmet gutter protection system. This is definitely something you’ll want to take advantage of, since investing in Gutter Helmet is the best way to extend the life of your rain gutter system!

 

The post Beyond Cleaning: Is It Time to Replace Your Gutters? appeared first on Gutter Helmet.

Spring will be there before you know it and while the cold temperatures still have you cooped up by a cozy fire is the perfect time to make a game plan for all those exterior projects you to tackle this year. With some planning and some springtime energy, you can get them completed in time to have some lazy summer days. If you’re thinking of changing things up and making design changes to your…

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This post first appeared on https://gutterpros.com/

Do Your Gutters Need to be Pre-Spring Cleaned?

Every year when spring rolls around we are reminded of all the areas in and around our homes that could use a bit of sprucing up, if not outright spring cleaning. There are some areas of your house that can benefit from sprucing up even before spring arrives. On top of all the outdoor maintenance we do for our homes, like beginning to garden and cleaning up the yard, making sure that a home’s gutter system is in top working order should be a top priority for a pre-spring spruce up!

Gutter Pre-Spring Cleaning Checklist

Winter can be very hard on your home’s gutter system. Hopefully, there were no damaging snow or winter storms that necessitated any serious repairs. But even without the presence of any damage to your system, winter can cause issues to your gutters and roof. Even if you cleaned your gutters or even had your gutters professionally cleaned, early spring is an important time to have them checked again. Here are a few of the things to check for in and around your gutters before spring arrives to make sure that your home is fully prepared.

1. Examine your gutter system for any minor damage such as cracks or leaks in the seals. Early spring is the perfect time to make sure that no damage was done to seals or fasteners by ice or heavy wind gusts.

 

2. Check to make sure that water flows freely through the gutters and make note of any obstructions such as nests and clumps of mud.

 

3. Clean any sticks, leaves, mud or debris from your gutters. Leaves, sticks, and other falling debris from windy storms can collect in the gutter systems during the winter months. Make sure these are cleared away prior to the spring storms that so often accompany this season.

 

4. Check for any fascia board damage. The fascia board is the material mounted to your home where the roof meets the outer walls of your home. Examine your fascia and gutter system for any sagging or bowing which might indicate that your home’s fascia is damaged. Another tell-tale sign of fascia damage is finding spikes that have fallen out of place or have become loose. See if any repairs are necessary and call a professional to plan the next steps.

 

5. Check the trees surrounding your home.. Winter storms can cause damage to neighboring trees when heavy snow or ice accumulation weighs limbs down causing bending, bowing or breakage. Check to make sure that there are no tree limbs touching your roof or gutter system. Touching limbs or even just tree limbs that are too close to the gutters can cause damage if they break or are blown into the gutter system by a windy spring storm.

Pre-Spring Gutter Cleaning for Better Home Health

Whether you have endured a particularly tough winter or a mild one, a well-functioning gutter system is integral to protecting your home’s health. Make sure your gutters are in top shape by taking care of any issues before spring arrives. Spruce up your home by calling Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning. Our professionals will inspect every aspect of your gutter system from the fixtures to the fascia to the gutters to the seals. We will clean what’s left of the winter and prepare your house for whatever spring might throw your way.

Get $25 Off Your First Gutter Cleaning!

This post first appeared on https://nedstevens.com