Bummer! The rain gutters aren’t working; they’re plugged; they’re falling off! Now we have to find someone to install a new gutter system. How do we find one? How do we know if they’re any good? The best way to find any contractor is to ask your friends and neighbors who they used. You can also look on the Internet or Yellow Pages. It’s always good to check with the Better Business Bureau.
7 THINGS TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING A RAIN-GUTTER CONTRACTOR:
1. Does the company offer a guarantee, backed by the product’s manufacturer?
2. Can they provide friendly, punctual service?
3. Does the company have a reference list for you to examine?
4. Are the installers certified and professional?
5. Is the company fully insured, including commercial auto, commercial liability, and workman’s compensation?
6. Do they offer a wide variety of specialty products, colors and services?
7. Can they provide financing options?
For a professional installation in the greater Livingston/Bozeman areas, call Gutter Solutions. We offer a wide selection, from standard to high-end gutters and options, and rain barrel systems. We would love to help you plan a system that will work for you!
Rain barrels really do help our environment! It’s one way we can do our part to conserve our natural resources. By installing a rain-barrel system at your home you will:
1) Reduce flooding in your yard or your basement, by collecting the water and using it for watering plants or slowly releasing it and allowing it to sink into the ground.
2) Provide your plants with water they will love! Unlike treated water, which is “softened” with dissolved minerals, rainwater is naturally soft. The water stored in your rain barrel is better than municipal water for washing your car and watering indoor or outdoor plants.
3) Save money and water! Instead of water from the faucet, you can use the water you’ve saved to keep your landscape happy and growing. You’ll also reduce your water and sewage bills!
4) Protect our rivers and streams! Water stored in your rain barrel is water that won’t rush off into our streams. Instead, as you use the stored rainwater around the home and garden, it will absorb slowly into the ground, replenishing groundwater supplies. By decreasing the volume of storm runoff, rain barrels also help moderate stream erosion and the resulting pollution that is impairing our waterways.
Installing & Managing Your Rain Barrel System
• Choose your installation location. Place and level barrel on cinder blocks. Ensure steady footing.
• Cut downspout 18” above barrel or install shorter piece from guttering. Add an automatic diverter box and attach the diverter pipe to the barrel.
• Attach garden hose or spigot to the shut-off valve at the bottom of the barrel. To fill barrel, close valve. Open valve to use rainwater or empty barrel.
• Disconnect the barrel from the downspout during winter.
Rain-Barrel Gardening
Montana rain patterns show regular rainfall events occur during April, May and June, just when vegetable gardens and perennial beds are being established. A wise approach is to water annuals and perennials with rain-barrel water and mulch heavily to retain moisture during the drier months of July and August. Occasional rains in late summer will continue to refill the barrel.
Increasing the Capacity of Rain Barrel Storage
Many Park and Gallatin County residents connect more than one rain barrel together at each downspout. Raising the barrels off the ground by placing them on blocks will ease access to the faucet and provide natural gravity to increase water flow.
Managing Heavy Rains
It is essential to consider the impact of heavy rains on your drainage system. An overfull barrel has the potential to cause erosion around your home. If heavy rains are predicted, attach the overflow hose and aim it away from the foundation of your home.
Managing Mosquito's
Regular use of your rain barrel will prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. The rain barrel may be capped with a fiberglass screen that allows water in, but keeps mosquitoes from getting into the barrel to lay their eggs. Also to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, add a tablespoon of cooking oil to form a sheen on the top of the water.
However, if you are still concerned about mosquitoes breeding in your rain barrel, you can add a whole or a half of a Mosquito Dunk to the water to kill mosquito eggs. Mosquito Dunks can be purchased at most garden supply stores and from www.AquaBarrel.com.
Call Gutter Solutions at (406) 220-0846 for more info.
WARNING: Do not use rain barrels for drinking, cooking or bathing. If your roof is asphalt, you should not collect water for vegetable gardens.
DAVE SKATTUM has 25 years in the construction industry and 10 years with Gutter Solutions. He lives in Pine Creek, MT with his wife, Laurie and son, Jordan.
My brother, Jim, purchased a new gutter system a few years ago - they "looked" great. Then the rain came. He put on his rain coat, went out to examine his FINE, NEW gutter system. All the way around his house water was leaking behind the gutters causing damage to the fascia. He call the next day...no answeres no guarantees!
A guarantee is an important part of buying a product. Risk free buying is smart buying. You want to always have a guarantee with the product you purchase; you never know what might go wrong. Ideally it should be unconditional. There are several reasons why you should always buy a product with a guarantee. Here are a few.
Why you need a guarantee...
* Defects in any product: defective products can often occur despite your buying from a reputable business. This isn't anyone's fault and has to be expected to happen from time to time. This is why it is best to purchase from a business that has a good guarantee that doesn't try to profit from, or wiggle its way out of a free replacement policy.
* Shows the business cares about its customers: a company that includes a good guarantee with its products shows that it cares about its customers. There is nothing worse than having something go wrong only to realize that the business you're dealing with couldn't give a fig if you don't ever come back. As times get a little tougher these unscrupulous organizations begin to show their true colors.
* Buy with confidence: sometimes it's not what you want and the quality of the product is substandard. Delays in a product's delivery will possibly have a domino effect and hold up other work. Business delays can cost you money as well as your valuable time.
BUMMER - The rain gutters aren't working, they're plugged, they're falling off, HECK WE DONT EVEN HAVE RAIN GUTTERS!! Now we have to find someone to help with our gutter system. How do we find one and how do we know if they are any good??
Here are some ideas:
The best way to find any contractor is to ask your friends and neighbors who they use. You can also look on the internet or yellow pages. It's always a good idea to check with the Better Business Bureau.
SEVEN THINGS TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING A RAIN GUTTER CONTRACTOR
1. Does the company offer a guarantee, backed by the product's manufacturer?
2. Can the company provide friendly, punctual service?
3. Does the company have a reference list for you to examine?
4. Are the installers Certified and professional?
5. Is the company fully insured, including commercial auto, commercial liability, and workman's compensation?
6. Do they offer a wide variety of specialty products, colors and services?
7. Can they provide financing options?
A few years ago we installed gutters for a nice lady on the North Hill in Livingston Montana. She had tall, beautiful cottonwood trees all around her house. We talked about installing our Gutter Helmet over her gutters to keep them clean. She was concerned because she wintered in Arizona, didn't care much for ladders and had a sever case of "Yuck-a-Phobia" when it came to cleaning gutters. But, at the time she didnt want to invest in gutter protection.
Early that next spring we got an urgent call to come and look at her "gutter problem". I arrived to find the down spouts had plugged in the fall, causing the gutters to over flow all winter. When she got back home from Arizona, she found eighteen inches of water in her basement. She spent thousands on a major remodel, including mold remediation. Needless to say, Gutter Helmet was installed that next week.
GUTTERS MUST BE KEPT CLEAN
Before writing this blog, I googled "gutter cleaning", a list of gutter cleaning companies, all kinds of gagets for cleaning your gutters (including the spectacular iRobot Looj 125 gutter cleaning Robot) came up. All this things address the symptom, the real problem is that junk gets into the gutter. That is what needs to be stopped!!
Next I googled "gutter protection". Agian, I got 401,000 results, screens, tubes, sponges, hoods, this works, that dosent work....
FINDING THE BEST GUTTER PROTECTION
When Gutter Solutions was looking for a product to keep their customer's gutters flowing free and clear, we decided on four criteria;
1. It had to keep debris from plugging the gutters and down spouts, and keep rain water flowing through the gutter system.
2. It had to last the life of the home.
3. It had to work in South West Montana's harsh climate.
4. It had to look nice
We tried them all. We decided on Gutter Helmet because it meet all of our guidelines and it is backed by a national company, with a life time guarantee.
So, your gutters must be cleaned this spring. Your know what to do!
No Holes, No Leaks
After years of working with gutters and the gutter industry, we became frustrated with the lack of longevity of most gutter systems, and their inability to withstand Montana's extreme weather conditions.
We began to notice that after about 3 years the gutters would begin to sag in the middle, curl on the ends and leak at joints and corners. This was a real frustration for us - we wanted better for our customers!
After careful inspection of these failing gutter systems we found a common culprit - the gutters were expanding and contracting with temperature change and destroying the old fashion solid mounted fastening system and/or tearing apart the joints.
After carefully researching products on the market we finally found our revolutionary, new Snaplock Gutter System. It answered every problem associated with loose or sagging gutters. In 2006, we enthusiastically became Southwest Montana's exclusive Snaplock Gutter Dealer, and we recommend this system to every customer.
We like Snaplock because it is the strongest gutter attachment system in the world, it creates a free-floating gutter attachment system that does not create mold or rot on your fascia or wear and tear on the attachments system, and comes with a life time transferable manufacturer's guarantee!
For more information call Gutter Solutions today at (406)222-0846 or check out our website guttermontana.biz, or snaplockgutters.com.
Are you tired of the ongoing maintenance to keep your gutters clean and clog-free? Installing a leaf guard is the ideal solution-for these reasons:
1) Save Money
When purchasing any high-quality product, initial investment may cause some concern, but Gutter Helmet will pay for itself with the annual savings of time, energy and expense. With gutter guards, there is no need for gutter cleaning, which can be dangerous and unpleasant if you do it yourself, and expensive if you hire a company to do it for you. Gutter screens also add value to your home. The most attractive selling points for homebuyers are often the improvements that reduce maintenance.
2) Eliminate Maintenance
Some gutter protection solutions only stop large debris. Gutter Helmet's patented system keeps water flowing freely while keeping out all kinds of debris that can cause extensive problems-especially if ignored for an extended time. Remember that unmaintained, unprotected gutters will eventually fail. Gutters are expensive. Why let them deteriorate to the point where they need to be replaced?
3) Protect Your Home
Without an adequate gutter-protection system, water will quickly back up and cause leaks. Over time, it will also cause damage to the roof, walls, siding, masonry, cement, and landscaping. Water may also pool around the foundation, leading to basement flooding, bowed walls, and even a cracked foundation!
4) Protect Yourself
Climbing up a ladder to clean a rain gutter is a dangerous proposition! Studies show that falls remain a leading cause of unintentional injuries nationwide, and 43% of fatal falls in the last decade have involved a ladder.
Read on to find out if the GUTTER HELMET solution is right for you!
Mike Moore
Dave Skattum
Josh Skattum