Friday, June 13th, 2008
As I am sure I have mentioned numerous times, we needed to replace the doors downstairs in the basement. There was some rot at the bottom of the framing. Just this morning, I realized why. Remember that big long post (directly below) about rain gutters? Well, it now all makes sense.
When it rains, the back gutter overflows. The water falls, hits the ground and splashes. Guess where the water hits. That’s right, the bottom of the basement door. Good thing I am working of the gutter project. These new doors are vinyl and the exposed framing is inside the house, so that should help things.
I had Lowe’s do the install. Actually, it was a contractor that works with Lowe’s. I was a little nervous about the whole thing because I really didn’t know how good a Lowe’s contractor could really be. I have zero experience with them. It ends up that this guy did a better job than I ever expected.
This is the old door. I removed the door knob and all the other goodies I put on it, like the automatic closer. These were French doors. I don’t really like French doors because they are a bit more difficult to deal with. There were no screens on these and I kept thinking they were going to open by themselves. I really like the sliding glass door we had installed.
This is the rot at the bottom of the door. This and the fact that one of the outer panes of glass was broken prompted the replacement.
These are some photos of the installation. A nice guy who immigrated from Poland about 20 years ago did it. We talked about Communism and Socialism and all that stuff. It was pretty fun. We talked about the ups and downs of different types of government. He said he really loves this county and there is no other like it anywhere. See, I even found a little first hand education in the process.
When you make an appointment to have a Lowe’s contractor come out to measure the job, they also take note of any extra work that needs to be done. Since this door is a few inches shy of the previous door, there was some work that needed to be done. When Lowe’s calls you the next day to give you the price on the job, they give the price for the materials, the standard installation and any extra work. In this case, the extra work cost over $500. That was more than the installation price.
When he was here, he kept telling me that he was going to make it look nice. After I got the price, I was wondering what in the world could be costing an extra $500. After he finished up, it appears that he did all the trim on the inside. He did all the caulking and waterproofing too. This stuff, plus the reframing of everything was the cause of the extra money. He even got rid of all the junk. I was pretty impressed.
Overall, the installation was a bit pricey (probably double of what it should’ve been), but it is a complete job. All I need to do it paint up the trim on the inside. I would definitely use the service Lowe’s offers again and probably ask for this installer.
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Thursday, June 12th, 2008
If you have ever gone through the agonizing process of dealing with gutters, you would certainly know that it’s…well, agonizing.
Here’s one for you. Have you ever realized that every single gutter cover company claims they are the best? It actually gets comical after a while. They all seem to have the “latest patented technology” and all have 100% effectiveness. Wait…some of them go the honest route. They tell you that no gutter cover is 100% effective. They say that you will still have to climb up that ladder at least a few times a year.
Well, what is someone supposed to do when they have to maintain gutters that are about 40′ high? There ain’t no way this old man is getting up there.
It’s the same old story. These are the things I deal with when I move to a new house. I guess it’s only been twice now, just try to ignore that. Each time, I go around and figure out what needs to be done. I just do it. I don’t wait. The longer I wait, the more something rots or gets clogged or prices go up. Plus, I like doing these things. I have a certain affinity for “systems.” I like to watch things work. Who else takes pictures of gutter cover installations?
Here is my situation. We have about 136′ of gutter. They are all clogged with oak leaves. There are no pine needles. When it rains hard, the gutters fill up and overflow. This makes my face turn red. There are two reasons why I don’t pull out the big 40′ ladder and clean them out right then and there…one being I don’t have that 40′ ladder and two being I don’t like the feeling of lightening running through my body.
The whole reason for gutters is to stop the rain from pouring down and the water sitting against the house foundation. This keeps the basement dryer. Gutters are very good, but we, as a species, have yet to perfect a cover that stops debris from filling them up and stopping their functionality. You would be amazed at how few leaves to takes to clog a gutter.
You are lucky I didn’t have this blog when we moved into the other house. I went through this whole fiasco then. I would’ve dragged you through it with me. The difference there was the highest gutter was about 14′. That was nothing. If I tried to climb a ladder to reach parts of the gutters here, I probably would get “shaky leg.” If you have ever climbed something high, you know what I am talking about. I remember one time I was at the very top of a 100′ oak tree and my leg started to shake. I guess that’s the body’s way of telling you to get down.
Since I am not about to do the gutter thing here, I decided to call some professionals. I had a gutter cleaning company come over yesterday and they gave me a price of $125 to clean them. That was fair, but the problem is that the cleaning really doesn’t solve the problem. They would have to come at least twice a year. I decided to try to solve the problem. Later on, I called another gutter company, this time, one that installed gutter covers.
Back at the other house, I installed “Leaf Relief” gutter covers that worked very well. I was, and still am, very happy with them. I put them on when we first moved in and never had to clean them out again. I checked each year and they were spotless. Because of my experience with them, I really want them on this house.
I spoke with the other company on the phone. He gave me a price of $7.50 a foot to clean and install the Leaf Relief gutter covers. That wasn’t a horrible price, but about twice as much as the actual gutter costs to install. Weird, isn’t it? I can tell you from experience, gutter covers are really easy to put on and there really isn’t much material to them at all. Why they cost that much to install is beyond me. At that price, this job would be costing at least $1,020. I would pay it if I had to, but I am really trying to find another way.
Since I was making a trip to Home Depot today anyway, I thought of a great idea. Why not buy some gutter covers from the Depot and install them where I can reach? If I do that, I can at least knock a couple of bucks off the job.
When I got there, I looked through the gutter covers and one type stuck out. It was the Amerimax Home Products 4 Ft. White Solid Gutter Cover. These were about $1 per foot and seemed to remind me of a few other big name brands. I thought to myself, “Heck man, what the freak, let’s go for it.” I bought 44′ worth.
There are two spots I can reach on this house…one in the back, over the porch and the other the front of the garage. If I could install the 44′ worth, I would be saving $330. Not bad.
I gotta tell ya, I really like installing gutter covers. Seriously. I cleaned the gutters out and slid these covers up, under the shingles. Then, I clipped the fronts around the lip of the gutter. They were secure after that. I went one step further and screwed two self tapping screws in the front edge of each cover, just to be sure. The screws are rust proof…yeah, that would be a mess.
After I installed them, I got the garden hose out and sprayed the roof. I watched the water slide around the nose of the cover and enter the gutter. What a great feeling it is to hear the water running down the downspout. The cool part is watching the water “cling” to the gutter as it goes around the bend.
While the first (and cheaper) guy was here, I asked him if he could install the covers if I got them. He agreed, for a price. I am sure I can negotiate a decent price with him to install the rest of the covers. I am pretty sure that he got the impression I am not the type of person that has a gutter cleaning company come over twice a year. As I said, I like to “fix” the problem.
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