29 May 2010

Draining the Seattle Rain We Love So Much


Yesterday, we had new gutters installed on our house. The before and after shot doesn't really do justice to the big change. Sure, there is a visible difference between the old gutters, which were sagging, rusting, and leaking at the seams, and the new gutters, which are seamless, straight, and drain at more appropriate places. But, the big difference is going to come over time.

The gutter guys discovered that several of our drains were clogged and all of them had been improperly seamed to the downspouts, allowing a considerable portion of draining water to enter the ground around the house. It'll be nice to have the peace of mind knowing that the rain will now be draining away from our house.

It'll also be nice to fire our gutter cleaning guys. The new gutters are equipped with micro-mesh designed to keep debris (mainly our over-abundance of pine needles) out of the gutters and on its way during the next windy day.

We have a little clean up work to do, including trenching one new downspout and cleaning up the muck from behind the original downspout locations, but the gutters are well on their way to making our lives simpler. After the gutters and two or three pending projects, I hope that we will make our goal of creating a more comfortable climate in our home. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

  1. What a great idea! Let me know how well it works. I'm getting too old to get up to gutters - mine are growing grass as we speak. I am sure I am on the cusp of a new gardening breakthrough. Pat

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