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How To Fix / Repair Your House

How To Clean Your Homes Gutter System
August 28, 2007 on 4:21 am | In How To / Repair Your House |
Need to clean your gutters? Yes, you do! When I look at houses and find clogged or dirty gutters it tells me that there will be more water damage possible along the way. The gutter system on a house is a very important way of getting the water away from your house. Water is a large factor in most damage seen in houses. Water damage from the roof line all the way to your foundation is directly linked to getting the water away from the house all together. I advise clients on this all the time as it is a easy way to keep your largest investment in good shape, just by keeping your gutters clean.

Ok, Now I have told you why you must do it, lets get to the tips on how to get it done and safely. The following items will be needed:

1. Ladder with wide steps and rubber tread on steps is preferred and obviously
long enough to reach your gutters.

2. A water supply hose long enough to reach the gutters.

3. Rubber gloves or small hand tool to remove large clumps of debris.

4. Rubber bottom shoes or boots to give better traction in wet conditions.

5. Extra person to help with hose and ladder placement. (Always Safety First)

The above items will have you prepared to clean your gutters. Start at the farthest end from the down spout. The gutters as long as they were installed correctly will pitch or slant down towards the down spout. Flush the debris towards the down spout removing large mounds of debris as you go and throwing them on the ground for clean up later. Remember safety first, this is why you throw it on the ground. Trying to hold a hose, small removal tool and you all on top of a ladder is enough already, let alone now trying to put it all into a bag at the same time. Inspect the gutter system for leaks or needed anchoring repairs at this time also.

Watching your down spout drain and flow will give you a indication on how full of debris your down spout itself is. The more turns or elbows the more clogged it can become. Now that you have reached the end of the gutter and the down spout connection hole, take your hose and put about two inches or more into the hole. Even if the down spout is filled, the water pressure will build and force the remaining debris out. You can use your hose almost like a plumbers snake to help with the clogs. Turn the water pressure up also to give a larger volume of water behind clogs. You can also do this in reverse as you can take the hose and feed it up from the ground inside the down spout if the clog is close to the bottom.

You will want to give a verbal cue to your helper when you are going to throw down the debris, because otherwise you might not have a helper for very long. Safety is always the main concern when ever on ladders and using tools. The debris piles can easily be picked up by your helper or you once you are done cleaning out the gutters.

So, there you have it. Clean gutters!

Now, there are attachments that have a u-shaped head on them that can be attached to a hose or even pressure washer attachments that can make the whole job faster, easier and safer.

How To Install A Bi-folding Door
August 24, 2007 on 3:32 pm | In How To / Repair Your House |
How to install a Bi-fold door and tools needed.

Now, we will work with the idea that you have your doors and have measured the opening of the area your house wish to place the doors in. Most doors come in standard sizes, 24″,32″,36″ and so forth. If you have a odd sized opening make sure you buy a door that states it can be changed to fit, other wise you will be making lots of trips back and forth. The old saying measure twice and cut once, stands true in all areas of home improvements and building.

Normally your will need the following tools:
-Cordless drill or corded
-Hack Saw (Most of the time the track these doors are supported by and move on are metal)
-drill bit(can be optional)
-Standard screw driver
-Phillips screw driver
-Tape Measure
-Pencil

Now, make sure the opening you want to put this door in your hosue is free from cluter and regular obstructions as these doors pull out towards and over to the side. If you already have not done so, remove the old door and all of its hardware. Now, if you are replacing a damaged Bi-folding door to begin with, here is your chance to save time. If you can find the same door the track will probably be the same, so then all you would have to do is apply the roller hardware to the top of the new doors and insert them. That would be it and your done.

For those who are not as fortunate take out your tape and measure the top of the opening. Remember measure twice and cut once. The track needs to fit the opening from side to side. You can be alittle short or have a small gap in each side as this will not hurt anything. Now, a small gap is about the thickness of a quarter or coin. Now, before you cut your track look at the mounting holes on the track. Try to make sure you have holes close to each end of the track, some times this will require a small cut made on each end to get your holes and length right. The door can sag if the track is not supported close enough to the edges.

Take the track and hold it in the opening to make sure it fits. Mark the holes in the top support of the opening. You can now take and pre-drill the holes for the mounting screws. Make sure the drill bit is smaller then the mounting screws. If you don’t have a drill bit just take your time and have someone hold the track up and put the screws in with the cordless drill or hand held screw driver. The track should be centered from front to back in the opening. Be careful as to not have the drill set to high and spin out your screws or break them. Also, make sure according to the door company or hardware as you look at and see if it has to be in the track before you screw it in.

Depending on when you have to hang the doors, place the hardware on the top of the doors at the edges or sides of each door. Once these are installed, mount the pull handle in the center of either the left or right door on the inner edge where the two doors meet. Remember, these doors pull out towards you and slide to the side on the track. Also the above is when the the two doors that make a bi-folding door are attached to each other by hinges. If not install hinges now. Most will have one hinge mounted in the center of each door on the inside. Now, if the doors need to be placed in the track at this point, get the help of another if you can and angle the door out towards you and slip the top hardware into the track.

There, you know have installed a bi-folding door in your house.