Gutters, Finally!

After playing phone-and-weather tag with me for more than six weeks, New Life Gutters finally arrived yesterday to install gutters and downspouts.

I had hoped to avoid this expense, but experience forced my hand.  Rain runoff from the house and garage has eroded part of my driveway, and water falling on the steps promised to create an icy slip-and-fall problem at the front entrance.  So I bowed to the inevitable.

On the house, David and his daughter put gutters on the street-side portion of the high roof; the gambrel roof covering the front entrance and stairwell; and both one-story wings.  The high roof drains to the roof over the mud room, while water from the gambrel is directed to the foundation drain.  I did not install gutters on the high roof's lake side.  Runoff from this section will continue to fall onto the rock splash strips and, I hope, irrigate the perennial garden.

David and his daughter put up the garage gutter.

Gutters are shaped on-site by a machine in the truck.

The gambrel roof gutter should cure the drip over the
house's front entrance and reduce icing.

David screws the high roof gutter into place...

...and later puts up the downspout which directs this roof's
runoff to the one-story roof over the mud room.

The high and gambrel roof gutters are fitted with leaf guards.  This should avoid my having to hire someone to clean out leaves and other airborne debris.  Cleaning the one-story gutters is low ladder work.  I'll do that myself.  By the way, if you're in the market for a ladder, Dave strongly recommends the Little Giant, with its wide stance — much safer than your typical step ladder.

We'll see how gutters and downspouts reduce the amount of water draining across the driveway.  Snowmelt remains an issue.  However, last winter the area in front of the house froze into a skating rink and I took a couple nasty falls.  I hope yesterday's work cuts this problem down to size.

I'm starting to feel left out.  Blizzard conditions are predicted for today in the Southwest and Central U.S., and my brother in Cleveland apparently got five inches of snow yesterday.  Meanwhile, here in northeastern Michigan, we've had only a few light dustings.  Most of this week is supposed to be cloudy with, at most, snow showers later in the week.  Very dull! •••