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Memories of the Pineapple Express
 

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 12:07 AM

Memories of the Pineapple Express

Does that ring a bell? I have experienced both the East Coast's snow/rain as well as the tropical/Pacific "atmospheric river" known as the Pineapple Express.

This one arrives tonight, after several years of drought here. I recall 2002 in Los Angeles where we got 14in of rain in 24 hours, and I recall about ten years ago when it blew out the coffer dam along the American River here, just a mile away, along the American River.

So today, after 3-1/2 years of home ownership and procrastination while being affected successively by CRPS and PMR, was the day that I absolutely had to clean out the gutters.
I started early, as soon as the frost had melted. Put on 10 pounds of old clothes and a well-treaded pair of running shoes to allow me to comfortably and safely walk about and crawl on my stomach while cleaning some 30 feet of stuffed gutters at up to 35 feet above the ground.
A steep roof had me using a safety rope draped over the roof while I slithered down the slope face-fist to my possible demise.
I had to interrupt my sideways travel at the half-way point of the first gutter, since the rope was about to cross over the roof's peak and so would suddenly begin losing tension. I was already starting to tire after scooping out perhaps 50 pounds of roof-tile sand and composted oak leaves using my gloved right hand, my left hand held continuously overhead, applying tension to the rope that kept me from sliding head-first in the direction of death.
A sense of panic occurred when, while trying to inch myself feet-first uphill while still on my stomach. Each few inches of rope-tension-assisted uphill travel seemed to be only free-play, as my clothing stayed stuck to the roof while my body slid only back and forth within my clothing. I had to repeatedly and only micro-incrementally re-tension the rope held in and wrapped around my left hand to achieve any significant travel in the less-deathly uphill direction away from the gutter.
I had tied the top of the ladder to my rooftop awning, so as to safely exit the situation when I finally completed the needed task, and found the energy to run the garden hose so as to observe free flow through each of the downspouts.
And I got in the all-important last ride on my bike before the inundation begins in a few hours.
Man, am I spent, and sore. Running on the fumes of a bubbly and cabernet mixture at this point, quite thankful to have not had to do this all last year or the year before that or the year before that!

A belated Happy New Year!

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 12:35 AM

"am I spent, and sore."

Not used to using a bunch of those muscles I presume? ;)

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 2:02 AM

...they don't get much of that kind of use, I should have worked out more over the last month or three.
The ordeal was stressful to the point where I wouldn't have much noticed that the muscles were getting over-worked, but I still had to finish the job.
It'll be worse tomorrow for sure, and the day after that no doubt.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

1/7/17 7:06 AM

Alternative

Pay someone to do it?

Not being flippant about either cost or the satisfaction of doing it yourself, but I wouldn't be into panicking on my belly on a steep roof 35 feet off the ground.

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greglepore
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 1724
Location: SE Pa, USA

1/7/17 8:31 AM

Dan and I think alike. I hate roof work.

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Dave B
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 4511
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

1/7/17 8:38 AM


quote:
Dan and I think alike. I hate roof work.

Another vote for paying someone to do it. They will be properly equipped and experienced and i'm neither.

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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven

1/7/17 11:46 AM

loophole in child labor laws (family work)

I grew up in a house. I was responsible for cleaning the gutters. This was so, despite my fear of heights and the fact that I often would have to shift my weight to one side of the ladder to make it stable while my fingers froze yanking ice cold, damp leave from the late fall season gutters. Sure, as an adult, you could hire someone to do that work, but it made such a negative experience, among other house maintenance chores, that I never owned nor desire to own a house in my adulthood.

Last edited by Jesus Saves on 1/7/17 11:47 AM; edited 1 time in total

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 11:47 AM

Looking at this philosophically, well, I'm experienced now!

And looking back on it, I'm glad that I don't have a ladder that long, since I would've had to keep climbing down and moving the ladder every few feet. I think the ladder on the sloping hillside would actually be far more dangerous, though will be necessary when the time to repaint under the eves comes around.

I may have a simple harness and release clutch for the next time I have to go up there, since I wouldn't want to cause any hired help to fall to their death because of my laziness. Maybe in ten years I will be done with it and retire from such duty, assuming that I can afford to pay the doubtless very high fees for such work.

And I might be doing my first and last roof replacement in a few short years, the one I was walking on looks none too fresh (where all the sand in the gutters came from). The roof appears to be a replacement that was laid down on top of the house's original roof from 1996, seems they don't last as long as I would have thought.

Also the edge of the roof on the (upper) street side has sagged where the gutter attaches to the ends of the rafters, so puddled water sits in the gutter breeding mosquitos and rusting the gutter from the inside out. I'm tempted to fit a stopcock to the low point in the gutter to drain out the puddle after each rain
I wonder at what point of doing repair work that a tall scaffold would have to be set up first, something that no doubt could get very expensive. One contractor, probably joking(?), mentioned driving a JLG lift truck up the back hillside from the easement path used by the water and power utilities.

I could now see marketing a battery-powered gutter robot that would travel down each gutter and sweep out all the detritus, so might be worthwhile to build a prototype for my own use, especially since one end of each gutter is accessible from standard ladder height at the driveway and front deck respectively. Alternately, I suppose I could just blast a (gas-powered?) water stream down the length of each gutter, and I will now be trimming the messy oak tree back a little further from the roof.

JS, editing here after seeing your post; I totally see your point, even gave that some thought before buying this my first house. I grew up sharing all the hardships in a mostly DIY rural household. My dad always seemed to charge in, whether it was on the rooftop or kicking a large bush to scare off the wasps that seemed to be keeping me from mowing the lawn surrounding the bush. It was actually comical seeing the cloud of angry wasps immediately emerge, orbiting his head at the speed of nano-particles about a nucleus!
And we were a family that even made much of our own furniture, ...not because we were good at it.


Last edited by dddd on 1/7/17 12:15 PM; edited 1 time in total

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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven

1/7/17 11:49 AM

...doesn't Lowes or Home Depot or both sell gutter guards? Kinda like a shower drain/cheese gratter cover for your gutters.

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

1/7/17 11:49 AM

I have gutter guard and never clean them.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 11:51 AM

I was never afraid of heights, I flew them puddle jumpers for a while even. ;)

I was a contractor @ 23 years old, and by the 2nd year I decided there was enough work on the ground. You work up high and it is really a matter of time.

I seem to recall this conversation here over the years.

IIRC I have previously mentioned that I was the one that hopped up on the walls [during a few years of framing houses before my own biz] to nail the lap/corners while the walls were still flapping in the breeze.

When 30 feet up on top if the second story walls, you just have to make sure you fall in and not out is all. ;)

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 12:23 PM

It's funny how quickly one can get used to working at heights, you're right, it was just a couple of years ago I brought up the 20' high deck replacement that was the first big repair job here, and that I hired a buddy to help with (he did most of the work, almost all of the lifting, as I was quite ill).

I remember as a fisherman in my youth in rural Westchester County, walking an elevated plank that would become a major bridge across the Croton Reservoir, just to get to a really good bass-fishing spot. Like some self-styled Wallenda, pole in one hand and tackle box in the other, for balance! Hard to imagine now just what I was thinking.

Oh, and those gutter-guards. They are in place along the back roof edge, below the oak tree, ...and conveniently where one could reach the gutter up from the back deck to install them.
No doubt the previous owner balked at the extra cost of having the very fine-mesh guards installed along the side edges of the house where the elevation goes from about 8 feet out to 35 feet.

Lucky I was that all of the downspouts still flowed freely, they are plumbed underground to avoid eroding the hillside.
And this storm, while blanketing the state, has yet to drop much rain here, but is expected to stay around for quite a while, hence the name "atmospheric river".
I may even be able to ride the nearby hills on my bike here and there today (fingers crossed).

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Dave B
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 4511
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

1/7/17 12:44 PM


quote:
.....I wouldn't want to cause any hired help to fall to their death because of my laziness.

If you hire the proper help they will be experienced, have the correct equipment and be insured. They are far less likely to fall than you are.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 12:58 PM

Lucky? In 7 houses this one is the first and only one that has gifted me with perfect placement to foliage.

The lack of deciduous trees generally, and lack of any at all near my house.... Bet you can guess where I am going.

One gutter cleaning in the 5 years I have been here, and only about 5% of the perimeter [all hip roof] from some moss pretty much. The yard: flat 1/2 acre behind the house I have to mow gets an amount of leaves in the fall you could pick up in 2 minutes by hand. Not had to snake the down spot drains to the curb either from leave blockage like I have had to yearly on every other house we owned.

How lucky can you get? ;)

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 2:37 PM

I sure felt lucky yesterday when I found that the downspouts all flowed freely. Probably it had been at least five years since anyone had done any work on the gutters or drainage, such being the case with "short sale" homes where the money has dried up.

And I am recalling, from what was just said, how the contractor/politician that I hired to evaluate my pending purchase decision told me NOT to buy this house. "Buy one on flat ground" is what I recall him saying.
I was too enamored with this house's basement potential and "local view" from the back side to take his advice, and after I later hired him to help refurbish the makeshift basement rooms he would sorta eat his words. He expressed little interest in helping with the elevated deck though, so I had to find another contractor acquaintance from the local athletic community to take that on. Turns out that I had bought this guy's road bike off of Craigslist when he needed the money to keep ownership of his house in '09, so offering it back to him, restored, helped compensate much of the labor!

"When 30 feet up on top if the second story walls, you just have to make sure you fall in and not out is all. ;)"

That reminds me of my default mode while riding on sketchy trails, "always fall to the uphill side", "bike down, rider up".


Last edited by dddd on 1/7/17 2:54 PM; edited 1 time in total

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 2:54 PM

"Buy one on flat ground"

Something to be said for that on the west coast. We looked at a house on a hill that was very very tempting and had great potential investment wise. It has doubled in value since 2011 when we bought this instead. And this one had an 80% increase in value. The deciding factor was 2k tax here VS $4400.00 there, before improvements.
And a whole lot of SF to heat and cool we'd not come close to using.

But to get back on track as to the point. The house across the street was 3 stories, and the garage was 25" above the front door of this place we were spying.

An earthquake would equate to us wearing that house and land, or the house below us wearing everything...

Not like the wet coast is in an earthquake zone of anything, ;O

Not to mention the $14k more in taxes we would have paid by now.

It did have a few views we don't. A river valley, Mt Hood, St Helens, and downtown Portland. Oh well. ;)

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 3:01 PM

The broader views really raise prices around here to the extent that houses five doors up the hill with a smog-tinged "valley" view fetch almost $200k higher prices!
The "local view" here is far more pleasant and serene with no view (with associated noise) of the local highway or church parking lot, and I prefer this.
I did get socked with a nearly $4k annual tax, which is what it is in semi-rural CA.

I am 2 hours inland so earthquake risk is very low here. I left Los Angeles and Silicon Valley for good since I lived through the Northridge quake in '94 where the house I lived in was nearly destroyed to the tune of $100k in damage.
Up here the bigger risk is wild fires, one neighborhood of 60 houses, just three miles away, was almost completely torched by same on a particularly windy day about 8 years ago, with luckily not one life lost.


Last edited by dddd on 1/7/17 3:10 PM; edited 1 time in total

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 3:04 PM

100k in 94 is a 1/4 mil today, quick brain math...

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 3:13 PM

Yeah, that house was pretty much a tear-down, with chimney down, walls cracked and cracked foundation and pool deck. The stove even tipped over.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 4:14 PM

I've not worked on fire damage renos, just water and douche bag damage. ;) And old fashioned deferred maintenance to the 10th power.

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 5:19 PM

"...old fashioned deferred maintenance to the 10th power."

Front deck @ 20 years and back deck @ 18 years, respectively:






I got a surprise from my neighbors this afternoon, ...just maybe they saw me out there yesterday and appreciated my version of redneck grit and ingenuity(?).
Anyway, it was a belated Christmas gift card for $50 at the local hardware store.
Also a note mentioning my "projects" and thanking me for keeping their yard free of weed overgrowth during the months before they moved in, while they were still having their house's interior remodeled.

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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY

1/7/17 6:31 PM

I found the chicken wire gutter guards to be a PITA. They do keep out large maple leaves and such, but let in all the small stuff, which is then impossible to get out. I removed my guards after a few years.

I just found (at HD) a high pressure spray unit, 6' long, attaches to a garden house. I can get the front gutter clean in 3 moves of the ladder. Fortunately I only have one 30 ft. Long gutter on the front porch roof. Still a cold and wet job. May pay somebody the $100 next year.

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PLee
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 3712
Location: Brooklyn, NY

1/7/17 6:53 PM

Gutter robot?

http://www.irobot.com/For-the-Home/Outdoor-Maintenance/Looj.aspx

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/7/17 11:28 PM

I suspected that industrial-grade gutter "robots" existed already, and this one at $300 is kinda up there with professional equipment. It hardly needs a remote control if it simply had a self-reversing mechanism or even just a tether, so could and maybe should hit the market for more like $50.

I like the idea of the nozzle blaster. Perhaps with a long pipe extension I could feed it down the entire length from the safer end of the gutter. I already did such with just my garden hose and nozzle, but ended up with all the debris only packed toward the dangerous end of the longest gutter. I had been thinking about a higher-volume nozzle fed from both my and my neighbor's faucets, which could greatly extend the effective range and intensity using the right nozzle.
For that matter, maybe just by attaching my existing nozzle to a long pole and forcing it down the length of the gutter, I could get it completely cleared out each year or twice a year. I might only have to extend the hose anther ten feet or so (using what is left of the backyard hose that the foxes chewed on a couple of years back). Cheaper being better in this case.
Remembering to attend to this more often will surely allow a less-robust cleaning apparatus to suffice. The deep, heavy stuff that I pulled out yesterday might choke that robot cleaner outright, not sure it's battery could survive the operation on a single charge(?).
Now I get why my back gutter had such a fine screen bolted down over it, to keep the sand from the deteriorating roof tiles from sifting through and filling the gutters. Anything like that traps moisture so will hasten rust-through of the steel gutters.

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