Can you believe that a house was built and no one said a word of putting gutters on it? Especially a house here in Texas where we get alot of heavy rains especially during the winter time.
Had I known, I would of course had them put on and let it be part of the mortgage.
Had I known, I would of course had them put on and let it be part of the mortgage.
So, after two winters of watching how the rain came gushing off the gable and into the one valley, pouring out into my garden and spewing the nice bark that the builders had put there out across my drive until there was nothing left, leaving a deep rut in its wake, I decided enough was enough.
Not to mention that on either side of my house is a ditch between my neighbors and I and they do have gutters but with my house not having one, that ground is so saturated it squishes to step on it.So, time to get gutters on the house.
I knew I could not even begin to get my garden set up much less plant anything with all that rain gushing down.
Now comes the task of what kind to get or rather who? I looked around at the neighbors and it seems everyone around me has so many downspouts, near striping their homes. I had inquired about them with one local company and they came out without even letting me know they were coming and did an estimate and then left it in my door.
Just great, brilliant, so there was no talking to the guy to ask questions or anything and the write up was very vague without any detail.
I didn't know they did that too! Where have I been? What a find! So I contacted them and they set a time and came out and met with me and went over the house with me and I pointed out the trouble areas that I knew for sure that I wanted the gutters and where I wanted the downspouts to keep the water out of the garden. What a friendly guy!
I was not quite ready for the gutters yet, financially, but it was good to get an idea of how much it might be. He said he would call me in Jan to see if I was ready for them and I agreed.
January came and I was not quite ready so told him in a few weeks. I didn't hear from him and then I could not find his paper to let him know when I was ready!! EEK!
But through trial and error, I was able to recontact Home Depot and they sent out another guy that week and we went over it all again and he walked around the house and showed me a few things.
He explained that the soil is like a sponge, when wet, it expands and as it dries, it shrinks back up. He told me that over time, the soil would be pushing up against the foundation and in fact the patio slab too. He also pointed out that when my patio slab was poured, small niches were not put into the concrete so that if it would crack, it would be the hope that it would crack there and evenly. Since it did not have any of those, if it did crack, it would be jagged and ugly.
He also showed me how the back yard was getting eroded away where the rain fell from the roof and in time, it would continue to do that.
I explained the areas where we wanted to keep the water out and so he made some notes and recommended the 6 inch gutters due to the amount of rain that we are getting here.
Of course that meant this would cost me more than the original quote had been as he also recommended we get some gutters on a portion of the 2nd level. I had to agree considering the angling of the roof. Plus, the gutters were needed all the way around
Going with 6 inch gutters allowed for less downspouts as they are not required to be as close as the 5 inch gutters. So it would also mean I would not have all those downspouts striping my home.
Save some money in that regard.
Two days after, another representative from Home Depot came by and did a pre-installation inspection as I even got to pick out the color of the gutters. Cool!
So he did some more measuring and then went over a few things and gave me some numbers and explained he would be my contact for this. In a few days, I would be hearing from the builder himself who would be doing this and setting up a day for install. This guy told me that once the other got going, it would go very quickly. :) I should look for this to be done in a week!!!
WOW!! How awesome!
Also, what was nice was that if I referred anyone to Home Depot for roof or gutter work, etc, there is a $100 referral reward. :) Also, after the gutters are installed, I could go and put myself into a drawing for a $5,000.00 Home Depot Gift card! Very nice!
Even better was that Home Depot offered a credit card at 0% interest for 12 months. Very nice.
Of course like all those companies that do offer 0% interest for a period of time, you have to be sure and pay off whatever balance you have before that time frame is up. What will happen if you do not is that all the interest during that time you were supposedly getting it for 'free', will be all put back on and you will end up paying for it. Always be very careful and make sure you can pay it off before the time frame is up or get socked with that back interest and then have a high interest rate more than likely of at least 21%.
That's the trick to those so be very careful.
Gutters were installed on the next Tuesday and all done in one shot! I was so impressed! They put in these small wing guards to try to help the gushing water from flowing down the deep valley of my rooftops
They liked how I matched the gutters with the trim and garage door so that it blends in better.
The downspouts were placed just where I wanted and it all came out very well.
There were 3 men total and they worked very fast and were most kind and friendly and mindful of the plants that I do have in the garden.
They did tell me that I did not really need to have the 6 inch gutters as my roof is so cut up but I figured it was better to be prepared and I did have those two areas where the rain did gush down from the valleys. I am also glad I did go with the 6 inch ones as we have gotten alot of rain since then.
Thank you to Home Depot and the men who installed the gutters and downspouts!!
They look terrific!
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