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PrestigePressure · Guest

Bagging Gutters

Confident Roof Cleaning Houston TX · Guest

This could be a blessing or a curse.

If the pipes run into the sewer and are in good shape, thats the best scenario. You dont have to do anything.

If the pipes have an exit point, such as in the yard somewhere or the street, you may have an issue.

Depending on how old the house/pipes are, they could be degraded to the point where the chemicals will leak underground and soak directly into the roots of the plants.

The only thing to combat this is run a water hose in each gutter for 10 or so minutes before that gutter is to be used to ensure the root systems have plenty of water.

Roots will only soak in as much liquid as they can hold. If they are full of water, they can not soak in any chemicals, and therefore will not be affected.

Guest

Yea do what Scott said.

Jeff

PrestigePressure · Guest

Thanks for the info Scott

Ohiovalleyroofcleaning.com · Guest

Something else to watch out for when the gutter goes into the ground is the use of a cistern. They are common when the home has a well to conserve water. The last thing you need is to run SH in to their cistern and then water their plants using cistern water.

Great White Technologies · Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Certified Roof Cleaner

Good thoughts. Never thought about that. Dryer areas also have these for watering their plants and you could end up killing their flowers and the Koi in the pond.

Confident Roof Cleaning Houston TX · Guest

Yes that is a great point! I have never come across one, so it did not occur to me to mention it.

I guess in that case you could plug up the gutters and run water in them until they overflow until you have clear water. That would provide enough dilution to not harm any landscaping and would prevent the chems from going into the cistern.

RCIA Founder

Thank Scott for a GREAT answer and Post.
THATS why he is called a CERTIFIED Roof Cleaner biggrin
Here are some pics of bagging downspouts - just for the sake of this thread.

Confident Roof Cleaning Houston TX · Guest

Thanks Chris!

I was looking for some pictures, but do not have any on my work computer. :(

How do you guys secure them Chris?

Roof Clean USA Georgia 229-227-0000 · guest

We secure with either commercial velcro strips or duct tape. We like to tie them off tight whenever possible which saves adhesive residue and possible removal of paint if the gutters have been repainted.

RCIA Founder

Confident Roof Cleaning Houston TX wrote:

Thanks Chris!

I was looking for some pictures, but do not have any on my work computer. :(

How do you guys secure them Chris?

We use the widest Plastic Ties from A/C supply stores we can find or Duct Tape.
I get the WIDE A/C Plastic Ties from this Tampa Air Conditioning Contractor who just happens to be my younger brother smile

I have also used Gorilla Tape biggrin

Confident Roof Cleaning Houston TX · Guest

We use Duct tape or blue painters tape. Have been considering trying rubber bandsthey would be MUCH easier to work with then the duct tape and wthere wouldnt a residue issue. Same thing with Velcro (which I have not used.)

A1CC&PW · Guest

I was wondering if the bag ever gets completely full?

Do you bag your gutter on every job as a precaution?

How do you discard the run off when done?

This is why I love this site

I learn something new everyday

Guest

The bags will obviously get fuller on roofs with a steep pitch. Once you get a handle on spraying your mix you should be able to keep the runoff to a minimum,...even on steep pitches.

When they get full just switch them with a new bag and dump the runoff into a 5 gallon pail(s).

I usually dilute it and discard in an area that it will not harm anything.

Once you get used to knowing the runoff,... you will be able to determine whether you need to bag or water or whatever. But it's good practice to bag.

Debris in the gutters will also determine the flow from the downspout. Alot of times the product gets absorbed and blocked by the debris.

Jeff

PrestigePressure · Guest

thanks for all the info guys i will be doing the job this weekend so i will find out if there is a cistern or not. its a gated community so i think they just have them routed for better drainge. Using velcro is a lot easier than have to cut zip ties and pulling tape off too. Thanks again!

RCIA Founder

Confident Roof Cleaning Houston TX wrote:

We use Duct tape or blue painters tape. Have been considering trying rubber bandsthey would be MUCH easier to work with then the duct tape and wthere wouldnt a residue issue. Same thing with Velcro (which I have not used.)

Here ya go http://www.kingssupply.com/item87.htm for the rubber bands.
These are claimed to stretch around a 55 gal drum biggrin

Roof Cleaning Richmond VA 804-687-4960 · Guest

I like the ease of heavy duty rubber bands. Quick on Quick off. My struggles with tape used in conjuction with water and Chemicals has been less than productive.

Jul 2, 2009

I also have stopped using duct tape and have been using 1/4" rope instead. Works GREAT!

RoofBright of Florida · Guest

We use tie wraps. You can get them at any home improvement store. When bagging gutters we have orange plastic "snowfence" cut a little larger than the bag itself. We place that under the bag which allows us to wrap the bag and carry to a safe place for transfer. The other method we use is the self rolling plastic pool drain hose which in most cases allows us to divert runoff to a safe place. It's alittle pricey to purchase, but once you get the hang of it, it is well worth the investment.

Guest

One thing to keep an eye on when using bags is how full they are getting. We got caught a little off guard on one of our jobs last week. It was the steepest pitch I have done yet and there were multiple roof peaks with downspouts leading to smaller roofs and gutters below. One section of the house had an inordinate amount of downspouts on the different roof peaks leading to one gutter on a small section of roof. We were constantly watching the bags to make sure they didn't get too full with the extra runoff from this really steep roof, but we failed to realize that the one bag was filling at almost 3 times the rate of all of the rest. By the time we realized this, the bag had much more chemical in it than we cared to move around. Three of us picked it up and carried it out to the street to empty it into 5 gallon pails with lids. Trying to carry overfilled contractors bags with liquid is no joke! When we atttempted to empty the bag, the bottom seam started leaking and eventually ruptured. Fortunately, we were on the street and the clean up was very simple.

The bag had about 6 gallons in it and we lost about 1. The other ten downspouts combined didn't even have 4 gallons total in them. Rest assured we will not make that mistake again.

You would think that a home worth over $1,000,000 would be set up with a better gutter/downspout system than this one had. It was apparent after this incident that the HO was having issues with too much runoff at the exit to this one downspout. I wonder if the gutter system overflows when there is really heavy rain?

Brian

-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Friday 3rd of July 2009 08:35:13 AM

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum "Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"