I agree, I have them on my house and have installed them on 2 of my neighbors houses. They have been on my house over 7 years and none have warped as of yet. They are so inexpensive that if they did warp, its a cheap replacement. Mine are brown. Color make a difference??
The brown screens from Home Depot fade and thats a fact! The white screens get mold on them and turn green. They also clog. When they clog the rain runs off the front of the gutter. I myself would not sell a Home Depot product to a Homeowner who could just go there and buy them on there own. You need to sell something they can't get, so that you have a $ales pitch. When you have a $ale pitch you make money. And thats a FACT!
-- Edited by Thesidingguy on Monday 22nd of February 2010 05:48:02 AM
I have installed these on a few homes. They are fairly easy to install but the big problem is the fiberglass screen on the back side. Those who haven't seen these, they have diamond shaped holes in the plastic and fiberglass screen glued to the back side. The last gutters I put them on I noticed (just after install it started to rain) the rain went over the gutter screen and little in the gutter so I took off the fiberglass screen and they worked great.
I have installed these on a few homes. They are fairly easy to install but the big problem is the fiberglass screen on the back side. Those who haven't seen these, they have diamond shaped holes in the plastic and fiberglass screen glued to the back side. The last gutters I put them on I noticed (just after install it started to rain) the rain went over the gutter screen and little in the gutter so I took off the fiberglass screen and they worked great.
we also use these, easy to install ,cheap, and we also take off the mesh. excellent product looks great and very functional
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Elite Roof Cleaners Roof Cleaning Missouri & Kansas City
Back in the 90's I bought a machine that we called the "Gutter Sucker" we paid around 6,000 for this and had it made for gutter cleaning. It was a huge shop vac with a 10 horse honda engine that would suck up anything. It had a 200 Gal. tank and we put it on the back of a pickup. The idea was the same as in the picture (do 2 story homes without getting on the roof) and it did work, but it got clogged a lot and it was great when we got on the roof with a 7 foot pipe that you could see what you were doing without bending over and getting to the end of the roof. The high poles got to be hard to handle and control without it breaking. When it was time to empty it, Oh my it smelled bad and was hard to find a place to dump it. We took it to farms and it worked out. It was not that bad but I would not do it again.
We sold the gutter business and the machine for some good money. We now work with gutter guys and both give each other business. I think that is the way to go.
Do one thing well and you will be successful, do 10 things ok and??
I agree with you do one thing and make that your speciality, there was aguy on here a year or so ago and his website was two pages long of different things they did. He is no longer around here or on the other roof cleaning forum. I think his name was Pat. He stained concrete, cleaned roofs, mowed grass, picked up dog poop, this guys website said he did everything. stick with a couple of things and be the best at them.
Back in the 90's I bought a machine that we called the "Gutter Sucker" we paid around 6,000 for this and had it made for gutter cleaning. It was a huge shop vac with a 10 horse honda engine that would suck up anything. It had a 200 Gal. tank and we put it on the back of a pickup. The idea was the same as in the picture (do 2 story homes without getting on the roof) and it did work, but it got clogged a lot and it was great when we got on the roof with a 7 foot pipe that you could see what you were doing without bending over and getting to the end of the roof. The high poles got to be hard to handle and control without it breaking. When it was time to empty it, Oh my it smelled bad and was hard to find a place to dump it. We took it to farms and it worked out. It was not that bad but I would not do it again.
We sold the gutter business and the machine for some good money. We now work with gutter guys and both give each other business. I think that is the way to go.
Do one thing well and you will be successful, do 10 things ok and??
Good Post ! There is money in Gutter and Window Cleaning, and you are there anyway! I know of guys who also hang Christmas Lights. Ya do what ya gotta do to feed the kids. We find that advertising gutter cleaning leads into roof cleaning jobs!
We have a 3000watt 220volt wet and dry vac that we use for some jobs. It works fine but sometimes the tiles are too close to the gutter edge so we cant use it. We use a wireless camera and monitor with it. The camera cost about 150 dollars on ebay. Only downside is the battery doesn't last that long. The upkeeper has had mixed reviews in the U.K. they look fairly bulky but in saying that I've never seen one close up. The one I have came with aircraft aluminium poles which we no longer use. Now we use the base sections of modular window cleaning poles. These are carbon fibre and very rigid and light and easy to assemble.
We don't offer gutter cleaning solely, but will do it upon request or as an add on. Sometimes I will just let the guys do it for some extra pocket money.