By blogger Design • Do It Yourself 0 Comments

What is Eavestrough and why every House Needs it?

Eavestrough is also known as a rain gutter. It is one of the components of the water discharge system for the building. It is used to prevent water from dripping or flowing off the roofs in an uncontrolled and directionless manner. It runs around the perimeter of the house’s roof, and collects the rainwater or snow that runoff from the roof, discharging it through the downpipes and eventually to the drainage system. The components of the eavestrough system include:

  • Eavestrough: Narrow troughs that do the function of collecting the water.
  • Downpipes: they attach the roof to the ground level
  • Soffit: it is the underside of the overhanging area of the roof eaves.
  • Fascia: it is the horizontal face of the roof edge where the gutters are attached.

Eavestroughs are essential for any house, as they perform plenty of functions. Here are a top few benefits of the eavestrough system.

  • Leads to an efficient water drainage system: If you don’t have eavestrough installed on your roof, the rainwater or the melted snow will fall directly from the roof. This will cause the water to splatter which can cause dirty and muddy marks on your home’s wall. Also, if the water is continuously pouring from the roof, it can damage the soil as it can lead to oversaturation. This can further result in damages to the foundation of your house. Installing an eavestrough system will prevent all this.
  • Prevents yard flooding: excessive rain or the melting of snow can cause a lot of water to require systematic drainage. If the water is not drained properly, this can lead to flooding in your yard. Water will keep falling from your roof and flood your yard when the ground level drainage system will not be able to handle the high volume of water.
  • Prevents major damages: Due to continuous falling of water from the roof, it can lead to soil erosion and oversaturation of the soil. These issues can cause a problem to your plants or shrubs in your yard, your plants may wither or break. Apart from the damages to your lawn, it can also lead to settling of the ground, basement flooding, house flooding, cracks in deck and patio, and many other foundational problems. By installing the eavestrough you can avoid all these problems and protect the foundation of your house.
  • Prevent roof rotting: when the melted snow does not drain properly, it gets submitted to the different areas of your roof. The accumulated melted snow can lead to standing water on your roof which can wreak havoc on your entire roofing. This can be quite risky and dangerous as it can cause your roof to fall.
  • Better home experience: do you want your guests to pass through Niagara Falls every time someone leaves or enters your house? Getting the eavestrough installed will prevent all this and you will be saved from the waterfall experience outside your main door. A good eavestrough system will surely give you a good home experience.

 

By blogger Construction • Eavestrough & Downpipes 0 Comments

How to maintain your Eavestrough and keep it clean

Eavestrough and gutter are one of the most important parts of your house, and if they malfunction, they can cause quite a problem for you, hence it is important to maintain them and keep cleaning them from time to time. Keeping the eavestrough clear of debris and garbage is an important part of maintaining your roofing system. However, it might sound easy, but the task of cleaning them is not easy and obviously not the most glamorous chores but proper eavestrough cleaning will ensure the proper drainage and foundation of your home is protected and water is channeled to the safe location.

It is important to clean the eavestrough and gutter at least twice a year. Especially before the winters, as the weather begins to become chill. Also, you should consider the surroundings and environment around your house, if you happen to have a lot of trees around your house; it would require you to clean the eavestrough and gutters more often.

You should note that cleaning the eavestrough is not at all easy; rather it can be quite dangerous. You would need to work with a ladder, which can be a dangerous position to be in, especially when devoting free hands to the use of tools. Here are a few tools that you would require for the cleaning process.

  • Gloves: You should wear thick work gloves while cleaning to effectively scoop out the debris and garbage. Make sure that the gloves are thick enough to protect you from sharp objects.
  • Eye protection: when you are working on a height or with any tools, you should make ensure that your eyes are protected with a help of eye protection wear.
  • Trowel: you can scoop out the debris or garbage with the help of a trowel or even a small shovel. You should avoid using your hands as much as possible.
  • Bucket: after you are doing scooping out the debris, you would need a place to throw away the garbage, it is always suggested to keep a bucket handy to dump the debris.
  • Ladder: to reach the roof of your house, you would need a ladder. Make sure the ladder is stable and solid. Also, you should make sure that you do not put too much weight on the eavestrough as the ladder can break or bend it.

Always make sure you have the assistance as managing all the tools along with the ladder can be quite challenging. It is always better to have someone around the ladder while you are cleaning.

The steps involved in the cleaning of the eavestrough are quite simple, you will need to position your ladder at the end of your eavestrough and climb the ladder. Run some water through the eavestrough to know where the blockages are occurring and if there are any leaks. The next step is to remove the debris using a trowel or a small shovel. Once the section is clear of the debris, run the water again to ensure the smooth flow of water.

By blogger Do It Yourself 0 Comments

The Ideal Frieze Board Trim

In order to make your home a perfect place to live, the exterior is as important as the interior, and the beauty of the exterior is often hidden in trivial details. The selection of the frieze board and its installation are essential to successful home projects, no matter how experimental you are going to be with the construction. Frankly, even though a frieze board is one of the most critical parts of your home designing, it comes at the last position in your mind while thinking about what could make your home well-built.

Though frieze boards can often be missed while the designing process is going on, this is that subtle detail that is critical and makes a difference in the final design and at the same time enhances the appearance and performance of your home. Also, frieze boards ensure that the house is intact, well-protected, provides better stability for the exterior of the house, and ensures the integrity of your home.

FINDING a Good Frieze Board

Frieze board is usually installed in between the soffit and the top of a house’s siding panel. Its primary function is to give a finishing touch to the house’s exterior, and they come with a variety of options. The market has various types of options available for frieze boards. Still, it is necessary to first scale-out the maintenance, cost, requirements, and durability, and then it is advisable to decide. Also, be sure to ask the company some questions:

  1. How long will this board last?
  2. The cost, warranty (if any), and procedure of installation.
  3. Is the board’s material immune to the external environment?
  4. Can it be painted?

INSTALLATION of a Frieze Board

Frieze Board Installation is done using a trim board hook, which should be lined up with the seam and then fixed with a nail. Even if, at times, homeowners miss the frieze board, which makes it undervalued, it still serves two major roles.

  1. It fills the gap between the soffit and the siding.
  2. It gives the exterior a posh appearance.

Thus, it prevents moisture from snow or rain from entering the siding. At the same time, not having trim gives your house an unfinished appearance due to the gaps.

Also, the frieze board generally infuses a smooth transition from the siding to the soffit. It stabilizes and finishes the home while giving it a decorative feel.

CHOOSING the Right Material

Generally, you have different forms and elements of the frieze board out of which you have to choose for your situation.

  1. Cedar Wood

This is one of the standard options in terms of materials used to make the trim. It gives the trim a good thermal mass and is a heavy log structure making the cedar trims capable of releasing, storing, and absorbing heat.

This material can adapt to various environmental conditions and has energy-saving benefits with low moisture content by undergoing the air-drying process to lose the moisture naturally.

  1. Fiber Cement

It is an alternate option to the commonly used cedar trim and has its own pros. It can also adapt to the weather and is made of sustainable elements.

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Importance of Drip Edges

Drip edges are molded metal strips made of industrial-grade galvanized aluminum or steel. These are fixed with the help of nails to the edges of the roof, ensuring a water-tight fixture. Drip edges help protect the roof shingles by safeguarding the wooden structures underneath them that are typically prone to rot and water damage. Not having a drip edge installed can lead to problems like curling of shingles and cracking or sagging roof along the edges. A drip edge provides support to overhanging shingles at the roof edges, furnishing a systematic structure to the overhang and directing water towards the eavestrough, away from the fascia of the roof. It adds a clean look to a roof while preventing water from entering into vulnerable regions.

Drip edge has two primary purposes –

  1. Diverting the water away from the fascia.
  2. Protecting the deck of the roof from wind-driven rainfall.

The role of a drip edge is to direct water towards the gutter. In case your home has no gutter, the drip edge will help prevent water from entering the fascia and soffit cavity regions. It can save you from spending huge amounts on major recovery projects after encountering extensive damage to your house.

Drip edges are available in a variety of styles and shapes. The most commonly used are the T-, C- and L-style drip edges.

The L-style, as the name suggests, is a simple design that is bent in the center. One end of an L-style drip edge is put under the roofing materials and the other end over the fascia. The C-style drip edges are curved bent, installed under the roofing material with the curve around the roof’s deck. These drip edges are generally used on roofs without a fascia. T-style drip edges are shaped like a “T” having an extra lip, directing water away from the house. This style is used beyond the deck of the roof and is bent backward in a triangular shape. The extra lip extends away from the roof end and moves water out and away from your home.

Below are a few significant benefits of installing Drip Edges:

  1. Drip edges direct the water away from the fascia or directly into your home’s gutter system.
  2. Drip edges are installed below the shingles at roof ends, preventing water from seeping into the unwanted areas.
  3. Drip edges provide support to overhanging shingles, keeping them in a clean and manageable straight line.
  4. Shingles without drip edges don’t look adequately sharp and are more prone to easy damage.
  5. Drip edges cover the gap between a roof deck and a fascia board. This gap is often responsible for allowing small animals or other unwanted pests to enter your home by way of your attic.
  6. Roof edge flashing can protect your roof during strong wind or heavy rain, or even an ice dam formation. An ice dam is a clutter of ice collected on the edge of a roof, which can prevent snow from draining and thawing appropriately.