Doug Bunn — The Honey Do Husband

In my last post I remarked that my work seems to come  in waves — if I clean gutters today, I will soon be called by someone else requesting the same service, and by another and maybe another before the cycle ends. This has, of course, happened again.  I recently replaced siding for 3 clients in a row. I have cleaned the gutters on the homes of 4 clients (and my OWN gutters twice) since March. Of course cleaning gutters is cyclic in nature. Nature set up that cycle some time before I started business. I replaced gear sets in 2 different garage door openers within 2 months of each other. The last time I replaced a gear set was about 3 years ago. I replace or repaired  mailboxes and posts 4 times this spring. The last time I worked on either the post or mailbox was about 2 years ago. I power washed a home for a client and within 2 weeks I cleaned a deck, then a patio, then another deck. I repaired 2 sets of bi-fold doors for 2 clients, on successive days. I have also done the annual tune-up on many lawn mowers this spring. (Again, law mower tune-ups are always cyclic!)

With all the rain lately you need to make certain your gutters and downspouts are clean and allow water to flow freely. If anything impedes the flow of water. the gutters will back up. Then the water will spill over the top, front, and rear of the gutter. And that gravity thing can be pesky. Water coming over the front isn’t necessarily bad; it goes straight to the ground. But if it backs up and gets under the shingles and inside the soffit you will have problems. The water will rot the fascia (the vertical board to which the gutters attach) and the soffit (the horizontal board you see when looking up from the ground at the gutters). Water can even get into the house and run down the walls. That is bad! It can cause rotted wood, mold inside the wall cavity, compromised insulation, etc. Clean your gutters to help avoid these problems! Or of course, call me and I’ll clean the gutters for you!

I recently did a fun job for a client :  I bought an inexpensive pump and connected it to 2 rain barrels. The pump brings water to plants in her garden. Prior to the  pump she was relying on gravity feeding the water. (Gravity was a good thing there!) The problem is that some of the plants are higher than the lower half of the rain barrel. To water those she had to use a watering can. Now she walks around with a garden hose and can reach the entire garden. With the rain we have had for the last week,  I imagine her rain barrels are running over and the pump isn’t getting much use. That will change before the summer is over.

This is not a plug for the company, but I install a lot of Life Alert Emergency Response Systems in the homes of people around the Triangle. Most of these systems are located in the homes of elderly or disabled people.  If you buy one of these systems I might be the guy installing it. Say hello!

Have a nice summer, have lots of fun, and call me to do the things that you don’t find so much fun!  We can make a great team maintaining your home or business.