Two years early is better than a day late!

When it comes to eavestroughing, I am often asked by customers if their eavestroughs need replaced or if they can just be repaired. Usually these customers have eavestroughs that are about 25 to 30 years old, they have corners and end caps leaking, the old nail and ferrules are popping out, and they are dented in numerous places. My response to them is that usually, trying to repair eavestroughs in this condition is simply throwing good money after bad. I explain to them that it is better to be a couple years early rather than a day late.

By failing to maintain your eavestroughs or replace them when needed, you can do extensive damage to your home. I went to a home last week and was not prepared for what I saw. The eavestroughs were dangling from the house, the fascia and soffit were falling off, the fascia board was rotted, the old soffit board rotted, but worse yet, the ends of rafters were rotten. Look at the pictures below for what I saw while doing the estimate!

The above two pictures were just for starters. As I looked around the house, I saw more damage!

In the picture above, the eavestrough is pulling away from the house, the fascia board is visible and rotting, the soffit falling off the house and the soffti board is rotting.

Above is a picture from the roof line. The board at the bottom is what is left of the fascia board and you can see off on the right that the ends of the rafters are rotting. Birds and squirrels have been making a nest inside and they have made a mess inside. But it gets worse! All this water has been falling below and damaging steps and the window sill.

Thankfully, all this can be fixed. However, it is a good reminder for all of us to maintain our homes. When it comes to replacing your roof or your eavestrough, don't be penny wise and pound foolish by taking too long to replace them. It is better to changed them too early than too late!

For all your eavestroughing needs, contact The Eavestrough Company at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com

Gutter Protection Warranties

I have been selling Gutter Protection for years now. I have come to know that there are some gutter protections that are very good and some that are absolute junk. They all promise to "Keep your Gutter Clean!" and "You will never have to clean your eavestroughs again!" With some protections, this is true, with others, it is not. The cheap DIY products sold at most Home Improvement stores are just completely failure prone. They are cheap, hence they are appealing to the average home owner hoping for an inexpensive miracle to keeping their eavestrough clean.

In the last two years, even Costco has gotten into selling gutter protection products. The surprising thing to me is that their products are actually dumbed down products of some reasonably good gutter protection products. When I say, "dumbed down" what I mean is that they are made by companies that make a very good product, but they are MUCH cheaper and flimsier than their professional grade products.

Personally, I don't like these cheaper products. In the long run, you save a little money, but who is going to help support you if you have an installation issue or a problem with the product? In my experience, the average person at Costco knows nothing about eavestrough and can not answer your questions. I know, I have asked questions of Costco staff about Gutter Protection products. However, the boxes of their products still claim that a 25 year warranty is offered! WOW! How can you resist?
However, does anyone take the time to read the warranties? Here is the warranty from one of their products called Clip N Guard which is made by AluRex. In my opinion, AluRex makes good products but Clip N Guard is not one of them. It's just far too light weight and thin. A picture of it is below:

Here is the warranty for Clip N Guard: I won't list the whole warranty below, just certain aspects which show you the exclusions.

WHAT DOES THIS WARRANTY COVER?

This warranty is limited to the terms and conditions, exclusions and limitations, subject to
reduction as per the warranty coverage schedule provided herein, stated in this warranty.
Performance - subject to the following reservations, ALU-REX INC. warrants the Clip N Guard™
for 25 years, subject to reduction as per the warranty coverage schedule provided herein, to you
the owner of the property at the time the Product was purchased that, when installed in the manner
specified by ALU-REX INC., including the installation of downspout openings of 9 square
inches or more, if the property is located in a coniferous tree zone. The Product, under ordinary
conditions, will keep gutters from becoming clogged and overflowing as a result of the interior
of the gutter or downspouts filling with debris such as leaves, twigs, needles, or seeds.... 

With out going into excessive warranty information, the company also does not cover installation in damaged eavestrough, if snow or ice happen to collapse portions of it,  if they deem you installed it improperly, if you didn't screw or caulk the overlapping portions together, etc....

Look at the two points highlighted above! All of Ontario is a coniferous tree zone. So the company demands that all your downpipes be increased to 9 square inches. Nearly all older homes have 6 square inch pipes. In fact more than 95% of homes  DO NOT have pipes 9 square inches! Result? Warranty void.

Look at the next point. They do not cover the product clogging at all. They only cover the product if debris goes through and clogs it all up. This will never happen. If the product fails, it will be from the top or because it was weakened and collapsed.

But let's just say that you installed it correctly, debris went through and the product simply failed. The last portion of their warranty states that it is pro-rated (if you kept your receipt. Here is how they reimburse you!

WARRANTY COVERAGE SCHEDULE
Number of Years from % of purchase price of
Date of Original purchase originally purchased Products
to Date of Claim or % of cost of cleaning the
Product, as the case may be, that
ALU-REX INC. is responsible for
0-5................................................................................................................................................. 100%
more than 5 but less than 6............................................................................................................. 50%
more than 6 but less than 7............................................................................................................. 40%
more than 7 but less than 8............................................................................................................. 30%
more than 8 but less than 9............................................................................................................. 20%
more than 9 .................................................................................................................................... 10%

And the next paragraph states that your warranty is with Alu-Rex not with Costco!

How do you like this for a warranty! Don't get me wrong. I love AluRex! I just think that people need to know what they are buying into before they buy into these fabulous warranties!

Another key point to consider is that these warranties are only good if the company is still around or has not been bought out. For instance, all that wonderful foam filter sold by Leaf Defier, Gutter Filter, American Gutter Filter, Gutter Stuff, etc.... They all claimed that their foam filter was better than anyone else's foam filter. Well.....it was ALL made by the same company. New Dimension Industries in New Jersey. What many don't know is that last year, New Dimension Industries was bought out by another company called FXI. FXI declared that they were not honouring any warranties made by New Dimension Industries. So all those millions of feet of warranties offered by all these companies are VOID!

With all this said, I don't want anyone to take me the wrong way. I am a BIG fan of gutter protection products. However, my belief is that people should buy a good product that works and one where the company who installs it will help in support should there ever be a problem.


In the end, you really need to find a company like The Eavestrough Company.

If you want to install gutter protection on your home, contact The Eavestrough Company at www.theeavestroughcompany.com or you can phone us at 905-966-2564. We would be happy to show you our quality products.