OOPSIE! Accidents happen! Are you covered?

We all know accidents happen. It's just part of life. As a homeowner, YOU MUST make sure EVERY company you hire has the proper insurance to work on your home. If you hire a company that does not have Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Insurance (WSIB) AND Liability Insurance, you are playing with fire. WSIB is needed if a worker gets hurt working on your home. Liability Insurance is for damage to property.

If you hire a company who does not carry these insurances, and a worker gets seriously injured, you are responsible for their injuries. These expenses could be staggering! If you hire a company that does not have liability insurance and they damage yours or your neighbours property, they could potentially walk away leaving your with the huge hassle of taking them to small claims court to attempt to recoup the expenses for the damage.

The good news for you, as a home owner, is it is not difficult to obtain these! WSIB is public domain. All you have to do is go to theWSIB website and type in the name of the company to see if they have work place safety insurance or not. By the way, if you can't find the company on the WSIB website, they are NOT a registered company! Here is a copy of The Eavestrough Company WSIB Certificate:

Here is the link to the WSIB website: https://eservices.wsib.on.ca/portal/server.pt/community/eservicespublic/eclearance#https://eservices.wsib.on.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_203_650_245_71889_43/eclearance/FBDAShow302675   

Regarding Liability Insurance, you must request it from the company you hire. We recently needed to use a large Boom lift from Sky Jack Rentals in Hamilton. They requested our certificate be sent directly from the Insurance Company. Here is a copy of the certificate The Cooperators (our Insurance Company) sent them.

All you need to do is go to the WSIB search engine and type in the word "eavestrough" or "roofing" and a host of companies will pop up. You will be surprised how many do not have insurance. Remember, if the company you hire does not have insurance, they are your liability if they get hurt or damage your property!

At The Eavestrough Company, we carry all our insurances and make sure they are up to date each year. This way, there is no risk to our customers. To date, we have never had a workplace safety injury. If you would like a quote, please call us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com .

We are now Home Stars verified!

We are proud to announce The Eavestrough Company is now Home Stars verified. Home Stars is an independent, 3rd party site that allows people to find contractors that are reputable and stay away from companies that are not.

This year Home Stars took a further step and asked companies to become Home Stars verified.  They requested owners and staff members of companies to submit to: 1. A criminal background check; 2. A credit check; 3. Send them their license and government registration; and 4. Provide their HST number.

Of course, we had no problem submitting to this and we passed with flying colours! We now proudly carry the Home Stars badge of honour on our Home Stars page. We will also be adding this to our website in the near future.

At The Eavestrough Company, we run an honest, reputable business. We never ask for money up front, we do great work, and we will always be straight up honest with you, our customers.

If you would like us to provide a quote for you, please contact us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com

HomeStars Verified

At HomeStars, we take your safety seriously. When you see a profile with a HomeStars Verified badge, you can rest assured knowing you're only inviting the most trustworthy service providers into your home.

Earning a Verified badge means that a service provider has passed our screening process, which includes:

• Criminal background
• Credit
• Licensing
• HST registration

By hiring a HomeStars Verified pro, you're one step closer to having a positive and safe experience during your next home improvement project.

Foam Filter: One of the worst gutter protections ever marketed.

Back when we first started The Eavestrough Company there were numerous companies selling a foam filter for gutter protection. It was trumpeted as the best gutter protection on the market. The product was mostly made by one company, New Dimension Industries, and companies would put their own label on it. Some names for it were Gutter Filter, American Gutter Filter, Gutter Filter Canada, Rain Filter and Gutter Stuff.

The product looks like a triangular sponge. See picture below:

Brand new it looks pristine and the water goes right through it. Give it a couple years and debris cakes on it and the sun beats the plastic to bits and it starts to collapse into the eavestroughs. It is, in my opinion, one of the worst gutter protections ever sold to the public. 

Today,  I went to a house to give a quote to a potential customer. He has 366 lineal feet of eavestrough and someone sold him the foam filter 7 years ago. It was simply a disaster! It was so bad I took pictures and shot a video. He paid $3275 to get this installed in 2010 and we are going to rip it all out and put in in garbage bags. Here is the video I shot followed by some pictures I took:

Convinced this is a bad product? I am. I have taken out thousands of feet for people. The good news is that most of these companies have gone out of business or are bankrupt. If you find the links to their websites they are nearly all dead links now. Even Home Improvement Specialist, Jon Eakes, had an article on his website that touted Gutter Filter as the greatest thing since sliced bread. That link is now removed from his website....presumably because it wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread! The bad news is customers paid a premium for a "life time" warranty that is now defunct. I guess the life time warranty applied to the life of the company!

These gutter filter companies made a small fortune selling a terrible product. The problem is the consumers of the product become disillusioned with gutter protections when there are actually good ones on the market.

We have been in business for over 10 years. We are not going anywhere, we are not going out of business, and we are not going bankrupt! At The Eavestrough Company, we install seamless aluminium eavestroughs, fascia, soffit, siding and gutter protections that actually work! We would love to provide a quote for you. You can visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com  or you can phone us at 905-966-2564.

When to replace your Eavestroughs

I get asked several times every week, "How can I tell if my eavestroughs need replacing?" It's an honest and legitimate question. After all, how often do you replace your eavestroughs? Once every 30 years, if they are done right? Here are some things to look for to determine the condition of your eavestroughs:

1. Do they leak from the corners and end caps?
2. Do they have visible damage like denting or bending?
3. Are they detaching from the house?
4. Do they have large amounts of water pooling?
5. Are the downpipes broken or split?
6. Are they badly faded and oxidized?

The above is certainly not a comprehensive list but those are the most common things to look for. Here is a video I shot the other day at a home that will show you eavestroughs that are in poor condition and need replaced.

If you need a quote for eavestroughs and want the job done right, contact The Eavestrough Company at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com

Alu-Rex T-Rex and Gutter Clean vs. Alu-Rex Clip and Guard

I love Alu-Rex. Every year, I install thousands of feet of Alu-Rex T-Rex and Alu-Rex Gutter Clean. It works great with all debris except for pine or spruce needles.

Here are some pictures of the commercial grade Alu-Rex that I buy.

The top picture is of Alu-Rex Gutter Clean. It can be installed with new eavestroughs or with existing. The bottom picture is T-Rex. It can only be installed on new eavestroughs. Both products are quality heavy gauge aluminum. They both can be secured very strongly and will never blow off, collapse or seperate.

However, in the past few years, Alu-Rex has marched out other products which, in my opinion are very substandard and sold through the Big Box Stores. I have seen Alu-Rex products sold at Costco as "Golden Guard"; at TSC Stores as "Clip N Guard"; and Home Depot recently had Alu-Rex "Elements". They are all the same product just with different names. Here are pictures of the products:

How do these compare with Alu-Rex T-Rex or Gutter Clean? Other than being made by the same company, they don't! They are cheap, terrible products. The are made out of aluminum so razor thin I can cut them with scissors! They do not use any screws and so in a wind they shift around, collapse and blow out. In fact, the box of Alu-Rex Elements above was bought at a fire sale price at Home Depot for $6 per 24' box (that's .24 per lineal ft) because Home Depot was clearing out. Now that says something!

I'm not sure why a company like Alu-Rex sells one product that is phenomenal then dumbs down that same product into a poor product like Golden Guard, Clip N Guard, and Elements. I have taken these products off many houses.

The unfortunate thing is that some well intentioned home owners buy these cheap products, they fail and then come to the conclusion that all gutter protections don't work. It is very difficult to sell someone a great product by Alu-Rex when they have already tried Alu-Rex Clip N Guard and it failed. In my personal opinion, Alu-Rex does themselves a great dis-service when they sell these cheap failure prone products.

I know Alu-Rex wants to make a buck. After all they are a for profit business. I do however, believe they should leave it to the commercial suppliers like Gentek, Boncor, Kaycan, Roof Mart, etc.... and then leave it to the professionals to install their product.

That's my opinion on Alu-Rex. It's a great company with a great product. I just think they should stick to their products that actually work.

If you would like a quality product like Alu-Rex Gutter Clean or T-Rex installed on your home, contact The Eavestrough Company at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com

Farewell to an Old Friend!

Ten years ago we started our company. We began with very little money and we bought a 2003 Chevrolet Astro Van as our first vehicle. The Eavestrough Company grew and so did our fleet, but we always kept our first vehicle going. We loved our van. It was part of our history and who we were.

The last few years it began to rust badly, and break down often, but we kept it going. However, this year, we had numerous small vehicle problems all at once with our van and we decided it was time to part ways with it and buy a new service van, A 2015 Dodge Ram ProMaster Diesel. 

The van sat on my property and my wife and I discussed what to do with it. Early this week, the idea struck us to donate the van to charity. We have known about the charity Teen Challenge for many years and found out they take old vehicles for donation. Teen Challenge is a great charity that helps people with addictions and other personal problems. 

We contacted Teen Challenge and spoke with a very nice woman named Angelique who made this process so easy it was awesome! Within a few days they came to take our vehicle away and put it to good use in it's next life, even if that means the recyclers.

Today, they arrived to haul it away. I was out doing estimates and so I was not able to see it off. My wife and youngest son where there to give it a send off. Both my wife and son said they got emotional and teared up saying their farewells. Here are the final pictures as Teen Challenge takes it away:

I was very disappointed I was not there to see it off. However, to my surprise, as I was out driving to another estimate, look what I saw on the side of the road! 

I was so elated. I pulled over to the side of the road, snapped this picture and just looked at it for a minute. Farewell to a faithful vehicle that helped us become who we are!

I also would highly recommend Teen Challenge as a charity to support! If you have an old vehicle, why not donated it to Teen Challenge? What does Teen Challenge do? Here are some details I took from their website:  

"Teen Challenge helps men and women aged 18+ to overcome addictions by developing the whole person within the context of a residential facility. Students learn character and leadership development skills, health and life skills, and have the opportunity to acquire some vocational training."

For more on Teen Challenge, go to their website at https://www.teenchallenge.ca . At The Eavestrough Company, we know life is not just about us and our business. We want to make a difference in other peoples lives as we seek to build our business.

Don't blame the eavestroughs because of roofing problems!

At the Eavestrough Company, we strive for excellence. We also love our customers and dealing with people. Recently, prior to completing a job in East Hamilton, we took pictures and pointed out to the home owner he had a significant roof issue. We highly recommended he contact a roofing company to repair this ASAP.

We took pictures and showed him that he had roof sheathing either missing or significantly rotted. Roof sheathing is the plywood decking the shingles are attached to. To compound his problem, we showed him the shingles sagged badly and were well behind the existing roof drip edge. Here are two  pictures of the roof.

A few days later, there was a heavy rain and we received a phone call that water was falling through the soffit area on this section of the house. I had a cordial conversation with the homeowner who informed me he had not contacted a roofing company to repair this and wanted us to deal with this problem. I explained The Eavestrough Company does not do roofs but we would be happy to contact a roofing company to come strip the shingles fix the sheathing and put a new roof on this area.

Our company does great work, but we are not magicians. If water comes through the roof prior to making it to the eavestroughs, there is not much we can do. It is imperative that the roof and the plywood roof decking be in good shape and installed properly.

We were delighted we could point out this roof problem to the customer and he has pictures which clearly show the roof problem that exists. This is part of our great customer service.

If you would like a quote for eavestrough, fascia, and soffit, please contact us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com

Beware Hiring Companies from Kijiji!!!

The other day I got a call for an estimate. This homeowner explained to us she hired a company, paid them cash, they did some of the work and then never came back. She was now attempting to get another company who could come out and finish the job.

When I arrived at this beautiful Burlington, Ontario home nestled in the woods, this is what I found.

When I arrived, I heard the full story. She had found this "company" on Kijiji. A man came out and gave her a price for cash and most of the money was paid up front. He worked 9 weeks on her house, did not finish and never returned. Thankfully she did not pay him 100% of the money. I looked around and saw poor workmanship everywhere. I honestly would go broke if a job this size took me over two months to complete! We would be in and out in less than a week.

I saw a T-Shirt recently and had to take a picture of it:

I couldn't agree more with what is said on this shirt. When you hire off of Kijiji, you are likely to get individuals who are not skilled. As I tell people, it is always, "Buyer Beware" when it comes to Kijiji.

At The Eavestrough Company, we stand by our work and our work is done to perfection. We NEVER ask for money up front from our customers. You do not pay until we are done and you are 100% happy with our work! This is why we have such stellar reviews on the internet on review sites like Home Stars, Google Places, and Trusted Pros.

If you would like to avoid the hassle of poor workmanship and service, we urge you to contact us. We promise a job that will be done to your satisfaction. You can reach us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com .

In closing, here is a picture of a house we just completed with 900 square ft of siding, 900 square ft. of insulation, eavestrough, fascia and soffit. It took us 2 days to complete and the customers were super happy with the end result.