OT - What are you doing now? (2024)

Legume

If you're not getting on your roof regularly, how do you know if your neighbors have any HOA violations that need to be reported?

Dobie

Legume said:

If you're not getting on your roof regularly, how do you know if your neighbors have any HOA violations that need to be reported?

Bass boats are pretty easy to spot but for the other stuff spy drones. 

Canugghead

Dobie said:

Hmmm thinking a long flexible shop vac hose attached to an adjustable length pole like the ones on the tree pole saws 🤔

I can attach the hose to the guttermaster, neater and higher reach than pole saw pole.

GrateEggspectations

Can’t resist getting in on the gutter cleaning discussion. We are in a bungalow, but get a lot of detritus on the roof because of some very large trees on adjacent properties. Basically non-stop branches, leaves, acorns, etc on the roof. I generally climb up and hit them with a blower, but I tell myself that it would be safer to get at them by other means. My father recently gave me one of those extended hose attachments for this purpose, but I haven’t yet tried it. 

More adapter questions, @cannughead?! 😉

Canugghead

@GrateEggspectations been thinking of moving to a bungalow as we get older ... no stairs to climb inside and no fear of climbing the roof, lol. Wish we have decent selection of bungalows in our neighbourhood like yours.

johnmitchell

I posted this old pic a few days ago maybe needs a bump for all you gutter cleaning folk

GrateEggspectations

Canugghead said:

@GrateEggspectations been thinking of moving to a bungalow as we get older ... no stairs to climb inside and no fear of climbing the roof, lol. Wish we have decent selection of bungalows in our neighbourhood like yours.

We must say that we liked the prospect of being able to grow old in the home. The only potential obstacle is that we have a sunken living room. It’s only two steps down and we love the additional space it creates in the room, but it would pose a challenge were one of us to require a wheelchair. I suppose ramps could be added, but not as convenient as a single plane.  

Come on up! Ottawa ain’t that bad. 😉

DoubleEgger

Dobie said:

Hmmm thinking a long flexible shop vac hose attached to an adjustable length pole like the ones on the tree pole saws 🤔

You can also use PVC piping and connect the hose to it.  

Dobie

DoubleEgger said:

Dobie said:

Hmmm thinking a long flexible shop vac hose attached to an adjustable length pole like the ones on the tree pole saws 🤔

You can also use PVC piping and connect the hose to it.  

Yeah I got some of that laying around but being able to easily adjust the length for my different gutter heights would be cool. 

I used duct tape recently to attach a paint brush to an 8 foot piece of PVC to touch up a hard to get spot on the house 😬

Dobie

Canugghead said:

Dobie said:

Hmmm thinking a long flexible shop vac hose attached to an adjustable length pole like the ones on the tree pole saws 🤔

I can attach the hose to the guttermaster, neater and higher reach than pole saw pole.

Agree but I have a pole saw and not a gutter master 🙂 thinking about cobbling my stuff together sorry. 

zaphod

Canugghead said:

zaphod said:

I use something like that which I built from 2" abs pipe with an adapter for my 60 l (16 gal) shopvac. sucks the crap right out of the gutters as I stand safe on the ground.  When I was younger I would take the shopvac up on the roof with me. Took the wheels off it, but still dropped it over the edge of a 2 story house once. cracked the housing, but still works 20 years later.

Love it. Where were you when I was looking for a solution? 

the key piece is a two inch flexible coupling for plumbing. they have built in hose clamps which is important. You need two of them.



I use it to attach a vacuum F-F adapter to a length of 2" ABS. this adapts the 2" OD of the ABS to something that the vacuum pipe is designed to fit. I use the 5' flexible hose of the vacuum plugged into that, and sometimes add a 3' vacuum extension for more height. I likely could have lived without the F-F vacuum adapter, but swapping the 3' extension in and out was harder with just the flexible coupling. In the below picture you can see the coupling plus the vacuum adapter at the bottom of the pipe.  



At the top is a 90 degree glued to the long ABS on one end and a short stub (hidden in the picture) glued onto the other end. Then there is another 90" with a short stub (also hidden) glued onto one end and 10" of ABS glued onto the other end.  the 10" is what digs into the gutters.

the two stubs goes into the 2nd flexible couple with one clamp tightened down hard and the other just real snug. This lets me angle the 10" business end as needed.

Canugghead

Thanks for the detailed pics and writeup @zaphod. I just remembered our shingles edge extends quite a bit over the gutter, the narrow pipe of the Guttermaster can barely get into it. If I go ahead with the ABS the working end will need to be reshaped to fit. 

Botch

Many years ago my Mom asked me to clean her gutters, and once on the ladder I was surprised to see a sturdy, porous black foam filling all the gutters; it allowed rain and fine dust thru, but leaves and debris sat on top, and it was really a matter of brushing the leaves off with my hand and the gutters were clean.  I tried to find a link for them yesterday, but couldn't.  
This morning I was doing a deep-clean of my email in-box, and found the receipt from when I ordered "Gutter Foam" for my own house.  Neither Lowes nor Home Depot carried it, but I found it and bought it mail-order from Menards (a Midwest box store chain):
https://www.menards.com/main/search.html?search=gutter+foam
 
It's easy-peasy to install (just slide it in under the nails/screws), unless you have a fear of heights and no ladder access on one side of the house (I paid a guy).  Now, every fall I just reach up with a gloved hand and push the leaves off of the back gutter (don't need a ladder) and no deciduous trees on the front of the house, so I just don't worry about it.  

zaphod

very cool. I've been tempted by these brushes https://www.vevor.ca/gutters-accessories-c_11204/vevor-gutter-guard-brush-easy-on-gutter-guard-5-gutter-brush-w-bristle-60-ft-p_010737432776  for a while, but never got around to ordering them. Some of my troughs are 26' above ground.

Canugghead

@Botch That's neat. Just did a quick google search and these two popped up, readily available here. It's a different design.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/polar-bear-eavesdropper-eavestrough-foam/1001096155?eid=PS_GO_140203__ALL_PLA-526641&eid=PS_GOOGLE_D00_Corporate_GGL_Shopping_All-Products_All%20Products__PRODUCT_GROUP_pla-336655210985&pid=1001096155&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8rW2BhAgEiwAoRO5rLmPAUTVvZWUd_IWQMy6HAEB1JSobgJusAnZY8MDXyYvcbyZRETXERoCEnAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.homehardware.ca/en/48-gutter-foam-filter/p/2630950

(more bread crumbs for @GrateEggspectations )

kl8ton

Overnight brisket.  Dinner tonight.  Nine and a half hours at 275° I don't remember the weight. It was heavy and I had to wad up the end of the flat to close the lid of the large. Probably 20 lb. 

Canugghead

@zaphod Found this, very similar to yours. He uses 2" central vacuum pipe which is much lighter and cheaper than ABS, the HD near me has all the parts in stock. He also ended up not using the double-clamp thingy which is most expensive compared to the pipes and elbows. My only hesitation is the narrow gutter space due to shingles that protrude too far out, if I flatter the pipe nozzle to fit it may get clogged up easily
original:

update: https://youtu.be/-cRUheSAXM4?feature=shared https://youtu.be/mSSDkTUUz8E?feature=shared

Ozzie_Isaac

You could just remove your gutters.  Problem solved.

zaphod

good lord @Canugghead - that is almost identical for sure.  I have little experience with vacuum pipe, ABS is my goto for anything bigger than an inch.  thanks for the links to videos!

Canugghead

@kl8ton let's see if this floats up, or stays sunken.
Edit: seems alive and well

kl8ton

I didn't search for it I just scrolled down in the egghead for him and did not see it. Have we made a decision? Are we going to start posting here and let the other one sink? Start a new one each year?

Canugghead

kl8ton said:

I didn't search for it I just scrolled down in the egghead for him and did not see it. Have we made a decision? Are we going to start posting here and let the other one sink? Start a new one each year?

I just scrolled down and found it near bottom of first page. I think many agrees on starting a new one every year but AFAIK there's no final decision and can't stop new posts in the OG. 

lousubcap

Ozzie_Isaac said:

lousubcap said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Will there be a 2025 edition of this thread in January, and if so, will it be a new thread, or a continuation of this one?

Just planning ahead. 

Let's poll the collective here and see where we land. @Ozzie_Isaac has one more vote than the rest of us but what say you?
I vote for the annual restart (for 2025 hold off til April) with a steer back to this historical collection started in March 2015. (Lock in 10 years!)

I’m all for a restart.  The OG one will go funky in about a year because it will hit the vanilla time limit.

Here are the most recent thoughts I can find about thread life.  "Show previous quotes" provide more background.  FWIW-

Ozzie_Isaac

I am game to use this one moving forward and I’ll start new ones Jan 1.

The OG one is near the time limit anyway. It will still get popped up occasionally just like “Brisket, How I do it!”

FrostyEgg

Going on a hunt tomorrow for beef ribs for labor day. It's been way too long and it's hands down my favorite protein to smoke. 

Ozzie_Isaac

FrostyEgg said:

Going on a hunt tomorrow for beef ribs for labor day. It's been way too long and it's hands down my favorite protein to smoke. 

Love beef ribs, as good as the best brisket and as forgiving as pulled pork.

lousubcap

Good luck on your hunt.  Plate ribs for the win.

Canugghead

Front and rear plastic grills of my favourite turbo fan literally disintegrated due to age. 

Resurrected with stolen parts from a retired surplus fan

kl8ton

Canugghead said:

Front and rear plastic grills of my favourite turbo fan literally disintegrated due to age. 

Resurrected with stolen parts from a retired surplus fan

I think you should run without grills. Looks cool!

GrateEggspectations

kl8ton said:

Canugghead said:

Front and rear plastic grills of my favourite turbo fan literally disintegrated due to age. 

Resurrected with stolen parts from a retired surplus fan

I think you should run without grills. Looks cool!

The downside is that it might not be so good for the grandchildren. 

Growing up, my now-deceased grandmother had a fan that featured a grill with spaces so wide you could literally get two or three fingers in between there. It looked stunning though.