We finished up this week with a gutter removal in Shirley, after having done a few substantial gutter, downspout, and RealGuard leaf protection installations in the Concord Carlisle Acton areas. We also managed to find time to completely gutter a whole house over on Great Rd in Littleton – right next to Gilson Rd, our sign is out front. That’s a nice home that now has brand new seamless aluminum 5″ gutters and 2×3 and 3×4 downspouts, inclusive of some specialty inside mitre work. For those who don’t know what a mitre is (some people spell it miter) – that’s the specialty aluminum piece that stitches together the 2 gutters that come together at an angle. Check out the home if you’re in the area. This week I’ve included a couple of pictures from a removal we did on Friday in Shirley. We had been to these people’s home the year before to estimate what a complete job would be because the existing system was installed so poorly and unprofessionally, but the home was s till under warranty. Well, after getting little resolve with the new home contractor and forced to live with such a poor system for so long , we were called in to completely remove the old system. The homeowners had been so aggravated with how the system did not work and actually caused problems that they no longer wanted any gutters whatsoever. And we understand just how frustrating this can be. You’ll see in the pictures how the gutters were just mounted to the fascia, a good 4-1/2″ in from where the shingles end and where they should have been mounted. That’s all because the home has roof edge venting, or Hicks vents, so the fascia board is well back to allow room for the vents, and specialty wood or Azek-type composite build-out is critical. None of this was used, and so the system couldn’t catch hardly any water and made things even worse in the winter. Not to mention that, as is seen in the other picture, non stainless steel screws were used for fasteners. They rust – and as the other 2 pictures show, that rust will bleed down your fascias, cornerboards, trim, and eventually the screw will rust out. We use only non-corrosive stainless steel screws for fastening and we guarantee our systems not to rust anywhere. Now what I want to understand is how a major gutter installation company in the northeast can put up systems like this and feel good about themselves? These poor homeowners are now so un-enamored of gutters that they won’t even consider getting anything done – at least for now. We’re not the biggest by far, but we do consider ourselves honest and reputable professionals who also happen to do a damn good job. Joe Alo oversees all the work on a daily basis, and under his supervision the job gets done right, and gets done right the first time. And it galls him to think that supposed “big experts” can do such inappropriate and shoddy work. But this is what happens when someone tries to take shortcuts. Anyways, we’re off for a vey busy week next week in Concord, Acton, and Chelmsford, with stops in Arlington and Shrewsbury. Lots of new seamless gutter work, lots of downspouts, some eggshell colored systems, some reverse flashing, and even some more RealGuard leaf protection. I’ll check back next week with an update of a very special upcoming job.