It’s a winter tradition: husband on the roof in the rain, pulling leaves out of the gutters and trying not to fall to his death. So far, he’s been successful. I hate to make him do it, but, as Tory Marino at Elite Window Washing says, “If you don’t get your gutters cleaned, then the debris from leaves and pine needles and the debris from your roof will build up. The gutters will start to sag from the weight. Eventually, you’ll have to replace them. And if the downspout gets clogged so badly that it can’t be flushed out, it too will have to be replaced.”Marino knows, because Elite doesn’t do just windows. “A 2000-square-foot home might have 130 lineal feet of gutter and might take us around five hours to clean at $3 to $5 per lineal foot, depending on how bad the gutters are. If there is over an inch of sediment in the gutter, we’ll take a gutter scoop — it’s like a
hard-plastic hand shovel — and remove the sediment manually. If there’s only a half-inch or less of sediment, we’ll use a pressure washer to flush the sediment through the drains. If the downspout is clogged, I have a tool that looks like an umbrella handle that I put on my pressure wand. I feed it in from the ground up, and the pressurized water flushes things out pretty well. Then we start cleaning the gutters by hand, using rags and a cleaning solution. It whitens up the exteriors of the gutter — and it makes dark colors brighten up, too.”For future protection, Elite can install “a product called Rainflow [$10–$15 per lineal foot]. It’s not a gutter guard or gutter screen…something that sits on top and changes the look of your house; it’s inserted into the gutter. It looks like fiberglass-mesh insulation, and it strains out debris. Leaves and pine needles will stay on top of the mesh during the rain, but after the rain stops and they dry out, the wind should blow them off. It comes with a lifetime guarantee, and if you have it in, your gutter should need only minor maintenance every five or six years. All I would need to do is take the Rainflow out at your gutter’s high spot and send pressurized water toward the downspout to flush out any dirt. A homeowner could even do it with a hose.”
That is, if I wanted to send my homeowner up there. I have some scary-hilarious visions of Patrick teetering like a circus clown, 20 feet up. “We follow OSHA ladder-safety guidelines,” Marino assured me. “When the ladder is fully extended, it should rest at a 45-degree angle from the house. And there’s the three-point rule: you must have three points of contact with the ladder at all times. Both feet and one hand.”
Like Marino, Jim Hamilton at Any & All Rain Gutter Cleaners is a stickler for safety. “We work from the roof, and if a roof has any kind of pitch, we’ll use a harness. And there’s always a ground guy and a roof guy in communication.” Unlike Marino, Hamilton doesn’t put anything into (or on top of) his gutters. “We used to install gutter screens but found that the leaves lay on top of the screen and biodegraded to form a sort of lid. When the water hit it, it skipped right over the gutter and onto the ground. And when the leaves finish decomposing, they drop through the screen as sediment.…
“We’ve been doing this for 16 years,” continued Hamilton. “When we started, we scooped gutters by hand or we used blowers, but we found it didn’t work for downspouts and roof drains. So, we’ve devised a water-jetting system; when we’re through, you could eat out of these gutters. We use a high-volume, low-pressure treatment. The machines on our trucks push eight gallons per minute — most washers only get two — and the higher volume carries everything downstream.” But not to the downspout. “You don’t want to send debris down the downspout. Some of them go underground, and you risk getting impacted sediment down there that will impede water flow. We block the downspout, blow everything out of the gutter into a receptacle, then unblock the spout and blast water through.” For that, “We use a spinning roto-jet nozzle that we can crank up to 4000 psi or down to 200 psi as needed.”
Hamilton’s prices start at around $175 per house and go up from there, depending on size. “We perform a flow test; if we see leaking at the seams, we’ll seal them. If necessary, we’ll readjust spikes to improve the angle of flow. We remove debris, clear the roof, and do a free pressure rinse of the home’s exterior.”
Kevin's no sponger! Less than a year ago Kevin Barrett lost his job and then his home. But after being out of work for less than two months he said “to hell with the recession” which was gripping the country and decided to start his own window cleaning business. And since then he has not looked back. Working from the back of his car with just a sponge and a set of ladders he needed to cash to put food on the table. Now eight months later he has got his own van, website and one of the most modern and best window washing systems money can buy. “It was pretty gut wrenching losing my job,” said Kevin. “I had been working for a car hire company and before that I had been valeting. I had never been out of work before. “But then after losing my job and I couldn’t get another, it was another kicking when we lost our house because we couldn’t pay the rent.” Kevin said he was lucky because his girlfriend’s parents gave them a roof and they have been with them ever since giving the support which was necessary.“Claire and I have been together for 10 years and we’ve got a little boy Jake, who is eight, so we really owe my in-laws. We couldn’t have done it without them.” The window cleaning business started slowly. “I leafletted Wootton Bassett and I was quite surprised with the response,”
he said. “Then after that I went to West Swindon and got another good response. “The money I got allowed me to get a small van and then a bigger one and then specialist equipment. “It’s all been paid for, which is satisfying. “Next year I want to expand and, possibly, take someone on and, of course, we have to get our own home.” “It just goes to prove than if I can do it so can anybody. You’ve just got to keep at it.”
A Mold family is facing another miserable Christmas a year after a gas blast wrecked their home. Pensioners Derek and Margaret Roberts and their son David, 42, are still suffering the effects of a terrifying blast that blew their Mold home to pieces. Window cleaner David suffered severe burns to his hands and has only recently gone back to work. The family is still living in rented accommodation and will not be able to move back into their home until February. David Roberts told the Leader: “It’s taken me nearly a year to get back to work properly. “I have still got the scarring on my hands and when I’m working in this cold weather they get very, very chapped and sore. “I am going for counselling now, which is helping me, but the trauma is still there.” The family were at their home in Stanley Street on the morning of December 1 last year when David lit a cigarette at 9.25am sparking a massive explosion that blew out the windows and doors and brought the house crashing down around them. David, who was engulfed in flames, dug himself out of the rubble, while his parents managed to scramble out of the property. Initial story here.
The captain of West Watford Conservative Club's snooker team sunk his teeth into the ear of a team mate, a jury was told this week. Steven Gibbs, 33, left Paul Stockwell needing reconstructive surgery after the fight in Hemel Hempstead, St Albans Crown Court heard. Giving evidence Mr Stockwell, 41, a window cleaner of medium build, said: "He had me in a headlock and he just bit my ear. I felt his mouth around my ear. I felt a warm sensation running down the back of my neck. I could feel his mouth very close to my ear. "Once he got a grip his teeth pulled down my ear. I saw the reflection of my ear hanging down in the reflection of a window." Mr Stockwell, of South Oxhey, said he had been a member of the Conservative Club snooker team for three or four years.
A dad who fell 50ft to his death from a waterfall while holding his young daughter had taken cocaine and drunk alcohol, an inquest heard yesterday. Window cleaner James Gallacher, 35, was walking to the top of Nantcol falls near Harlech, North Wales, with his partner when he slipped after Soraya, three, asked to be carried. Pathologist Tony Caslin said Soraya died instantly when she hit her head, while her father drowned in a pool, still clutching her. Dr Caslin told the Dolgellau inquest the drink and drugs impaired Mr Gallacher's judgment. Verdict: Accidental deaths. Initial story here.
A footballer who hit a car and crashed through a wall after driving while almost four times the legal limit has been jailed. Greenock Juniors star Harry McLachlan, had been on a 12-hour drinking spree with pals before getting in his car at midnight. The 30-year-old midfielder did not get far before crashing into a black Honda Civic. His car then bulldozed through a boundary wall with such force, it got stuck as he attempted to drive from Old Kilpatrick to Clydebank. Fiscal depute Linda Clark told Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Tuesday: "Witnesses heard a loud bang and, when they looked out of the window, saw the accused exit the car and walk towards Dalmuir. Police arrived at the scene and spoke to witnesses who gave a description of McLachlan, who was located about 100 metres away." When police caught up with the full-time window cleaner, they noticed his eyes were glazed, he was unsteady and struggled to speak. McLachlan, of Broom Drive, Clydebank, was jailed for four months and banned from driving for three years.
Since opening in May, the SAP headquarters has picked up awards from environmental, architecture, and construction groups. Whether it qualifies for the highest level of sustainability certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program - platinum - is not yet known. Few sites in the region can boast of that designation. Two in Philadelphia include Liberty Property Trust's One Crescent Drive, a four-story building at the Navy Yard Corporate Center, and the Aquatic Facility at Overbrook School for the Blind. SAP's headquarters is a sun worshiper's - and window washer's - dream, with 80 percent of the exterior consisting of triple-pane, high-performance glass that allows more reliance on natural light and less on the kind you pay for. Pictured - SAP America's energy-efficient Newtown Square building. The firm is widening its line of software products that help companies go green.
Window-maker feels stimulus: If the green economy makes John Haddon a wealthy man, he will owe a fair amount of the credit to good karma and fortuitous timing. For when Haddon and his partners - five brothers and a brother-in-law - first considered buying a Bensalem manufacturer of energy-efficient windows and doors in October, Barack Obama had not yet been elected president. His green agenda was just campaign talk. Four months would go by before Congress passed the $787 billion federal stimulus package that made rebates and other financial incentives available for the kinds of energy-saving goods the manufacturer, Accu-Weld Replacement Window & Door Co., was producing. Just after Congress and Obama approved the stimulus plan, he said, "we got phone calls from current and past customers asking which windows do we have that qualify for the stimulus package." Traffic on the company's Web site was up, too.
Snyder believes that as mayor, he could help preserve Chaska’s small-town feel. “There’ve been too many changes for small-town quality,” he said. “I want to listen to what the citizens want,” he continued. “Tell me what you want, and if it’s feasible, I’ll do it.” “Let me know what you want done,” he said. Snyder said that he is a hard worker and plans to continue to work hard after he is elected mayor. He currently drives a school bus for Positive Connection and is involved in several volunteer endeavors including the Sons of the American Legion, the River City Days Committee and the Boy Scouts of America. He formerly worked for the Metropolitan Airports Commission and has had a number of business ventures over the years, including his own window washing business, a limousine service and a coffee shop.
Josh McDaniel didn't wait for his business management degree to go into business. The Augusta State University junior already runs two businesses. He even handles his own accounting. The 21-year-old owns Junk in the Box, a junk removal service he started in January. Two years ago, he started a window cleaning business, J & W Cleaning. He has inspired some of his friends to start their own businesses, and they frequently ask him for advice, he said. Mr. McDaniel said his father has encouraged him since high school to start his own business. "Halfway through my senior year, it clicked with me. He's my inspiration. I learned everything in business from him," Mr. McDaniel said about his father, who owned a small business. At J & W Cleaning, a local businessman who provides labor is his partner, and they split sales. "I've got roughly 41 or 42 accounts, so that's pretty good," he said.
