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How Downspout Flip-up Hinges Make Mowing Your Lawn Easier

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Mosquitoes. Humidity. Blazing heat. Shoes filled with lawn clippings. These are just some of the inconveniences you must deal with while you’re mowing your lawn. You may even have to pull the starter cord 20 times before realizing you previously removed the spark plug (it happens to the best of us).

Anything that makes your lawn mowing experience quicker, easier and less frustrating is certainly welcome. You might be under the impression that your home’s gutter system is powerless to facilitate your weekly summer landscaping chore. But if that’s the case, then you are sorely mistaken. You’re overlooking the power of flip-up hinges!

What Are Flip-Up Runoffs?

Your gutter’s downspouts terminate in elbows. If an elbow is “A” style, it lets rainwater and meltwater flow out perpendicular to the foundation. If it is “B” style, outflowing water exits parallel to the foundation. But regardless of its style, an elbow must bend at a 90° angle (or very close to it) so it can decelerate the flow of water and prevent erosion around the foundation.

Therein lies the problem. In order to mow the grass immediately surrounding your downspouts’ elbows, you must first remove their connected runoffs – i.e. the longish tubes that lie parallel to the ground.

Unless you have flip-up runoffs, that is. A flip-up runoff permanently attaches to the downspout and is easily angled upward. Now instead of arduously removing and reattaching runoffs before you mow the lawn, you’re simply angling the hinged downspouts upward – and then restoring them to their effective downward position once you’ve finished. No more bending over or running the tips of your fingers across sharp sheet metal components!

Flip-Up Runoff Installation Is Easy!

Are you concerned that flip-up runoffs will necessitate complete replacement of your home or commercial property’s entire gutter system? No worries! Installing this time-saving upgrade only requires changing out ground-level gutter components. Your gutter technician won’t even need to set up a ladder, which means minimal labor fees and interruption to your property.

Ensuring that the new components perfectly match the style and color of your existing gutter system is perfectly straightforward as well. The only evidence that you have upgraded your gutter system will be the small, nearly invisible hinges which permit you to flip your runoffs upward before you start mowing your lawn.

Contact Curry’s Custom Cut Gutter Today for Professional Flip-Up Runoff Installation

If you live or do business in the greater Rochester, MN area, you have Curry’s Custom Cut Gutter for all your gutter installation, repair and upgrade needs. Our technicians are standing by to outfit your existing gutter system with time-saving flip-up runoffs. And if you have any other need for our comprehensive high-quality gutter services, we’ll be more than happy to take care of them while we’re changing the way you prepare to mow your lawn. Contact us today to get started!

snow guards

How to Prevent a Roof Avalanche

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Metal roofs have become increasingly popular in Southeast Minnesota as of late. Why is this? Because Minnesotans are smart. They appreciate the benefit of a roof that can easily last 40 to 70 years. They realize that a steel roof’s outstanding resilience to large hailstones and strong gusts of wind make it ideal for our frequently inhospitable climate. And because they respect the planet, they value a roof that is environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

But steel roofs aren’t without their shortcomings. Because its surface is significantly slicker than that of a conventional asphalt shingle roof, a steel roof is at greater risk of causing an avalanche!

What Is a Roof Avalanche?

If you have good taste in movies, then you must love the best film ever to come out of the great state of Minnesota: Grumpy Old Men. You may recall the scene in which John sprays water all over the snow covering Max’s roof. John was attempting to prank his neighbor by causing a roof avalanche – a sudden and violent release of the snow and ice that accumulate on the roof.

Despite all the misgivings between the pair, Jack was being awfully cruel to Max. A roof avalanche isn’t some harmless jape! It may cause serious property damage, as rapidly falling snow and ice can loosen or completely dislodge shingles, skylights and vents. The gutters, which are relatively delicate and only fastened to the house’s roof or fascia, are especially vulnerable to damage as the result of a roof avalanche.

That’s to say nothing of the physical injury a roof avalanche can cause. It’s easy to appreciate how, as the snow and ice a roof accumulates can easily weigh hundreds of pounds. If a 100-pound object falls just 10 feet, it will strike the ground with more than twice as much energy as a 9mm handgun bullet!

Sadly, roof avalanche injuries aren’t uncommon. A roof avalanche at a resort in Colorado hospitalized three people earlier this year, and a Utah man recently passed away after a roof avalanche buried him alive.

How Can You Prevent a Roof Avalanche?

No matter the material it is made of, preventing an avalanche is as simple as raking your roof clear after each snowfall. Can’t have a roof avalanche if there is nothing to avalanche!

But if you would like the best protection against property damage and serious injury, then you are advised to install snow guards. These simple devices are easy to clamp or adhere into place on metal, slate and asphalt shingle roofs alike. Once installed, snow guards prevent snow and ice from rapidly shedding off the roof. Instead they will gradually melt in place, thus minimizing the risk of a dangerous snow avalanche.

Different types of roofs call for different types of snow guards. If you would like the ideal snow guards regardless of your roof’s pitch or the material it is made of, then we welcome you to contact Curry’s Custom Cut Gutter today for a free estimate! In addition to snow guards, we can also install high-quality gutters that will keep your foundation and landscaping protected year round.