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Showing posts with the label gutters

Water Management @ Our New Old Farmhouse

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About a month ago, I showed the last pictures of our #NewOldFarmhouse where we were having our driveway poured out front.  More recently, the crew moved on to the landscaping and that includes the underground routing of drain pipes.  We're putting the downspouts and the sump pump drain into pipes underground.  You can see one of the big runs in the image above.  They're taking some of the pipes and running them towards a dry well and others...they're running into the yard and installing some 'pop ups' and then letting the grading of the property take over.   I took some photos of the drywells (yes...there's more than one) that we put in underground and I'll post the details of those over time.  It seemed that we had a few choices:  put in the drywells or include a water garden - like the one that the City of Elmhurst recently installed as a demonstration .   From a landscaping perspective, I had a really unique experience.  The subcontracto

Smart Screen Gutter Protection From Mike Holmes At Menards

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While at Menards this weekend, I spotted this display for the Smart Screen Gutter Protection System that appears to be either endorsed or created by Mike Holmes.  You know him, right?  The 'Make it Right' Canadian guy.  I like watching his show - but he does come off as a know-it-all sometimes.  But, still...I can respect a contractor for wanting to make things right and doing things the right way. These screens, which you can find more information here on the Smart Screen site , are $19.99 for 20 linear feet.   They have both front and back fastener systems (back has a screw) that makes them a bit different than most.  I've put gutter guards on our hold house that basically 'click' into the gutter and then get slid under the first row of shingles.    The normal ones are white and come in two varieties:  with a screen or without.  I think the ones with the screen work slightly better, but both work pretty well. Those are plastic, and these from Mike Holmes are