I had stopped at Home Depot yesterday and looked at gutter covers. They carried asingle kind. It was vinyl with round holes, and ridges that ran long-ways. There were also soft clear plastic edges.
I checked out Lowes today, and they had at least 5 different kind, and even amond those a couple gave a choice of brown or white. I wanted to ask someone who worked there if they knew anything about whether they worked, or if there had been returns or complaints. Nobody was in the area. I went to the customer service desk with gutter covers in hand. The girl there called someone, and said they’d meet me by the gutters. I walk all the way back to the gutters (opposite corner of store), and waited for about 10 minutes, before heading back to the customer service desk. The girl who I talked to before was on the phone. Another girl helped me, and was able to eliminate a couple types from consideration.
One type was not covered with holes, but had a lip that the water would go over, and go through slots. She said the slots get clogged with leaves. These were about $1/foot.
There was another kind with diamond shaped holes. She said these worked okay, but leaves get stuck in the holes. These were cheap at about $0.33/foot.
There was another kind that was the same as the kind with the diamond holes, but it also had a plastic screen cover the holes. She said this one worked well. These cost about $0.60/foot. They sell boxes of this kind for about $39, so that would bring the price down to about $0.52/foot. So I bought a single 3 foot piece of the vinyl cover with the diamond shaped holes and the screen covering the holes. I will see how well it fits my gutters. She warned to make sure the cover is securely snapped in place.
I had a busy weekend! I spent a lot of time cutting wood, and carrying some of it up the hill to our house, and stacking it. I also got the ladder out and cleaned out our gutters. I stopped at Home Depot and looked at some gutter covers. They carry something called Leaf Guard Plus. It cost about a $1 a foot. I searched for reviews but couldn’t find much at all about them. I am not even sure whether they will work for my gutters, or are designed to fit the PVC gutters that Home Depot sells. I am going to check Lowes as well.
I had been checking out a product called Gutterstuff. It seems like a great idea, but I think they charge too much! You can’t get through the comany directly, but only through the distributers who have monopolys for their areas which are statewide. The local distributor gave me a price of something close to $10 a foot (not even installed). I found another distributor in another area that gave a price of $5 something a foot. I have relatives in that area so I could have them ship there. But $5 a foot seems kind of pricey for the product. I have about 144 feet of gutters to do. The product is basically just a long chunk of foam diagnally cut down the middle. There are a few similar competitor products, but the BIG BOX stores don’t carry them.
I also worked last night ripping out two of my three raised bed gardens. The best luck I had was when I only had one 4×12 foot bed. I added two more, but then it took too much tiem to tend them. Now I need the space to stack three full cords of wood I am having delivered on Sunday.
Dremel Chain Saw Sharpening Attachment Kit #1453
SUMMARY: Does a great job fast and easily once you figure it out. But directions are confusing.
Having just ordered a new wood stove with plans of heating my house, I was out on my tree covered property cutting up dead or fallen trees. I have had the chain saw for a year or two and have never sharpened it. But as I was using yesterday, it was cutting kind of slowly, and seeming to burn the wood some instead of cutting it. I had bought the attachment for my Dremel tool a while back, but have never used it. I had never even opened it. So last night I decided to give it a try. I have never sharpened a chain saw before so I had no clue what I doing. The instructions that came with the attachment were a single double sided page. The instructions were difficult to follow. It would have benefitted to have more pictures, and maybe more and simpler instructions for those of us who have never sharpened a chain saw before (I put my own instructions online with pictures here). The kit includes three different size sharpening stones, two spacers, a gauge, and a tool. All of this can be confusing.
I went through the instructions, put the attachment together and proceded to sharpen my chain saw. I took it out and try to cut some wood, but it didn’t seem to cut any faster. I bought the saw in and went though the instructions again, and found I missed some instructions. I had been sharpening the wrong part of the teeth. I found I needed to adjust the attachment sharpen the inside part of the teeth. I wasn’t sure which stone to use. I did a google search, and thought I needed the pink 3/8ths inch stone, but it wouldn’t fit on the inside of the teeth. On the other hand, the orange .325 stone fit perfectly, so I figured that was the one I need. I put the attachment together. I adjusted the attachment using the little gauge that came with the kit. I set about sharpening the saw teeth again. It took only a minute to sharpen all the teeth. This morning I took my chain saw out, and I was cutting through 18 inch logs in seconds. Awesome!
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After researching wood and pellet stoves, I finally decided on a Pacific Energy Summit insert wood stove. I decided on a wood stove over a pellet stove for several reasons: the greater cost of pellets over wood, I can get some free wood, the higher potential btus from the wood stove. I was seriously considering the Regency I3100 until I saw the Pacific Energy Summit. After reading reviews, I decided to go with the Summit.
Everything I read was good, and nobody seemed to have any complaints at all. It has higher potential BTU output and, and sounds like it will do a slow burn very well. The stove will be delivered and install on the weekend after thanksgiving. The Summit stove insert cost $2300, and I will need a liner for my chimney, and that cost $1000 and installation will be $625. The Regency would have cost over $2400, though the install would have been about $550, and the liner would have only cost $400 (though I don’t know if they knew that I would have needed about 35 feet of it. I have a tall chimney). I believe the 304 stainless steel liner I am getting is a much heavier gauge than I would have gotten from the place selling the Regnency.
The guy at the fireplace store said I would probably use about 4 full cords of wood. I already have about 1 full cord, so I called and ordered another 3 full cords. I have been out back on my property cutting down dead trees, and cutting them up. They already pretty dry. There is a big fallen tree down the hill, and I am going to try to cut it up and stack it for next year. My chain saw was starting to cut pretty slowly as I think the chain was getting a little dull. I pulled out the chain saw sharpening kit that I had bought for my Dremel, but have never used. With a bit of reading, and trial and error, I think I succesfully sharpened my Poulan Pro chain saw. So hopefully I will get out tommorrow and cut up some more wood. I am probably going to rip up one or two of my raised bed gardens so I will have a place to stack the 3 additional cords of wood I am getting. I am really pumped to get my new stove.
I bought two face cords of wood (2/3rds of a cord). They delivered them this last weekend. I stcked them, and covered them with a tarp. I have no clue of how long they will last. I also have some wood stacked there that has been stacked for a couple of years, so it should be seasoned. Though that wood hadn’t been covered, I am hoping it shouldn’t be too wet.
I have a tree that is kind of close to the house. The guy who dropped off the wood also cuts trees. He is going to cut it down for me, and cut it into 18 inch pieces. He told me $90, though when I have told people about htis, they thought it sounded kind of cheap. So I hope I heard him correctly.
I am still researching stoves (wood and pellet). Chimney will be cleaned and inspected next Wednesday. Hopefully no problems there. I still need to buy a few fire extinguishers for safety.
So without any problems, we should be saving some money on our heating using our existing wood stove.