Help! My Basement Is Flooding.

With so many heavy rains this summer in Toronto, basement flooding has become an epidemic. The rains have spurred so many desperate calls to our office that we have trouble keeping up!. Chances are it involves an overflowing eavestrough and a window well. We can feel their pain of having to shop vac carpets and damage to walls etc.

This unfortunately is a reminder to homeowners who have neglected to keep up with the maintenance of critical things like eavestroughs and grading around the home.

Panic calls are usually the result of just a few factors:

1. The most frequent is eavestroughs and or downspouts  plugged solid with leaves. This is the main factor with the majority of calls. If you have trees you need to have them cleaned frequently. When we say frequently we mean up to 3 or 4 times a year if you have no leaf guard. It takes just a handful of leaves to plug the top of a downspout. Having no leaf guard will greatly increase your maintenance. And since you usually cannot see in the eavestrough, you will always be wondering is that eavestrough plugged or not? This is too stressful if an overflowing eavestrough will result in your basement leaking. With heavy rains maximizing the capacity of your system, a small amount of debris can shut things down and cause a major overflow.

Solution: Clean and inspect your eavestroughs with the forecast of each rain OR have some peace of mind and invest in a good leaf guard, clean and inspect yearly if needed and get some sleep.

2. Murphy's Law will come into play here as usually an overflowing leaf filled eavestrough will dump water directly into a window well. Time this with a 2 am rainstorm and you will be wishing you bought a condo. The window well may or may not have the proper drainage to evacuate the water fast enough to keep the water from building up and running in the windows.

Solution: Refer to the solution in number one and also have proper drains in the bottom of the window wells with the addition of a plastic window well cover to deflect water away.

3. Old poorly sloped eavestrough that hold water, get heavy and surrender to gravity. Eavestroughs sloped incorrectly will hold water and cause the old outdated system of nailing the eavestroughs to the house to come loose letting a river of water to flow beside your home.

Tip: If your eavestroughs are sloped correctly and your downspout plugs with leaves, the eavestrough overflow will be near the downspout. If the eavestrough always overflows 20 or 30 feet away or more then that is telling you that the low point in your eavestrough is not at the downspout, where it should be and you may need to fix your angles.

Solution: Correct slopes if your eavestroughs are newer. If older, say 20 or 30 years old it's best to replace with new. Why spend a bunch of money on an old eavestrough that's at the end of its life span? Install with a fastening system that is screwed directly to your home. The big old nails holding some eavestroughs on are susceptible to coming loose.

4. Poorly located downpipes drain water into an area that stays near your home. This water  pools and seeps into the ground along your foundation.

Solution: Redesign the slopes of the eavestroughs and choose a better location for the downpipe. If possible, a simple solution is to add a long downpipe extension at the bottom elbow to get out of a low spot and safely to an area where the water will drain away from the foundation.

5. Downspouts connected to city drains. The city system is overwhelmed during a storm so adding more water from your roof into the mix can cause water to back up drains into your basement. Also many pipes are made of clay and deteriorate over time. Who had the brainwave to make very important drains around your home out of clay anyway?  The good thing is no one uses clay pipes anymore. If you have a basement leak near a clay downpipe, then you have every reason to be very suspicious of it.

Solution: Every home is unique, but if possible disconnect or relocate downpipes to other locations and let them safely drain water away from the foundation. If impossible, then you may have to dig up the pipe or inspect with a camera to get to the root cause (plumbers have these).

6. Downspout disconnected from city drains. This seems to contradict number 5 but I will explain. It's great so many homeowners want to conform to the new City of Toronto deadlines of disconnecting downpipes but if done in haste, it can come back to haunt you. First off, everyone should know that not every downspout should be disconnected as not every home has the drainage to accomplish this. Disconnecting a downspout and letting water pour against your home or your neighbors home is bad news. Speaking of neighbours, if your roof water is flowing under the fence, it may fly under the radar until they get water problems. Then you can bet they will be peering over the fence with disgust at that downspout pointing at their home. There are bylaws here in Toronto that require you to contain your rainwater on your own property. Plus, it's just the neighbourly thing to do.

Solution: Remain connected to city drains and apply for an exemption with Toronto water. The other possible solution is to redesign your eavestroughs so the downspouts are in different locations than they are now.

Live in North York, Scarborough or another area in or near Toronto? For a free estimate on replacing your eavestrough system check out North Shore Eavestroughing at www.eavestrough.ca   Call us at 416.615.0443

Smart Screen Threatens Legal Action

One of our leaf guard comparison videos is creating quite a stir with the people over at Smart Screen. We have received emails and voice messages demanding we take this video off line and now most recently a rep from Smart Screen yelling at us (in our lettered vehicles) in Toronto traffic as we happened to be traveling down the same street. We do not engage in this type of activity. 

Smart Screen feels that we did an unfair test. We felt like we put a video together that tested 3 different types of leaf guard equally as we tested each type of leaf guard with the identical test. After testing with a garden hose, our opinion was that the Smart Screen had the hardest time absorbing the water. We feel this can be a factor in high volume roof areas and inside valleys.

Check out the video and let us know what you think? Is it fair of Smart Screen to threaten legal action?

If we did something illegal here in Canada, then fine, we will take it down. The video is far from our most viewed video with about 2500 views so no loss on our part.

The part that bugs us is the fact that it almost feels like Smart Screen is trying to be the bully on the playground here. The video was just our opinion.

Smart Screen is not our first choice in leaf guards due to some factors identified in the video. The biggest one for us is the labour cost to install Smart Screen on a new eavestrough is much higher for us than installing the T-Rex leaf guard. The T-Rex leaf guard fastens into the eavestrough before we even put the eavestrough on the home. This reduces our labour costs and makes leaf guard more affordable for the homeowner. The Leaf Solution performs very well but is labour intensive to install, expensive to buy in comparison to the T-rex or Smart Screen. These reasons are why we normally use T-Rex leaf guard as do many other eavestrough and gutter companies, in Toronto and elsewhere.

When making videos we intend to give good solid advice to homeowners who are interested in learning about eavestroughs and leaf guard. We do not have any vested interest in any leaf guard company.

Interested in a quote for Eavestroughs or leafguard in Scarborough, North York or other Toronto neighbourhoods, give us a call 416-615-0443     Our website is www.eavestrough.ca





Random Pictures At North Shore Eavestroughing

Cleaning up our client's property is super important. Removing old eavestroughing can be messy and we need to have on hand magnets for getting all those pesky roofing nails that some roofing companies like to leave in the eavestroughs for us to clean up.

Whether we work in Scarborough, North York or other areas of the GTA, every trailer is equipped with blowers to get your property extra clean. Dirt and shingle grits can all be cleaned up more thoroughly than just sweeping.

Tony having some fun with a back pack blower.

We always inform our clients of what king of parking we require before the project starts. When hiring eavestroughers be aware that they will need a lot of parking space room. It is needed for trucks plus runs 50 or 60 foot pieces of seamless eavestrough. 60 to 70  feet of parking along the front of your property can be needed.

A frequent delivery to our Scarborough headquarters, from one of our aluminum suppliers, Buchner Manufacturing.

See our installers testing out our .023 gauge eavestrough with T-Rex leaf guard. Unless you have a steel roof that is susceptible to snow slides you do not need to go heavier than a .023 gauge eavestrough --unless you expect to have more than 2 people hanging in one spot! If you need more than this don't worry as we have.027 heavy and .032 extra heavy gauge. The good thing about the T-Rex is that it's inexpensive to buy, attaches to the eavestrough before the eavestrough goes on the house reducing labour costs, adds strength to the system, and is widely available to the consumer as most eavestrough companies are using it. By far, the most popular leaf guard on the market.

A view from under the T-Rex leaf guard. The holes are large enough to let in all the water but small enough to keep out downspout clogging debris. The eavestrough will stay free flowing under the leaf guard as anything small enough to go through the holes will wash out the downspouts.

Before T-Rex leaf guard. 

After T-Rex leaf guard (and drip edge because shingles were too short).

We took these pictures at a Toronto home and have seen these same pictures in other eavestrough companies' brochures. Sorry guys, but making these into a mirror image does make them your own! :)

Power lines coming into a home can be deadly. In cases where close proximity or touching of power lines is unavoidable it's best to have the orange line protection installed by Toronto Hydro. This situation is more typical in the downtown Toronto area. It's not cheap (about $600.00 and personally I think Toronto Hydro charges too much and the result is homeowners decide not to have the work done putting workers' lives at risk. You may want to have your lines covered when doing work like roofing, painting, brickwork, or stucco to ensure workers remain safe. The line protection number is 416 542 2618.

You will always see our team using a 4' level to get accurate readings on which way your eavestroughs are sloping. Incorrectly sloped eavestroughs are the number one factor in why eavestroughs overflow. A eavestrough needs to slope down to the downspout. This will move water quickly to the downspout outlet where it can be evacuated from the eavestrough. Proper slopes and large downspouts will allow your eavestroughs to handle these 100 year storms we have just experienced in the GTA. We stand behind our no standing water guarantee and no overflows, no matter how heavy the rain!

A piece of seamless eavestrough with the T-Rex leaf guard installed; did you know that this fastening system is so efficient that you can have this installed as low as $3. per lineal foot when investing in new eavestroughs? It is super strong and resists damage from ladders and the weight of ice and snow.

We treat your home with respect and keep things neat and organized throughout the day.

Visit our website for a free consultation for a new eavestrough system. www.eavestrough.ca

Managing Surface Rainwater

For a typical parking spot in Toronto the rain would land on the pavement, picking up contaminants from vehicles and then wash down the nearest storm drain. This gives the water an expedited route, straight into Lake Ontario. This water is untreated and is a great problem for our water ways in terms of pollutants and also because the rainwater heats up as it passes over the pavement it greatly increases the temperature of streams. This is bad for fish.

On a recent trip to BC we saw a neat way to manage rainwater on a parking lot.

The parking spots slant down to a vegetation area at the front of each vehicle. Try not to notice the shadow!

The vegetation is a mix of special plants and bacteria to break down pollutants and serve as a mini treatment facility for rainwater that otherwise would have gone down a storm drain.

We can make a difference at our own home by thinking about where we deposit our roof water. Having downspouts drain into flower beds and lawns is basically the same idea. We can give our roof water a quick trip to the lake, carrying contaminants from our asphalt shingles or utilize it on our property.

This short, amusing video sums up the way pollutants end up in Lake Ontario.

We love to help our clients figure out safe and productive ways to disconnect their downpipes from the city sewer pipes. It's a painless way to make a difference for the environment. If you have a home in North York, Scarborough or other Toronto areas, we would be happy to design an eavestrough system that keeps your basement dry and helps protect our environment. Visit North Shore Eavestroughing at www.eavestrough.ca

New Soffits And LED Lighting

A few pictures of a Toronto area home in which we have installed complete soffit, fascia, eavestrough, leaf guard and LED lighting.
.

The client found these modern fixtures and they blend very well with the LED lighting. They can be found at the Hubbardton Forge website: http://www.vtforge.com

Link to page with these specific lights: http://www.vtforge.com/ProductsInfo.cfm?Design=307920

Focusing just on the lower level with special emphasis on the entrance way gave a nice effect.

It creates a safe bright entrance and is automated so they will always be on when you get home after dark!

Interested in giiving a facelift to your home in Scarborough, North York, or other Toronto area? 

Visit our website for a free quote. www.eavestrough.ca 

A Visit To Vancouver Gutter Companies

Recently we went from our offices and show room in Scarborough and headed west to visit a few gutter companies in the Vancouver area. We spent a couple of days travelling to see some companies as there are some differences to how they operate on the West Coast and we wanted to see them firsthand.

We will refer to eavestroughs as gutter in this blog post out of respect for our friends in BC. No one calls it eavestrough on the West Coast. As you may or may not know gutter is very common in the US as well. I like gutter as I think its easier for people to spell and say. :)

The big difference in BC is that everyone cuts their gutter as it comes out of the machine with a chop saw. This is how they cut their angles for corners and straight cuts for end caps. Here in Toronto this is done by hand.

Most companies cut outlets with a drill with a hole saw attachment. This works well in BC as most of the pipe used seems to be 2 inch by 3 inch size. Standard pipe size here in Toronto is 3 inch by 3 inch so this would not create a large enough outlet.

It might be hard to tell but these gutters are actually taller than the ones we use here as well. Its called a fascia gutter as it serves 2 purposes: to act as a fascia board on a roof line and also as a eavestrough. This saves builders money as they only have to install a smaller 2 inch by 4 inch board for a fascia. This board gets covered by the tall eavestrough which also means the builder does not have to pay to clad it with aluminum either. Not sure why we do not see this being done here on new homes in the GTA. However we do like our way better. I think it's all in what you are used to seeing.

This new house in a typical new subdivision with small fascias is ready for eavestroughs. Sorry the picture is from afar.

Thanks to Leif Carlson from Gaultier Ent. Ltd. He was working hard in the rain! That's another big difference from other parts of the country. Most gutter companies would have gone home until drier weather but as they say in BC, if you don't work in the rain you will not be working much! Centre in picture is Max an area representative from Alu-Rex leaf guards. Alu-Rex was generous enough to take us to a few companies while in the Vancouver area. Gaultier Enterprises from Chilliwack can be found at: http://www.gaultier.ca/gutters

After seeing how popular fascia gutters are out there, we travelled to Nasser Multi-Profile machines. Located in Chilliwack, they specialize in making multi-profile fascia/gutter machines. A great set up geared towards those in BC who need fascia gutters. It can make 11 different profiles and one is shown below.

It was a pleasure meeting Nabeil Nasser at Nasser Multi-Profiles. He definitely has many excellent products for the professional. They can be found at: http://www.nassermachines.com/

Our next stop was to Above All Gutter Systems in Surrey. A company who strives to be great at what they do. Thanks for showing us your terrific set up! They can be found at: http://www.aboveallgutters.ca/

Last stop was North Shore Home Services in Burnaby. A well established professional company.

Owner Troy Thompson and Max from Alu-Rex were checking out the fancy new wrap on one of North Shores gutter trucks. Cant miss them now.

Thanks to Carlos and Adam (in safety vests) who were very generous in explaining the way BC gutters are done. Thanks Troy for the tour of the office and meeting us at one of the job sites.
North Shore Home Services is the only company I know of that travels with 2 gutter machines in their truck. One fascia/gutter machine and another K Style machine like we use in Toronto. They can be found at: http://www.northshorehomeservices.com/

In summary we had a great trip and got to see some different ways of doing gutters. Some we will most likely implement as we are always looking for new improved ways of doing things. BC was great and we finally saw the sun on the last day there!

Visit our website www.eavestrough.ca

Before and After Pictures

Have a look at some of our work in North York, Scarborough and the Toronto area.

A change of eavestrough and fascia colour can make a big change!

The old product removed.

Installing the new fascia.

Black roofs and white soffits. This homeowner decide to change to black for a change.

We removed the downpipe at the front center to another location for a cleaner look.

This house has undergone extensive renovation. The old soffit, fascia and eavestrough was white.

Once the old aluminum soffits were removed, the plywood could be removed for maximum ventilation into the attic.

New clay colored soffits, and eavestroughs have been installed to make a big difference. Along with a new dual black roof and other improvements like recessed LED potlights.

For a free quotation in the GTA visit our website www.eavestrough.ca

Where The Heck Is North Shore From?

A little history of North Shore Eavestroughing: Hardly a week goes by with out someone asking "Where is the North Shore?" or "What North Shore are you from?". Everyone has there own idea and takes a guess.

About 17 years ago North Shore Eavestroughing was formed in a small town along the North Shore of Prince Edward Island called North Rustico. Hence the name North Shore Eavestroughing. After growing up with a family of self employed contractors it seemed natural to start up my own business in my late teens.

At our peak we had two crews and travelled all over PEI and were most likely PEI's largest eavestrough company.

A picture below of one of our units in PEI.

 It was always our priority and still is today to hire positive people that are focused on doing quality work and have a great attitude.

Even back then we stood out from the other companies because we insisted on spending the time to do the job properly and use a level to get the proper slopes on the eavestrough.

We had seamless eavestrough machines and ensured all our company members were properly outfitted in North Shore shirts/uniform just like today. A clean professional appearance was always important to us.

We operated a snow removal company in the winter. Occasional 70 cm storms with high winds happen there. Snow was as high as the tractors in the bad storms. Great experience for our commercial snow removal business that we operate today here in Toronto.

We stay connected to PEI with some waterfront rental cottages that we own and rent to people vacationing to PEI in the summer. Check out our website www.seawindsresort.com. Many people from the Ontario region stay with us at Seawinds Cottages. My wife Angela handles the bookings from Toronto and we have an amazing manager that takes excellent care of our guests and keeps the property in superb shape. We visit PEI three or four times a year.

Always curious what it would be like to work in the big city and with a little coaxing from some family that lived in Toronto we made the trek. With both Angela's and my business experience and our PEI values we were excited to start this new chapter. We had our first truck and trailer outfitted with our new Toronto telephone numbers before Angela and I made the trip to Toronto to expand our business in this big city. A few months later we returned to PEI to pick up our second truck and trailer and drove it to Toronto as well.

During our early work in Toronto we did a fair amount of new construction. We were quick to find out that quality is not often required or appreciated when doing new construction and we are all about quality...so we pursued residential work which is the focus of our work today. The picture below is of some of our earlier work in the GTA.

Below is a picture of our front office, show room and some of our fleet parked outside of our office.

We are proud to have been in business with the same name for over 17 years now! With hard work and our small town values of PEI has taken North Shore to the top in Toronto as well. The picture below is showing a wall in our office where we display our Awards, Certifications and Licenses. We won Homestars.com "Best Eavestrough Contractor" Awards for the city of Toronto for the years 2008, 2009 and most recently 2011.

We are thankful for all our happy customers who trusted us to complete their eaves work. Today we value each homeowner like we did back in PEI and this has been the secret to our success.

Visit our website at www.eavestrough.ca