House Project: Fun with the boom lift!
Hooray! This weekend, Steven and Dad completed some projects that Steven’s wanted to get done for a long time. We had been waiting for the right weather (we kind of had it…) and time to do it!
Renting a boom lift was crucial to the work – installing gutter guards, new plumbing vent caps, and tree removal/trimming. You don’t do those things (safely) on a ladder!
The boom lift arrived on Friday and we had it until Monday (technically, for eight hours of timed use). Steven wasn’t home when it was dropped off, so the delivery guy told me how to use it. I remembered MOST of what he said and Steven read parts of the manual to figure out the rest!
(Funny story: when Steven was calling to rent it, they asked what company he worked for, and he said it was for personal use. So they asked if he had a license to operate and he said no. The guy on the phone was like “hold on a minute,” then talked to someone in the background and came back and said “Okay, what’s your credit card number?!” Ha.)
GUTTER GUARDS
We originally didn’t have gutter guards on ANY of our gutters (ha, our house didn’t even HAVE gutters when we bought it). After the first few big storms at our house, we realized we needed them – the gutters fill up so fast with the leaves getting blown around during the storm. And we want the water to go through the gutters and down the drain pipes – NOT to spill over and against the house.
So we had a company install gutter guards on one side of the house, and Steven installed them on the rest of the lower level that he could reach with a ladder. And that left the gutter guards on the second floor to be installed!
Getting set up
The gutter guards were a pain to put on because our gutters are installed too high (the guys who installed our gutters were idiots). You can see in the photos below that the tiles of our roof hang right over the gutters – the gutters should be a bit lower. Because of that, it was frustrating to get a drill back there to secure the gutter guards. But Steven got it done and they look marvelous!
Beautiful new gutter guards!
Not sponsored: The gutter guards are made here in Chicagoland and the owner is really nice!
It was overcast in the morning when they were working on the gutter guards, then the sun came out in the afternoon and Steven got a bit of sunburn while up on the lift. Oops!
PLUMBING VENT CAPS
We’ve noticed some back drafting of scents in to the bathroom that the vents are supposed to be pushing out, so we figured they might be clogged, and that we needed new plumbing vent caps. The gutter guards were the top priority project with the boom lift, and this was the second one.
This ended up being a huge pain in the arse because the vent caps Steven ordered had to be modified (cut and shaped) quite a bit to fit on the exhaust and against the roof tile. That’s one thing to do when you can walk to your tools and use them and test the shape. It’s another thing when the tools are in the garage and you’re two stories up in the air and having to test the shape!
But they finally got them to fit, yay!
Also, these are “critter quitter” vent caps, which are meant to deter animals from getting inside them and chewing on them. The old vent caps were lead, and apparently, lead takes salty and amazing to animals. The new ones are plastic. Stay away, animals! Stop chewing on our house!
TREE REMOVAL/TRIMMING
Steven and Dad got the gutter guards and plumbing vent caps installed Saturday which meant they had time Sunday for bonus projects on the boom lift (Steven checked the timer and saw they were still under the eight hours allotted).
After the morning rain stopped, they removed a tree from the backyard. It was the only tree in our backyard, and it was rotted and hollow inside.
Then they went all over the yard removing dead limbs. Sigh. We have A LOT of unhealthy trees in our yard. We don’t feel bad cutting them down since we have so many damn trees, but we are concerned about that so many trees are unhealthy! We might have a tree doctor come look at a few.
Inspector Data
It looks like a storm came through our yard, but that’s just all the limbs we still need to clean up.
Steven and Dad spent all of Sunday afternoon removing limbs. They got almost all of them done except one (the boom lift died and that ended their fun). So if you visit, I’ll tell you where NOT to park your car, in case it falls. Hee hee.
BONUS PROJECTS!
Don’t worry, Steven had back-up projects for after the boom lift got picked up and when Mom and I were at NeoCon on Monday.
HITCH INSTALL
They installed a hitch on my new car, yay! Now it’s ready to hold my bike rack! You know, if I actually rode my bike… (I totally will after this race!).
GUTTER DRAIN PIPE
The gutter drain pipe they installed in September has been spewing water out when the sump pump runs, so they installed some (custom-made) tighter fittings to stop that from happening.
In conclusion…
Damn, they got A LOT done! Steven was really hoping to get the gutter guards on and maybe the plumbing vent caps, so he was happy to get so many dead tree limbs down too. There was only a few small “fill in free time” projects they didn’t do, and really, those are things Steven and I can do (really, Steven, ha).
And don’t worry, friends! Steven and I still have A LOT to do on the house. Like:
- install attic baffles/insulate our strange little attic above the dining room
- install new sump pump covers
- install a plastic bag holder, battery holder, and paper towel holder in the closet upstairs (I like easy projects like this, ha!)
- seal the basement floor
- design and build a drainage system for the front yard
- build a second garage
Themocracy
Yay, I love house update posts!
I’m glad Steven and your dad were able to get so much work done! That boom lift thing looks NUTS. But it also definitely looks like the best way to do the work you needed done. I’m sure those gutter guards will be a huge help once leaves start falling so your gutters can do the work they were meant to do! I want to say I’m surprised the house didn’t have gutters in the first place, but if there’s anything I’ve learned about your house through these posts, it’s that nothing should surprise me anymore, haha.
Are the dead/dying trees a threat to your house? I only ask because The Audubon Society (a bird-protecting society) often recommends that if a dead tree doesn’t pose a threat to the structures on your property (i.e.: if it falls, it won’t damage or destroy something), that you should leave it there because it can benefit the birds (https://www.audubon.org/news/how-make-your-yard-bird-friendly-0 – under section 5, bullet “Spare your Back.”) Arguably not as much of a priority for you as it would be for me if I had a house/woods (and probably shouldn’t be a priority for you if you ever decide to have outdoor cats again, since outdoor cats are a pretty big enemy of birds), but something to consider if you would like to attract birds and don’t want to have to go through the work of cutting down a bunch of trees! (If they’re not threatening your house, that is.)
Thank you for loving them! We always love your comments!
Buah ha ha – yeah, nothing should surprise us about our house anymore, but yet, it still does! I remember when we visited it first I didn’t even notice it was missing gutters. Like, you just don’t think about it! It will be so nice not to clean them out this fall. That was a huge pita (the leaves are in general, but we are learning more each year about how to take care of them in the fall!).
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing that page with all the tips! The dead limbs we removed this weekend were a threat to cars/the house/or just in areas where we might walk and they would fall, but we do have a lot of trees down in the woods that we have left there because they’re huge in a lot of work to get to. I never though about birds liking that!!!!!
You just reminded me that we need to replace our gutter guards (we call them gutter screens out here) – our insurance adjuster said they were all dented and beat up after the big hailstorm. I will say, we had them installed right after we moved into our house and they have been amazing in keeping out all of the leaves and tree debris, so it’s a worthy investment for sure.
I’m really impressed with Steven and your dad using that boom lift – it’s a huge piece of equipment! For your tree issues, I recommend getting an arborist out there. We had one come out when we needed to have our extremely delicate Post Oak trees trimmed – these things will die if you look at them wrong, so we wanted to make sure it was done properly. He advised us on all the trees on our property, which was very reassuring.
Oh wow, and they’ve lasted since you moved in?! That is great! I hope insurance covers the new ones?!
I was impressed too – even though it totally doesn’t surprise me that Steven felt comfortable with it. Oooo, that will be so interesting if we do that – did you just look one up online or look through a local tree society? Are your Post Oaks doing okay? LOL, look at it wrong.
Holy cow they did a lot! I’m impressed. Maybe they should come to our house and install those gutter things next… Will tried to do that before and the mutant squirrels ate them. 🙂
OMG, they ate those too?! Dafuq is with these squirrels?!?!?!??! What don’t they eat?!
I bet Steven would love to help Will out!
I can’t believe Steven knows (and figures out) how to do all this stuff. He and your dad got so much done! (How does your dad know how to do all this too?!?)
I know, it blows my mind too. He just loves figuring out things and doing them (I HATE figuring out most things, ha). I think my dad knows a lot from experience, and just thinking mechanically!