The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

First Aid For The Ailing Houses

Tin gutters can be protected against rust by painting the inside with tar or liquid-asphalt roofing cement. The outside should be kept painted with trim enamel.

Gutters should be inspected and cleaned at least twice a year. A fall inspection should be made to insure that all the leaves which have fallen into the gutter have been removed. The spring inspection should check for leaks and buckling caused by the winter freezing. The spring inspection should also cover the gutter hangers, to be sure none of them were torn loose by the weight of frozen gutters or leaders.

Leaders should always be of copper or aluminum. Wood is not very successful, because it dries out in the hot weather and the joints open up. This may be partially cured by wrapping baling wire around the wooden tube and twisting it tight, but the result will not be attractive.

Copper or aluminum is suggested instead of other metal, because the leader is difficult to paint inside, and metals other than copper or aluminum will probably rust out at the joints. One method of painting leaders is to remove them, take the sections apart, and force a paint-soaked swab through at the end of a broomstick. This is not always 100 per cent successful, however.

Leaders of a corrugated design freeze less rapidly than plain round or rectangular ones. Where possible, a minimum of bends should be used in leaders. These merely catch debris and make excellent spots for freezing to occur and split the seams.

Sometimes, through rusting or cracks in seams, the home owner is faced with difficult repairs in the large funnel-like section where gutters empty into the downspout. Replacement or repairing with a soldering iron at this height is not easy, and it is best to call in a professional. However, some of the new plastic or fiberglass patching materials (Duro Handy Patch, for instance) do a splendid job of such repairs. The material is cut in a size amply large to cover the defective area, then treated with the special accompanying solvent or activating liquid. The material is placed over the cleaned area and pressed into position. It can be painted if desired.

LIGHTNING PROTECTION

When current is purchased from a central station, the power lines are so well grounded and protected against lightning that the wires form the most efficient type of lightning protectio known. Many people believe that power lines attract lightning. This is a fallacy, in the same class with the near of steel umbrella rods. While it is true that lightning strikes power lines, this is not because it is attracted by the electric current flowing in them, but because lightning is electricity and takes the easiest course to ground. When this easiest course, the path of least resistance, happens to be a power line, that is the path that the lightning will take.