But you owe to yourself and your family to maintain your home. The time to clean your gutters is now. Just 15 to 20 minutes of maintenance can help you side step extremely expensive home repairs down the line and protect your most precious material investment against the ravages of water damage, mold, structural instability, infestations, and so forth.

Gutter Cleaning Tactics

1. Identify problem areas.

Leaking gutters can allow water to overflow and cause structural problems, moisture damage to wood, and even cracks in the foundation itself. Once these problems begin, the elements will exacerbate them. Water can freeze in cracks in the winter and make them worse, for instance. Gutter problems can also crack driveways, causes sidewalks to become slippery, destroy landscaping, and invite nasty insects and bees to take up residence on your property.

2. Wear appropriate clothing, and be smart.

Wear suitable gloves, and avoid hazards, like power lines and wasp nests.

3. Trace a methodical path from one end of your house to the other.

Use a hose and gloves to empty out full gutters. Empty the hose down all spouts to clear away all debris. Do not stand or sit on the roof – work from your ladder. Replace lose bolts or gutter spikes as you go. Afterwards, install gutter guards under your spouts to prevent leaves from building up near the spout exits and causing overflow.

If you’re confused — or if you’d like help from experienced professionals — talk to the team at Century Roof and Solar. We can provide a customized gutter cleaning solution. Connect with us for a free consultation today at www.centuryroofandsolar.com, or call us at 510-780-9489.

Rather than give you a boring list of “ways to conserve” that you can find a million other places on the internet, we thought it might be interesting to turn the tables a bit.

To that end, here three surefire ways to waste our most precious natural resource:

1. Gush excess water on your lawn or garden.

NASA statistics suggest that each American, on average, dumps 200 gallons of H2O on our properties and gardens every single day. To waste even more water, cut your grass really short, water lawns during the hot afternoon hours so that more water will evaporate, and aim your sprinkler system haphazardly, so the water hits walls or pavement and thus evaporates.

2. Use and abuse your pool.

Pools are notorious water wasters. So, rather than use a sprinkler system – or a community pool – to enjoy summer water play, buy your own pool. Be sure to leave the top off, when it’s not in use, so that the maximum amount of water can evaporate. Also, be sure to change the water more frequently than the manufacturer recommends.

3. Crank up your home water consumption.

There are countless ways to waste water in your home. You can take extra long showers every morning and run your dishwasher when you only have few dishes or plates inside. Ignore your water bill and refuse to look for inefficiencies that you can easily correct… and that could save you tens of dollars a month in utility costs just for a few minutes of work.

Of course, this article is meant to be facetious. We really do want you to conserve water – not only to protect the environment here in and around the Bay Area but also to save you money.

Fortunately, “going green” — being a conservationist — does not mean that you have to pay more or do anything extravagant. Century Roof and Solar is the premier solar solution provider for the Bay Area. We can help you go green, handle construction and roofing needs, and answer any of your questions about going solar.

Find out more about us online at www.centuryroofandsolar.com or contact us toll free at (888) 233-7548

Image credit: ehow.com

1. Dark, cruddy looking patches have spread across your roof

Many kinds of nastiness can cause this problem, ranging from fungal infection to the growth of certain types of vegetation to local point source pollution. Not only are these dirty patches unsettling and kind of gross to look at, but they can also be a prelude to more serious structural damage, mold, and other not-so-amazing stuff.

2. Your heating and cooling bills have unexpectedly “gone through the roof” (so to speak)

Depending on the layout of your house, the ventilation in your attic might be creating drafts and other burdens that are forcing your heating and cooling system to work too hard.

Essentially, what happens is that unseasonable weather can cause moisture to get lodged in your attic. This moisture then seeps into the rafters and insulation, causing damage, which in turn causes the energy loss.

3. Peeling or blistering paint

This is another problem often pinned to bad attic ventilation. Major temperature fluctuations (global warming, anyone?) can also imperil both the exterior and interior roof paint job.

4. Post-winter attic leakage

We who live near the Bay Area don’t often have to deal with the kind of icy nastiness that afflicts states to our east and north. But if you live in an area where ice forms, then ice can dam up on your roof and create leaks, particularly if you have poor shingle underlayment.

For help dealing with any roof repair issue in the Bay Area, look to the team here at Century Roof & Solar. Call us now, or learn more about our roofing solutions online.

image sources
image #1: http://www.thesidingguy.com/Softwash.html
image#2:http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/archive/article795CA5E3F4B049D485A98091BD3D880E.asp
image#3:http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?cat=120
image#4:http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64129

Mistake # 1: Choosing the wrong shape/style.

The most common category is the standard flat style light. These lights generally come in square or rectangular shapes. But you can also find dome skylights, curb mounted lights, and customized shapes and styles. When choosing, most home remodelers only look at one or two aspects… and thus set themselves up to fail. For instance, say you’re just concerned about aesthetics only. So you pick a flat light. But you fail to note the potential for debris from a nearby tree to accumulate on the skylight. Cave in hazard, anyone?

Mistake #2: Failing to note how (or even whether!) the area will get sunlight.

In an ideal world, you want the sun to actually shine through the skylight.

But if you build the skylight at the wrong angle or on the wrong side of a particular room, you will get far less light than you ideally want. Or you might get too much sun! Or sun at the wrong time of day! Or any other number of problems. So you need to pay attention to where and how the sun transits across your home and roof

Mistake #3: Failing to plan to protect against leaks and insulation problems.

If you do your skylight improvement project “DIY,” you can easily make errors that can cost you big time in terms of heat leaching and structural weaknesses. A badly installed skylight is an easy and convenient place for mold, mildew and leaks. What’s frustrating is that your subtle mistakes may only reveal themselves months or years after you finish construction.

To make sure your skylight project goes smoothly – to avoid the subtle mistakes we just talked about that can potentially cost you money, heartache and thousands of dollars – connect with the experienced construction team at Century Roof & Solar.

Call us toll free at 888-233-7548 to get immediate help with your Bay Area skylight construction project.

Perhaps you’ve been wooed by arguments from the “pro-metal roof” side, and you’re considering abandoning your initial decision to go with lightweight roofing materials and switch to steel.

You may have heard, for instance, that the Washington Monument has a metal roof – as do many other old, beautiful buildings. And some statistics suggest that metal roofs are durable, low maintenance, fire retardant, and easy to maintain.

Whether you expect monsoon-like thunderstorms to drench your home, condominium, or business, or you expect relatively light rainfall but worry because you live in an older home, you want a systematic way to check your roof for leaks before all the action begins.

The biggest challenge is finding the spot or spots that are leaking.

This is because the information you get from the leak itself (where the water is dripping) may tell you very little about where the actual problem spot is. For instance, water might penetrate through your roof at one location, run down for several feet or longer, and “leak” through a second location. Where you spot the damage – where the insulation is wet, shingles are rotting, etc. – is the distall (far) problem. You want to find the proximal problem (the root cause).

Grab a flashlight and a helper, and let’s get going.

You might want to do this leak hunting during a rainy day, since that’s when the leaks will be most active. If not, you can actually jerry-rig “fake rain” by spraying a hose on your roof. Head up into your attic (or the room right below the roof) and scour the sealing and other areas for water, damp spots, spots that “don’t look right,” or spots where the paint is blistering. Places where moisture can accumulate include gutters, shingles, gaskets, flashing, rubber seals around vents and pipes, and ridge caps.

Once you identify all the leaks (or possible leaks), wait until the rain stops (or turn off the water). Once things have dried off, go up on the roof while a helper stays in the room below. Turn on the water and use trial and error (communicating with your helper via a cell phone or a walky-talky) to identify the proximal location based on when the distill areas activate, when you spray water on the roof. Don’t flood potentially problematic areas, or you will have a harder time locating the proximal problem area.

If this all sounds too complicated, convoluted, or time consuming, you might be right. It might be a lot easier to connect with the Bay Area’s leader in lightweight roof systems, Century Roof and Solar.

For over a decade and a half, our Bay Area roofing contractors have helped East Bay residents and business owners solve their roofing problems permanently and affordably. Learn more about the solutions we can provide for you at www.centuryrooftile.com, or schedule a consultation with our Diamond-certified company by calling us at 888-233-7548.

Whether you’re about to embark on a major remodeling project that could take many months and require the services of multiple contractors; or you simply want to repair a roof that got damaged during a recent windstorm, you likely harbor worries about the process. Below, we discuss three of the biggest homeowner concerns:

1. Identifying the right price for the job.

You’d like to keep costs low for obvious reasons. On the other hand, you realize that if you accept the lowest bid simply because it’s the cheapest, you could set yourself up for disaster.  Lousy workmanship, missed deadlines, and chaos at the construction site can make you miserable and ultimately inflate project costs. In the worst case scenario, you may need to pay a second contractor to redo the first contractor’s botched job.

In an ideal world, you want a roofing company that’s going to be completely honest with you about pricing and that’s going to give you an excellent deal for your money – that is, the contractors will meet your needs and provide complete transparency of process.

2. A desire for the project to go smoothly, satisfyingly, cleanly, and without drama.

Homeowners who remodel fear (and rightly so) projects running over budget, running overtime frame, or simply running out of control. We all have heard horror stories from neighbors and friends who have hired the wrong contractors. The results are sadly predictable: construction debris and litter strewn over the lawn; property (such as garden plants) disrespected and stompedout of existence; rude, discourteous workers; “unexpected” delays and so on.

In an ideal world, you want the experience to be completely drama-free. Your contractor should demonstrate respect, courteousness, cleanliness, and the ability to manage internal projects so that they minimize disruption to your life and maximize efficiency and quality.

3. A desire for long-term value from the re-roofing.

What exactly constitutes “value”?  The answer boils down to quality over time. Your finished product – the roof that’s restored, repaired, or reinstalled – should add to your property’s value and your own well being simultaneously. Ideally, the roof should be made of sturdy, durable, high-quality components from manufacturers who employ the best standards, and should minimize the likelihood that you will have to “re-repair” the work.

We at Century Roof and Solar employ only the best quality controlled products (such as roof and gutter products) from trusted manufacturers.  We have developed a reputation for delivering clean, quality, reliable, on-time results, and we’ve won awards for our customer satisfaction.  We are a Diamond Certified company, a proud member of the Better Business Bureau, and a member of the Committee for Firesafe Dwellings (a non-profit corporation). We have 15 years of experience, and we can handle jobs of immense complexity as well as jobs that have a tight time deadline.  Learn about how we can help you at www.centuryrooftile.com, or call us for a quote at 510-780-9489.