Sunday, July 22, 2007
Gutter cleaning and other dangers
Why installing gutters makes me depressed. No, it is NOT the cost.
We had gutter covers installed on the gutters of our new house over the weekend. We had been debating long and hard about what type of gutter protection we could use. We are in the middle of the woods and the trees constantly shed their branches and leaves like dandruff. The more famous brands like Gutter Guard which are the more substantial come with fees in the thousands of dollars which is like $15-25 a foot...this is just the cap not the installation of the gutter. We clearly saw this as a ripoff. So, we looked around for a gutter cleaning service to get their take on this.
My husband interviewed a number of folks and decided on a very nice young man who ran his own business. He was about 35-40 and quite nice in looks and personality. He explained that these permanent gutter guards still need to have gutter cleaning as wasps nests and small soot and seeds do get under the cap. They are harder to clean because of the substantial cap. I did some research on the internet and found the same information.
Therefore, we decided to go along with some snap-in screens that can be cleaned without removal or easily removed if major cleaning is required. Hubby is not doing this installation because there are parts of our roof that are THREE STORIES high due to the way the hill falls on one side.
The young man got busy cleaning the gutters which were full of stuff having not been cleaned since late last fall. My daughter was visiting and the young man saw her huge belly and they started talking about kids. He has four. Both my husband and I immediately thought about the dangers involved in this job where he has to move about on the roof and lean over or climb up large ladders. We asked about insurance for injury or accident. He said that he had a million dollars insurance for his customers (us): in case a ladder falls on us, I guess. But when he looked into insurance for himself it was almost $700 a month and he said he just couldn't afford that.
My heart stopped in my chest and I felt that I couldn't breathe well and after visions of my recent viewing of the movie Sicko flashed through my head I felt very very very depressed. I do not handle the vulnerabilities of nice hard-working people very well. I had to go inside and hide and I was depressed the rest of the day.
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He is leaving himself open to all sorts of disasters, and his family as well. It is too bad that ins. has risen to the levels it has.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat coincidentally, Michael Moore shot much of his movie right here in London, Ontario - we've apparently got quite the regional collection of health care and medical training institutions. It was big news when he brought his camera to town.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I once stayed at a b&b. The husband-and-wife owners were older, and very kind. The husband was very sedentary, sitting on a deck chair for much of the day while his wife did much of the heavy lifting. Turns out he was waiting for kidney surgery. Actually, he was waiting to AFFORD the kidney surgery, as they had no insurance.
Tragic, because on our side of the border, he would have simply had the surgery when an OR opened up.
I know that Canada's health care system has warts and structural issues. And it's expensive - so our taxes are higher than they are where you are. But eliminating situations where people risk losing it all because they get sick...well, it seems like an acceptable price to pay.
That's why the people are screaming health reform. My friend can't afford a caregiver to get to the bathroom and the state won't help because she owns a home...grrr!
ReplyDeleteWe use the thin grates due to pine needles and they do fine.
This is a sad situation. Today at work we spoke of rising taxes. Tonight I read of costly health insurance. I've not seen Sicko, yet.
ReplyDeleteThe gutter stuff is a little over my head but I get the Sicko part all to well.
ReplyDeleteAnd my gutters are getting a good work-out right now with all the rain we're getting.
Yeah, I gulped too. But maybe he will go on to some nice desk job where he.... aw, never mind. He will never like a desk job. Let's just hope he survives doing what he likes best.
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