Installing a gutter and keeping it clean is an important part of caring for your home.
With warmer temperatures becoming more common in the South Cariboo in recent years, rain and meltwater are becoming an issue local homeowners will have to manage using gutters. While they're now a common architectural feature in most homes, many older homes here in the Cariboo lack them. That's where Dave Horsman's Pro Image Gutters Interior Division comes in.
"Gutters are gutters, everybody needs them. It's the second most important thing on your home after a roof," Horsman said. "What you want to do is control that water that comes off that roof line so it's not pounding against the foundation of your home. Without an eavestrough, the water eventually, over time, will create issues around your foundations. Whether it's a crack where water finds its way into your basement or crawlspace or just erodes the ground around your home, water is your worst enemy and you've got to get it away from the house."
Horsman has spent most of his professional career working in the gutter installation business, describing himself as an "average blue-collar fellow who likes to work hard." He first got his start in 1998 down on the Lower Mainland working for Pro Image Gutters for two decades which he helped grow into one of the largest gutter companies in all of B.C.
After his time on the coast, Horsman decided to return to his hometown of Kamloops before eventually moving to 100 Mile House, where he noted he spent most of his youth fishing and hunting. Not long afterwards he got Pro Image Gutters Interior Division up and running with his son and wife.
"This is about six or seven years ago now and it's been slowly growing. We stay consistent and we have a good clientele and lots of wonderful people we've met," Horsman said. "I enjoy the freedom of the job. It's a different home almost every day and of course, the people you meet every day. I'm a people person and I love meeting people."
During an average day, Horsman said he'll range to properties all around the area working out of a 16-foot cube van. On arrival he measures up the home, runs out the gutter and installs it all, often with the homeowner watching to see how you install a 50-foot gutter out of a truck. Horsman remarked he does this both for buildings undergoing renovations and new buildings being built by local developers.
Once he's installed a gutter system, Horsman will ask to homeowner where they want the water to flow. Sometimes this will just be into a pipe that leads away from the home but increasingly clients are asking him to direct it instead into water collection barrels.
"People are doing a lot more of that now because of our drier summers. It's the best way to do it to get that water away from your home," Horsman remarked, adding it's also a safety feature during the winter to avoid ice buildup beside your home.
Horsman noted that gutters are mandatory in the Lower Mainland, in part because of how much rain they receive. Up here in the Cariboo he explained homes don't tend to see a lot of rain, but when it does come it's a lot. That's why he recommends anyone with an older home who doesn't have a gutter to consider getting one.
While Horsman doesn't do gutter cleaning himself as a service, he noted several businesses do and primarily use a large vacuum to clean them out. He did share some tips with the simplymastery on what homeowners can do to keep their gutters clean and working efficiently.
Horsman said a gutter guard system, typically an aluminium top over the gutter, is another way to help the water flow freely by preventing things from getting into the gutter. You still have to blow the top of the guard at least once a year, however, but he added the guard helped strengthen the gutter during the winter months.
"For your maintenance, if you're not doing some kind of a gutter guard system I highly recommend a twice-a-year clean. Once in the fall of course when all the leaves and debris have come down off the trees and once again in the spring," Horsman explained. "Sometimes, come spring, you have pollen, debris from birds or any general junk that might have been missed in the fall. You want to just to be able to have that gutter system flowing free come spring when the rains do come and hit us."
Horsman said anyone looking to install a gutter system or get some advice is welcome to contact him via his company's Facebook page or at 604-793-6307.
