Pine Straw Is Like Paula Abdul
As soon as you think it’s gone, it comes right back. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. Anyone out there excited about yet another talent show? Hello X Factor!
Anyhoo. Back to our pine straw epidemic. It’s everywhere, including our gutters, its favorite hiding place.
So we straight up cleaned those guys this weekend, which we do in probably the most unsafe manner possible – crawling up on the roof like spider monkeys and cleaning them from there. It’s a bit tedious to go up the ladder, down the ladder, move the ladder, go back up the ladder, on and on… all the way around our roof. Since it’s a pretty flat roof, our ain’t scared of heights method works pretty well for us.
Our supplies are pretty simple too, we shared them with you last time we cleaned the gutters, some rubber gloves to pull all the gunk out with and some trash bags to put all the crud in. It’s also a good idea to take your cell phone up to the roof in case you need anything while you’re up there, and in my case red Gatorade is also a necessity. I know, it probably has a real flavor name, but it’s just red to me.
Once I’ve got my game plan together I head on up to the roof.
And when I see all this, I head back down.
To grab a broom. The way I see it there isn’t much point in taking the time to clean out your gutters, which already look like this:
If you’re just going to let all of this just roll back down into them.
The whole process of sweeping our roof took 30 minutes, including time to bag the pine straw piles. This was before even touching our gutters. Definitely not an all day projects but not something quick and easy for someone who’s in a rush rush.
Taking the time to sweep is also good for maintaining key areas of your roof that are more prone to wear and tear, like the seams and joints. A few minutes of sweeping took the roof from here:
To here, a different angle but you get the point.
The second step was to actually clean our the dern things. We just do it the old fashioned way, with rubber gloves on we just yank out all the crud and throw it all in a garbage bag. No tricks or tips except to do this on a drier day if you can. It makes it much less messy. Oh and really wear the gloves, it’s pretty gross up there. I kept fearing the worst, like pulling out a cold hearted snake (three Paula Abdul references in one post… zing.)
All in all this is a pretty easy chore if you’re willing to do it. It took about an hour and a half to finish and it took a whole hour of that time for me to decide that gutters completely suck. Not too bad huh? And I got a cool battle wound from it all. You’ve got to be sweeping pretty hard to get a blister.
I made sure to show it off to Chad when he got home.
In the end our roof and gutters were looking good.
And we only filled up a bag and a half of gutter goo. Last year it took about three bags – which someone stole from our curb in the middle of the night. So weird.
And I came out only marginally grimey.
Plus Barton and Lucy got a kick out of the whole spectacle.
Shortly after taking a shower to wash away the goo, I realized that I had left my cell phone up on the roof. Nice and unfortunately very typical for me. So I crawled back up in my daytime pj’s (read: yoga pants and tee shirt) and noticed something odd besides the woman on the roof in pajamas.
Our chimney has the word “DAVES” spray painted on the top of it, plus there is a weird pile of nails up there that somehow has not blown away. Weird. I want to paint over it like a crazy woman. If our house is going to be tagged it should at least say CHADS or LUCYS. That will be gone soon, mark my words. It bothers me just knowing it’s up there, makes me want to scratch, it’s so weird.
For now I will just have to keep thinking about this view, and not this “Dave” living on our roof.
And just because you know I wouldn’t leave you hanging…
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With a deep and burning passion, I loathe pine straw. Pine trees are the devil. Nothing grows around them, they make a huge mess and in the spring if we open our windows the inside of the house turns yellow. If we owned our home, I would have them all chopped down pronto. Since we rent, we bitterly tolerate the evil things.
I’m learning to hate pine straw for exactly those reasons, plus I’m discovering via our motorcycles just how many little gaps and crevices there are for it (and the pollen) to get into. We’ll not be able to have the windows open during pollen season with my wife’s allergies.
Also, hello from another Durhamite (a transplanted one) and regular at DBulls games who has just purchased a house in the city.
Awesome! Welcome to Durham. The pine straw IS nuts. Somehow it gets into the trunk of our car!
We’re in the process of getting quotes to chop down all of our pine trees. Our main concern, besides the ones already listed, is that these dang things look dangerous in high winds. The tornado scare we had several months ago underlined how much of a threat to our house these things are.
And Amy, anytime you or your husband want to come clean out some gutters, come on by (we’re off Grandale Drive)! I’m skerred of heights and my wife won’t get up on the ladder either. I pay in beer…just finished a growler of Flagship IPA from Carolina Brewery in Chapel Hill.
Awesome! Let us know if you get any great deals on the trees we might need to call them ourselves. Amy says she’ll think about the gutters – we’re not above beer payments.