If your house and yard sustain minor damage in a storm, you may be able to handle most of the repairs yourself without calling in professionals. Here are some tips on what to do about broken tree limbs, broken windows, sagging gutters and missing shingles in the aftermath of a storm.
– Tree limbs. Scattered small limbs can be a nuisance to get rid of if you don’t happen to own a shredder to turn junk limbs into useful mulch.
If you and your neighbors all have piles of brush and broken limbs, perhaps you can go in together and rent a shredder. Local tool rental shops rent shredders capable of handling branches up to about 3 inches in diameter for about $125 to $150 per day.
Larger branches or felled trees probably will require a chain saw to clear, and you can rent a saw with a 16-inch blade for about $50 a day if you don’t have one.
Appropriate clothing is essential to chain saw use. Use safety glasses or goggles, and earphones to deaden the sound. Steel-toed shoes are suggested if you’re working with heavy branches higher than your waist. Avoid dangling, loose-fitting clothing that could catch in the blade.
Be careful when starting a gasoline-powered chain saw. Engage the chain break. Place the saw on a flat, hard surface. Hold it down with one foot on the back handle and a hand on the top handle. Pull up on the starter cord with the other hand.
When cutting, it’s important to try not to force the saw blade through the wood. If the saw blade is sharp, it will work its way through the wood if the user applies light, even pressure.
Avoid kickbacks–a sudden upward jerk of the blade–by cutting with the center of the blade rather than the tip. Also avoid cutting near solid surfaces such as walls that might catch the blade tip. You can also use a blade tip guard that prevents accidental tip contact.
Gripping the saw with one hand instead of two increases the chances of kickback. A firm grip is important, so keep the saw handles clean and free of oil and wear gripping gloves.
Ron Sexton, a licensed arborist and owner of American Forestry Service in Kettering, Ohio, said cutting up a downed tree is a lot like pruning a standing tree: You remove the branches one at a time before cutting up the main trunk.
If the tree has fallen on a vehicle or building, Sexton said it’s best to refer the job to a tree service that has the equipment to lift and move the tree safely.
Sexton said you must also be aware of limbs that are under pressure from the weight of the fallen tree. Sawing through a branch that is bowing from stress is dangerous; it can snap suddenly throwing itself or the saw at the cutter. Such branches might be best left to professionals.
Be suspicious, though, of people claiming to be tree specialists who pressure you to make an immediate agreement to remove a fallen tree.
“It’s a sad situation, but a lot of guys will come in after a natural disaster, and you hear stories of people asking $6,000 or $7,000 to remove a single tree,” Sexton said. “That gives all of us in the business a black eye.”
Sexton said most tree services charge in the range of $90 to $110 an hour for a standard three-member crew. Large tree removals may take most of a day and often cost around $700 to $800.
If your tree has a broken limb, you may be able to save the tree by cutting the branch away. Cut the branch outside the collar where the branch attaches to the trunk. The collar is a raised rounded area at the base of the branch, and it should be left attached to the trunk.
A tree surgeon can assess whether the tree can survive after its damaged branches are removed.
A tree service also may be best equipped to grind up the stump after a tree is cut down. Grinding the stump allows the homeowner to plant grass over the hole where the tree used to be.
– Roof and gutter damage. A strong wind can rip away a section of roof shingles or just fray the edges of a few shingles. Wind and flying debris can also move gutters and downspouts out of alignment or knock them down.
If you have minor roof damage and your roof has a fairly shallow pitch so you can move around on it comfortably, you can replace torn or missing shingles. If your roof is steep, you may be able to work on it using brackets called roof jacks that hold boards to use as platforms.
Starting with the uppermost damaged shingle, grasp it by the edges and wriggle it loose. Remove the nails that held the shingle in place using a pry bar or tap them down flush.
As you remove shingles, patch any holes in the paper underlayment with roofing cement. Roofing cement comes in tubes like caulk and sells for about $2 a tube.
Hugh Hillix, general manager of P&W Roofing Supplies Inc. in Dayton, Ohio, said you can bring an old shingle with you to a building supply store when you shop for replacements, but chances are you won’t find an exact match. Even shingles of the same make and style won’t match shingles that have weathered a few years.
Hillix said one way to minimize mismatching is to remove shingles from the back side of the house to make repairs on the street side. New shingles can then be used on the back side of the house where the color difference won’t affect the home’s curb appeal. Shingles are sold in packages of about 25 shingles, and each package covers about 30 square feet. Basic shingles with a 20-year expected life run about $7.50 to $10, and fancier, more durable shingles cost more.
Add replacement shingles starting at the bottom of the repair area and working your way up. Position shingles so they just overlap the beginning of the slots in the shingles below them.
When replacing shingles directly under a row of good shingles, you may need to cut notches in the top of the new shingles to fit around nails and bits of the old shingle that could not be pulled loose.
Space the nails in shingles about a foot apart so each new shingle has four nails. Use only nails or staples designed for roofing; the wrong type of nail can rust and create unsightly streaks in the shingles.
A line of roofing cement on the top half of the uppermost row of repair shingles will help seal out possible future water problems.
Gutters are held in place by straps or spikes, and they’re fairly easy to replace. Use a ladder leaned against the side of the house or propped against the roof with a U-shaped stabilizer. Don’t lean the ladder on the gutters themselves.
Look for the type of fasteners that hold your gutters in place and buy matching fasteners at a hardware or home improvement store. Add fasteners alongside old fasteners that have failed and remove the old fasteners. Cover any holes in the gutters from the inside with metal or plastic tape sealed with roofing cement.
Examine all the connections between the gutters and downspouts and seal any leaks with caulk.
– Windows. Broken windows are easiest to replace if you can remove the frame from the track and lay it flat on a working surface protected with a layer of newsprint a few pages thick. If removing the frame from its track is difficult, you can replace the glass with the window in place.
Where eye protection and gloves when working with broken glass.
For a wooden frame, use heat to soften the putty holding the old window in place. Putty or glazing compound is the clay-like substance put around the glass to create an airtight seal.
Scrape away the softened putty with a putty knife, then carefully pull out and discard the broken glass. You’ll find small metal pins called glazing points under the putty. Pull them out with the tip of the putty knife.
Wrap sandpaper around a small block of scrap wood and sand the L-shaped channel where the glass will sit to remove old paint and glazing compound. Apply a wood sealer to the sanded wood and allow it to dry.
Measure the inside of the window frame exactly from side to side and top to bottom. Subtract 1/8 of an inch from the measurement to allow for contraction and expansion, and buy a sheet of replacement glass from a hardware store, home improvement store or glass business.
Apply a thin line of glazing compound to the L-shaped channel and gently press the glass into place to spread the compound.
Using the putty knife, push in a new set of glazing points to hold the glass securely. Don’t apply downward pressure while installing the glazing points; you could crack the glass. Apply a thicker line of glazing compound along the edges of the glass. Use a moistened finger to smooth the compound into the joint.
Glazing compound should be painted after it dries. Allow the paint to extend about 1/8 of an inch onto the glass to improve the moisture seal.
Glass in a metal or vinyl frame will be held in place with a vinyl string called a spline. To remove the glass, pry up one corner of the spline and carefully pull it loose. Repeat the process for the other three sides.
If the spline is still flexible, save it for reuse. If it’s brittle, take it to the hardware store and buy a matching replacement.
If the old glass was glued to the frame, a little paint remover should loosen it. Run a putty knife or screwdriver blade along the frame to remove any remaining bits of glass. You don’t need to replace the glue; the spline will hold the new glass securely.
Measure the inside of the frame and buy a piece of glass 1/8 of an inch smaller. Lay the glass in the frame gently.
Cut one end of a spline at a 45-degree angle and push it into the spline channel of the frame. Cut it again at a 45-degree angle at the end of the first side.
Make a 45-degree angle at the beginning of the next section of spline so the angled ends fit together snugly at the corners of the frame. Repeat the process until all four sides are splined.
