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I did a roof the other day that lulled me into a false sense of security.

The gutter system was homeowner done and all plastic. It didn't seem to have any holes or cracks anywhere so I wasn't real worried about mix dripping down from random spots on the gutter. What I was not ready for was the fact that there were quite a few places where the shingle edge ended just short of the gutter and the mix was dripping down between the gutter and fascia.

This wouldn't be a real big problem if you were ready for it, but we didn't expect this problem and proceeded to run around like chickens with our heads cut off. I had three places dripping pretty good onto brand new landscaping.

I always carry about 6 five gallon buckets we me and we got them placed to catch the heavy dripping. Then proceeded to do some heavy rinsing on the fascia, soffit and landscaping. We got it under control and we were prepaired for the rest of the house, but it could have caused a lot of problems if it were in a real sensitive area.

That wasn't the end of it.... We bagged all of the downspouts and at the back of the house, one of the plastic downspouts fell apart about 6 feet up. It came apart right in the middle of cleaning that section of roof. Now I had roof cleaning chemical dripping out in a wide path from 6 feet in the air. Thank god my ground guy was right there and kept a heavy stream of water on the dripping. I had to get another bucket out and catch as much as I could so I could finish the job.

I forgot to mention that the place where the downspout came apart was right over a finished wood deck .  I was never so happy to be finished a job in all my life!

Moral to the story.... Make sure you are ready to handle anything. Try to have plans in place just in case of disaster. Talk to your ground guys about them. We had discussed a scenario like this before, but we were still not fully prepared!

We were prepared enough that we didn't ruin anything on the property. My ground guy is thorough and good. Between the two of us, we got through the job and left with a happy customer!

Brian