GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Feb. 19, 2014) — The staff at All Gutter Systems in Grandville is having one of their busiest years on record.
“We have been working 16 hour days. We got guys working until 9 o’clock at night over there just to stop another water leak,” said owner Tony Cobb.
Stocking up on shovels and extra workers, Cobb said that they’ve hired extra help just to meet demand in the past couple weeks.
“We’ve never had a Winter like this in 26 years that I’ve been in business. Only four time that we had to mobilize our business to do nothing, but roof top snow removal,” said Cobb.
Cobb also said that many homeowners have been waiting until its too late, and now rely on them to prevent further damage from an already leaking roof.
“We’ve been warning people since January that this was going to happen because there’s been no thaw in sight. It’s that we’ve had snow on the ground, snow on the roofs since November,” said Cobb.
Down the street from where Cobb was working, we found Ed and Brenda Bakelaar. The couple was removing the snow themselves out of fear their roof won’t hold the weight.
“A collapse. We’ve heard a few of those already. One in Georgetown Township here, and don’t want to go through that,” said Ed Bakelaar.
Cobb advices that you should start at the top of your roof and work your way down. That way, if you slip there is a blanket of snow to catch you at the edge of the roof, which hopefully prevents a fall.
“We’ve always had that freeze thaw. Several times we’ve geared up for it, got ready for it and then it thaws out and it’s gone. It only takes a couple 40 degree days to clear this all away, and everybody is in the clear,” said Cobb.
