The Hardware Man - “No Bad Weather, Only Bad Clothing”

Howdy Folks,

It sure has been cold, lately, hasn’t it? This deep freeze after the blizzard has forced us to make some changes in our lifestyle to better adjust to the season. I regularly live according to the mantra “No Bad Weather, Only Bad Clothing”.

Once I recognized the truth of that saying, life suddenly got a lot more comfortable. The heat wasn’t as bad, the sun not as severe, the mud becomes just a nuisance, the wind didn’t have its bite, and the cold was more tolerable for longer periods of time.

For what it is worth, I do enjoy this deep winter season. We do winter maintenance contracts which make us get out during the middle of the night to go plow snow or clear sidewalks. The stillness of the aftermath of a winter storm on Main Street is always an experience to appreciate. However, we also find opportunities to play, whether it is sledding riding, pond hockey, skiing, ice fishing or building igloos and snowmen. There is something about the season that, as a Western Pennsylvanian, we try to embrace. The alternative is just negative gloom.

The chill brings its own challenges to our life. It wears on our infrastructure and equipment. It penetrates through the smallest cracks and freezes drains and hot water lines. It saps power from batteries, which makes starting a car on a frosty morning a little more complicated. Fighting the freeze can become a full-time job.

The large snow and extended cold has created an issue on our houses we shouldn’t regularly see. Any place you see an icicle hanging is evidence that heat is escaping and creating an ice dam. Melting snow over flows your gutters, refreezes and backs up, trying to penetrate the eves of your roof. If left unchecked, these dams can cause damage to your gutters, shingles, attic and interior. The biggest problem areas would be in any valleys of the roof or where snow has drifted and stacked on the roof.

As always, there are a few solutions. Gutter heat tape can be installed along the edge of the roof and downspouts keeping ice from forming. Snow can be removed from the roof using a roof rake. It has a long handle allowing work to be done safely from the ground. I can’t recommend getting on the roof and shoveling it clear, although sometimes it is the only useful method. I may or may not have done that this week with the help of an aerial lift. Take extreme care if you want to remove ice from the roof, as pulling or chipping at ice can damage the shingles. Once the overload is removed, that ice build up will dissipate and not cause as much of a problem.

Regardless of how hard a winter we have, our local celebrity, Punxsutawney Phil announced that winter will end in six weeks. That may be an optimist’s view, but if we can’t enjoy the season, can we really call ourselves Western Pennsylvanians?

---

Daniel Karns and his wife own Clintonville Hardware & Rental along with other businesses. Join the discussion by contacting him at info@clintonvillehardware.com.