I used to think any gutter guard was better than none. But after cleaning my gutters last fall I noticed water was just running over the top of them because leaves were piling up on the mesh. A neighbor of mine in the Rutherford area told me he spent $400 on a proper aluminum micro mesh system from a local installer called Edmonton Gutter Solutions. I was skeptical at first because the price tag hurt to think about. But I tried a 10 foot section on my worst downspout corner back in June and it survived that big storm we had with zero clogging. Now I'm saving up to swap out the rest. Has anyone else found a brand or installer in Edmonton that actually works for those heavy pine needle seasons?
I visited the Edmonton Waste Management Centre last week and noticed their industrial composting piles were way bigger than I expected, but my neighbor swears her home bin is greener. Which approach do you think really makes a dent in household waste around here?
I submitted 12 applications to the city over 8 months and got zero callbacks. A friend who works there told me the system scans for keywords from the job posting (like 'project management' or 'budget analysis') and if they're not in your application, it filters you out automatically. I went back and rewrote my resume to match the exact phrases from each posting, and got an interview on my next try. Has anyone else had luck tweaking their applications for city jobs here?
Moved into a older house in Mill Woods last fall and my water bills were hitting $120 every month. Tried the usual stuff like shorter showers and only running full dishwasher loads. Nothing moved the needle much. Then a neighbor mentioned checking the toilet flappers. I laughed it off at first. But I looked and sure enough both upstairs toilets had slow leaks you couldn't even hear. Replaced those rubber seals for maybe $12 total. Next bill dropped to $70. Crazy what a tiny piece of rubber can do. Anyone else found hidden water leaks in their Edmonton house?
I used to keep a paper calendar on my fridge marking garbage and recycling pickup. Missed two collections in a row last month because I forgot to flip the page. My neighbor showed me the Edmonton Waste Services app on her phone and now I get reminders the night before. It also tells me what goes in each bin which has saved me from getting those warning tags. Has anyone else had better luck with the app over a physical schedule?
I signed up for the new curbside composting pilot last month and tossed in some apple cores and banana peels. But after three pickups, they haven't taken my bin even once because I mixed in a plastic produce bag by accident. I learned you have to use the specific paper bags they give you or the whole bin gets flagged. Has anyone else had trouble with the sorting rules for this program?
I hired a crew to clean out my dryer vent last month because it was taking forever to dry clothes. The guy finished and showed me his camera footage, and I nearly fell over. There was this massive clump of lint right where the vent turns. He told me my setup had been building up for years because the duct was too long and had too many bends. He said I was lucky it hadn't caught fire already. I ended up having him reroute the whole thing to the outside wall, cut the duct length in half. Cost me $350 but now clothes dry in 25 minutes instead of an hour. Anyone else get similar feedback from a vent cleaning service and realize their setup was dangerous?
I tried the city's green bin program for about 6 months last year and honestly had more issues with smell and pickup timing than I expected. Then I switched to a private hauler for $22 a month and they gave me a sealed bin that gets swapped out every week no questions asked. The city option was cheaper but the private service felt way more reliable, especially during that July heat wave when my green bin got skipped twice. Anyone else switch between the two and have a clear winner?
Old Mr. Kowalski from two doors down told me to just hose off my furnace filter instead of buying new ones. Said he'd been doing it for 20 years and saved a ton of cash. Well 3 months later my furnace started acting up and the repair guy said the filter was so clogged it was choking the system. Cost me $180 for the service call plus a new filter. Has anyone else gotten well meaning advice from a neighbor that backfired?
I noticed my bill went from $45 to $125 out of nowhere, so I called EPCOR and they sent someone out. Turns out my toilet flapper was stuck open just a tiny bit, leaking water down the drain for weeks. Has anyone else had a hidden leak that took forever to find?
None of them checked if it was rated for natural gas lines and I had to stop one guy from using standard white tape on a gas fitting that'll dry rot in 6 months, has anyone else caught pros skipping the basics like this?
I swear our garbage pickup used to look like a disaster zone every Tuesday - bags ripped, seagulls everywhere. Started doing the city green bin program and now our weekly trash is down to one small bag. Has anyone else noticed their actual garbage volume drop way more than they expected?
I'm looking at quotes from both Millcreek Painters and CertaPro Edmonton for painting my condo. Anyone have experience with either company? Trying to figure out who does better work for the price.