Hello all! I hope I am posting this in the right spot, since it has to do with water proofing the crawlspace. First off, gutter installation is happening soon-ish (likely within 3 weeks) but I would also like to simultaneously fix this issue shown here too. We recently bought this home and one of the only issues is what you see pictured and it has the potential to allow pests in. I'm not sure how to remedy it, as the inspector and agent said "just put some dirt on it." Rather than hire a professional I'd love it if someone would tell me the best way to go about it. My idea: use wire mesh about 6 inches up the foundation and have it run down onto the ground (like an L shape) about 8-12 inches. Then use landscape edging, fill it with dirt at an angle to create a somewhat sloped flower bed. So my question: is this a good idea? Am I over thinking it? I know I shouldn't go too high up the foundation, any ideas on how high I should go with the dirt? Should I cement the openings first? Do I need to secure the mesh to the foundation if I go this route? I don't want to make holes in it if I don't have to. Thank you in advance! [url]https://flic.kr/p/QSD2zg[/url] [url]https://flic.kr/p/QSD1vT[/url]

I've finally decided I'm getting too old (or maybe it's too lazy) to lug a ladder around the house digging out leaves 2-3 times a year and want to get gutter guards put up. I've had three people come by, all with different systems. Once was basically a sturdy plastic with many slits. It would keep leaves out but smaller twigs would get in. The other was a metal guard with many holes in it. That one looked pretty promising and would appear to keep out everything except granules from the shingles (which not gutter guard will do). The third was a solid piece of metal. The very end of the flat section kind of wrapped around. The theory is water would flow across the solid piece of metal then be "sucked into" the gutter (there's a scientific term for this, but it escapes me now). That one looked the best, but I'm not sure if it really works. Does anyone out there have experience with this type of gutter guard system? We plan on replacing the whole gutter system since it's 5" gutters, is 15 years old and it just doesn't make sense spending the money on gutter guards for gutters we'll probably end up replacing in a few years anyway. Thanks, Andy