Clean gutters are imperative to maintaining the well-being of your home. Rain gutters control the flow of water, thereby protecting your roof, walls, landscape, and even your foundation!
When neglected for too long, gutters can cause serious, expensive damage to your home. In this article, we’ll talk about four reasons why you should get your gutters cleaned often.
How often, exactly? Well that depends on where you live and, more importantly, the number and types of trees in your yard. Severe storms can also increase the frequency that gutters should be cleaned. However, that’s a story for another article.
Here are six reasons to get your gutters regularly cleaned in Auburn, AL and Opelika, AL.
CLEAN GUTTERS PROTECT YOUR ROOF
The gutters surrounding your property may not seem like they do much. However, they play a very important role in protecting your roof from the most expensive problems that can occur if water is not correctly channeled away from the shingles. One of the most dangerous things for your shingles is standing water.
A clogged gutter can result in standing water, which could eventually grow to reach your shingles. The longer you have standing water in your gutters, the more likely that the water will find its way under the shingles and to the roof support. The water could then reach into your attic and into your home as a leak. Cleaned gutters move water away from the roof to avoid these costly problems.
Just how expensive is a roof repair? To give you a rough estimate: you’d be better off paying to get your gutters cleaned 20 times rather than paying for just one roof repair.
CLEAN GUTTERS MAINTAIN THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR FOUNDATION
Gutters that get clogged up can often overflow. Where does the water that overflows go? To the ground directly below the gutter. The entire purpose of gutter is to navigate water from your home and move it AWAY from your home.
A clogged gutter defeats the sole purpose of gutters, as it results in the perimeter of the foundation forming pools of water. It’s very likely that these pools of water will penetrate cracks/pores in your property’s concrete. This can and will deteriorate the foundation. If the water was likely to freeze at any point, matters get even worse. Thankfully, we live in the South, so homes in Auburn, AL and Opelika, Alabama won’t be damaged as easily due to warmer temperatures. However, the temperature can still drop to freezing or below in the winter.
The effect of water constantly hitting the ground beneath an overflown gutter can drive water deep into the soil. This could also cause the water to infiltrate cracks in the basement wall, causing yet another costly repair.
CLEAN GUTTERS PREVENT YOUR WALLS FROM DETERIORATING
Clogged gutters don’t only damage roofs. Excess water will also run down walls & siding, causing damage and a very dirty appearance. Typical vinyl siding will last anywhere from 20-50 years, depending on how well you take care of them. However, with water damage due to clogged gutters, the lifespan of your siding will be drastically reduced.
If you have brick walls, this is not a big concern. However, even brick walls will be covered in the messy grime from the gutters if they are overflown with dirty water and debris.
CLEAN GUTTERS PROTECT YOUR LANDSCAPE
If gutters are clogged with debris, the weight of the grime can actually be too much for the gutters to handle. The spikes can disconnect and the gutters can detached from your roofing. This can cause water to simply fall straight down in areas that aren’t well designed for water. For example, our gutters went uncleaned for too long (well before I started this business, mind you), and we ended up with water in our small patio without proper sewage. It was near impossible to upkeep this area, so we had to get the gutters repaired. We always recommend customers keep an eye out for areas of landscaping that appear washed out. If you see any, examine the gutters or call a gutter repair company ASAP.
CLEAN GUTTERS DON’T ATTRACT ANIMALS/PESTS
You may think that animals would rather live in a nice clean gutter. Nope, they actually prefer the built up grime and debris to serve as their home. So if you have a problem with small rodents or pests at your residence, it couldn’t hurt to clean your gutters. That should be enough reason for them to find a brand new home, maybe at your annoying neighbor’s home that plays that loud music at 1 in the morning!
CLEAN GUTTERS PROTECT…. WELL, YOUR GUTTERS
Clean gutters protect your gutters. Enough said. For real though, clogged gutters can easily cause permanent damage to gutters. They aren’t able to hold as much weight as you might think. I see a section of my neighbor’s completely torn apart gutters every time I drive by it. It looks ugly and can cause some serious damages that I mentioned earlier. The best way to protect your gutters is to simply get them cleaned by a professional.
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