How To Properly Maintain Your Gutters
Regular maintenance is essential to preserving the beauty and integrity of your home, and your gutters are no exception. Properly caring for your gutters is not only important for aesthetic reasons, but for keeping your them in good working order. Make no mistake about it: your gutters are crucially important to your home. They protect your siding and foundation from water damage, prevent leaks in your home, and much more. If you keep them in good working order, you’ll avoid a lot of headaches in many areas of your home.
How can you maintain your gutters and avoid a costly gutter replacement job? Here are three easy tips for effective gutter maintenance that will keep your home’s exterior fresh and functional.
1. Clean Your Gutters Regularly
Cleaning your gutters regularly to rid them of leaves and debris ensures that they remain clog-free, allowing them to work as intended. It’s recommended that you clean out your gutters at least twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall; more than two cleanings a year may be necessary if you have a lot of tree coverage. A thorough cleaning can involve a lot of tools such as brushes, hoses, and gardening gloves. One might also consider using gutter guards to reduce leaf build-up and make the cleaning process less time-consuming.
2. Keep an Eye Out for Damage
Make sure you keep a look out for damage to your gutters. There may not be a large gap or obvious breakage between sections of your gutter, but those miniscule cracks and holes are definitely going to be noticeable when water is spraying everywhere during a storm. While smaller holes can often be fixed with caulk, or, for more experienced DIYers, sheet metal, more significant breakage often requires professional gutter repairs or even full replacement. The same goes for rust—while smaller spots can sometimes be scraped away, more significant erosion might need to be left to the professionals.
Gutter replacement is a simple task for professionals. An home’s entire gutter can be replaced in less than a day. Don’t skip on this vital exterior renovation.
3. Check Downspouts for Breakage and Splashing
If your downspouts aren’t working as they should, this could cause issues for your home down the road. Water splashing onto the sides and foundation of your house can lead to peeling paint, rotting wood, and/or mildew, so it’s important to make sure your downspouts are always at the right angle and hole-free. By keeping your downspouts functioning at their highest capacity, you can safeguard your home from potential water damage, preserving its structural integrity and appearance in the process.
Always make sure that your downspouts are depositing water at least six feet from the foundation of your home. Any closer and you run the risk of water intrusion.
Keep Up With Gutter Maintenance and Repair
While gutter maintenance is often overlooked as opposed to other maintenance jobs around your home, it is imperative to increase the longevity of your gutters and the lifespan of your roof as a whole. Regular cleaning and staying on top of potential damage now will make for less issues and save you money on repairs down the line. Putting just a little effort into keeping your gutters in shape will pay off in the form of a beautiful, functional roof and a safer home environment for you and your family.