Get That Spring Cleaning Mood Started Up – Time to Clean the Gutters!

Once the cold, snowy, wet winter is over, you don’t want to think about spring cleaning, but it is the best time for cleaning, especially when it comes to your gutters. The gutters on your home are an important part of your home’s health and a vital unpopular chore. Why?

When your gutters are left unchecked and get clogged, it can do a lot of damage. The first thing they do is hold water and standing water is breeding ground for mosquitoes. When gutters are clogged up, the wood rots along the eaves, fascia boards, and soffits and water can back up under the shingles.

The gutters on your home are the mechanism that keeps water moving off the roof and away from your home’s foundation. While that may not seem to be a big issue, 1-inch of rain that comes off your roof accounts for more than 1,000 gallons of water. That can be more than 30,000 gallons of water annually which will fill two swimming pools!

Does the Basement Flood?

The number one cause of basements flooding is clogged gutters. The same is said about foundation damage, too. When the gutters are clogged, the water can’t flow freely, and the gutters fill up then it cascades over the back and front of the gutters. It then streams down along the exterior walls of your home and seeps into the ground. It then will make its way to the foundation or into the basement.

These problems can be avoided by keeping the gutters cleaned out on a regular basis.  If you really hate cleaning those gutters, or you aren’t able to get to them, call a roofer about installing gutter guards.