Chances are you think that a few twigs and leaves in your gutters can’t hurt your home. But, this isn’t the case. In fact, to avoid large and expensive repairs to your home, you have to keep your gutters clean. Your gutters control the water that is around your house. When they get cluttered with debris, they can’t do their job and can result in serious problems.
To avoid having to shell out hundreds or even thousands of dollars on home damage repairs, there are things you can do to keep your gutters clear of debris so they can work properly. Things you should look for that could indicate a potential gutter clog problem are as follows.
Signs of Potential Clogs
When you have a clogged up rain gutter, it can be apparent because you’ll likely notice a big puddle forming near your home’s base. The quicker you find the clog and eliminate it the better since it could lead to water leaking into your home’s foundation and cause damage to your basement. Not to mention, once you get the smell of mold, it’s hard to get rid of it. So do yourself a favor and take the preventative action needed to reduce the chances of mold.
Cracked Foundations
When your gutters are clogged, excess water can build up against your home’s foundation and lead to cracks in the foundation wall, as well as weaken the footing. During the colder months, it can likely get worse since the built-up water actually freezes at your foundation and results in ‘frost-heave’ that can lead to significant foundation wall cracks.
Check for Repairs
By keeping your gutters clean, you can ensure that any necessary repair is fixed before it leads to costly and unnecessary damage. The weight of the ice and snow in the wintertime can harm your rain gutters, cause them to bend making them eventually give way. Repair your gutters now before the winter hits to avoid this problem.
Rotten Wood
Clogged gutters can cause water to back up and lead to moisture damage around your home to the wood fascia. If you don’t repair the leak, the rotted area can get worse rapidly causing even more damage.
Animals and Wood Destroying Insects
Water can pond up in locations where the debris forms a type of dam. This invites breeding mosquitoes, insects, birds, plants, and mice.
When it comes to maintaining your water drainage system and keeping it running smoothly, don’t underestimate the importance of keeping your gutters clean. There is nothing worse than having to fork out thousands of dollars for costly water damage that could have been avoided. One of the most valuable assets you have for your home is a regular gutter cleaning preventative maintenance plan. If you don’t want to or can’t do the gutter cleaning yourself, you can always hire out the job periodically to the professionals. Also, important is having a good homeowners insurance policy in place in case unkept and faulty gutters do lead to expensive home damage. You want to be covered for this since nothing is foolproof.
