Tips For Taking Care Of Your Gutters

Taking Care Of Your Gutters

Taking care of your rain gutters by having them regularly cleaned, inspected, and if needed repaired by a professional will help you to keep them working properly for as long as possible.  It’s easy to forget about your rain gutters, but if you do you are going to end up regretting it. Maybe not tomorrow, or the next day, or next week, but at some point, you are going to realize that ignoring your gutters was a huge mistake.

Part of taking care of your gutters and downspouts is hiring a professional company to clean and inspect that twice a year or more. Another part of taking care of them is paying attention to any warning signs that there may be something wrong.  If you ever suspect there is a problem with your gutters, then call a professional company like We Get Gutters and have them come out to check them out as quickly as possible.

Taking Care of Your Gutters Will Help Them to Last Longer

If you have ever balked at the idea of paying a professional for gutter cleaning, then take a moment to think about how you would feel about paying to have new rain gutters installed.  Having new rain gutters installed on your home is going to cost you thousands of dollars.

If you think you can save money by doing it yourself, your probably wrong unless you are an experienced professional.  So, you are going to have to pay full price for installation.

Maybe you can save money by using vinyl gutters instead of a more expensive material like stainless steel? You could do that, but then you’d end up having gutters that wore out more quickly.  That would mean you would have to replace them sooner, which of course would mean more money out of your pocket.

Rather than trying to figure out ways to save money on your new rain gutters, wouldn’t it be smarter to instead figure out a way to make your current gutters last longer? Even lower-end gutters made from vinyl can usually last for several years if they are properly cared for.

If you have a more durable material, such as copper, then you could be looking at decades or even a lifetime of them lasting you. Wouldn’t that make more sense that preparing to pay someone thousands of dollars to install new gutters?

Copper Gutters

Why Do Neglected Gutters Fail More Quickly?

The gutters on a house are connected to a thin board called a fascia.  They are mounted using mounts and screws. The entire set up is designed to be as light as possible.  So, what do you think happens when you allow debris to pile up in them? Well, it adds weight to your gutters.

Added weight means added strain, which is going to end up causing your gutters to fail sooner than they would normally.  It may not be a lot of weight, but a little bit of weight that is constantly applying pressure to your gutters will cause them to fail.

If you are still on the fence about hiring a professional to clean your gutters and downspouts, then try to think of this as an investment rather than an expense.  Your home represents a sizeable financial asset for you, and you need to protect that asset.

That means making sure that regular maintenance is kept up in your home, which of course, includes having your gutters cleaned and inspected by a professional at least twice a year.

Why A Professional Gutter Cleaner Isn’t Just Your Best Option, It’s Your Only Option

When the time comes to clean your gutters, which should happen twice a year, hiring a company like We Get Gutters isn’t just a good option, it’s the only option you should be considering.  What about hiring a handyman?

Well, this is a mistake for a number of reasons. Think about this, do you think a handyman will be as good at cleaning gutters as a someone that only works on gutters for a living? Do you think he’ll have access to the same equipment? Will he care as much about doing the job the right way?

A professional gutter cleaning company can be counted on to do a better job because of the simple fact that they are going to care more than a handyman.  If a gutter cleaning company does a poor job their client can file a complaint about them. That, in turn, will damage their reputation, which can definitely impact their future ability to attract new business.

Professional Gutter Cleaner

In the rare event that a gutter cleaning company does a poor job and won’t correct the problem, then you have the added assurance of knowing that they are licensed, bonded, and insured.  That means that if they do a bad job, damage your home, or suffer an injury on the job you aren’t liable.

On the other hand, should a handyman do any of these things you could be looking at some serious financial ramifications.  In fact, not only will you probably have to pay for any damages they cause, you will also probably end up having to pay for any medical bills they have due to injuries they suffer while cleaning your gutters.

So, what you have to decide is whether you want to try to save a little money up front by hiring a handyman to clean your gutters, or if you want to make the smart move and hire a professional.  If you still aren’t certain then try picturing a handyman standing on top of a ladder armed with a bucket and a hose. Then picture a gutter cleaning professional armed with a high-pressure water sprayer.  Who do you think is going to do a better job?

What Causes Gutters to Get Clogged

The rain gutters and downspouts on your house are there to help control the flow of rainwater and direct it to where it won’t cause any damage to your home.  Unfortunately, rain gutters also excel at capture leaves, twigs, pine needles, insect, bird droppings, and all manner of things that will end up clogging them up.  There really is no way to avoid having your gutters collect debris, which means that there is no way to avoid having them cleaned.

Are Gutter Guards the Answer?

After realizing that rain gutters get clogged, and hearing that there is nothing you can do to prevent this, many people choose to question this.  They choose to look for a solution to a problem when the obvious solution of simply having your rain gutters cleaned on a regular basis already exists.  So, some people make the mistake of turning to gutter guards.

Gutter guards sound amazing.  They are screens, covers, and various other devices that are designed to sit on top of, or inside of your rain gutters to keep them from getting clogged.  But, like many other things in life that seem too good to be true, gutter guards are as well. Gutter guards generally fail for one of two reasons.

They either succeed in keeping rain gutters clear but fail by reflecting away too much water, or they get clogged themselves which can cause a rain gutter to collapse from the added weight.

Gutter guards that utilize a solid guard on the top of them actually do quite well at keeping debris from getting into the rain gutters.  But, guess what else they are quite good at keeping out of a rain gutter? Water. When you have a cover over your gutters this cover will end up reflecting away at least some of the water that is directed toward the gutter.

Gutter Guards

When that happens, the water will usually end up pooling at the base of your home, where it can do a lot of damage. In many respects, this is quite a bit like having no rain gutters at all. In other words, a gutter cover defeats the ability of a gutter guard to do its job.

If you opt for a screen style gutter guard, these don’t have the flaw that causes them to reflect water away, which is definitely a good thing.  Unfortunately, they too have a flaw that makes them ineffective. That flaw is that they tend to trap debris, and in time they will cave in and block your gutter.  Then you end up with a blockage, which can make water spill over the side of your gutters, or it can cause your gutters to collapse. In either case, this is not a good situation to be in.

On top of being ineffective, gutter guards will also cost you money, and they will wear your gutters out more quickly.  Gutter guards not only cost you money when they are installed but since you still have to pay to have your gutters cleaned they will cost you money here as well.  After all, you don’t think that the gutter cleaning company you hire is going to do extra work for free now, do you?

Do gutter guards really shorten the life of a rain gutter system necessitating gutter replacement? They absolutely do.  What you have to remember is that your rain gutters were designed to be as light as possible while still being strong enough to support the water that they help to channel.  When you add weight to a rain gutter, even a little weight, in time that weight will speed up the demise of that rain gutter.

What Kinds of Problems Can Water Damage Result In?

If you are wondering just what kind of damage you can be looking at if your rain gutters fail, well, it’s quite severe.  When water gets into your home through a small, slow leak, you are most likely going to end up with toxic black mold as your main problem.  Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. Believe it or not, there are mold spores all around us.

They are just sitting there waiting for an opportunity to become active, and then they spread.  When that happens, you can end up with a major mold problem in only a few days, which is why it’s so important that you keep water from getting into your home. That means ensuring your rain gutters and downspouts are in good condition at all times.

While toxic black mold is bad enough, it’s actually not the worst thing you can expect in terms of water damage caused by leaking or faulty gutters.  The worst thing that could happen is damage to the foundation of your home. This happens when water pools at the base of your house, then seep underground.

From there it enters the small cracks that are present in the foundation of every home. This water isn’t really a problem as long as the weather is warm. But, when the temperatures drop below freezing that water will turn to ice, expand, and then split your home’s foundation open.

Taking Care of Your Gutters and Downspouts Is an Important Part of Home Maintenance

Being a homeowner means that you have a responsibility to maintain your home.  Not only do you want to maintain it so that it remains a place you enjoy living, but also so you can protect its value.  A failing or leaking rain gutter system opens your home up to all manner of problems in terms of water damage. Water damage can be so destructive that it can actually end up costing you your home.

If you want to protect your home from the threat of water damage you need to protect and maintain its first line of defense, the rain gutters.  If the rain gutters on your home fail then your home is going to suffer water damage. There’s really no way to avoid it at this point. The good news is that keeping your rain gutters and downspouts in great condition really isn’t that hard to do.  It’s also not that expensive.

All you need to do is hire a professional to come out and clean and inspect your rain gutters. You need a professional that you can trust, and if that’s what you are looking for then you should definitely call We Get Gutters.