Get Your Mind In The Gutter

Get Your Mind In The Gutter

Just drive down your street and see how many of your neighbors allow debris to build up on their roof and in their gutters. It may seem like harmless homeowner laziness, but it can lead to larger more costly issues.

Gutter Maintenance

Gutters are designed to direct water flow from your roof to carefully designated areas where down spouts and splash boxes are. Some may have a more complicated method of discharging the water like underground systems, but still working for the same purpose. The reason for even having gutters is to prevent erosion around the foundation of your home. The constant water run off for your roof can erode soil from under the foundation of your home. If you think this is fiction, what do you think created the grand canyon? or limestone caves? Yep, water! If you think gutter cleaning is expensive, wait till you have to venture into the wild west of foundation repair. Anyone with a shovel can be a “foundation repair guy” and we are talking a large four figure bill in most cases.

The most common issue we see with gutters (with and without screens), is debris buildup. No matter if the debris is getting in to the gutter or not, if its sitting on top of the screen, its still preventing the gutter from doing it’s job. The water is running off the roof with a good amount of velocity then cascading over the debris and then over the side of the gutter. If you don’t keep gutters clear, you might as well not have them.

Gutter Overflow

The average customer lets around 60-80 lbs of sopping wet debris accumulate before calling us out. Even with screens, shingle asphalt falls in through the screens and that stuff is heavy when it accumulates (its literally tiny rocks). Think about that, that is like letting a 15 year old hang on to your gutters. They were not designed to statically hold that much weight, nor was the fascia board they are screwed into. We commonly have to not only clean but also reattach gutters and in some cases, we have to bring an additional trade out to repair the eave and fascia board. A problem absolutely preventable with regular cleaning.