With the high amount of moisture we have seen this year, many are finding out just how important high quality and well-maintained gutters are to protecting their home. Gutters that aren’t doing their job can actually cause long lasting damage to your home, including foundation problems, roof and wall damage, mold, and flooding.

Potential Problems

When your gutters are clogged or not draining correctly, roof damage can be caused by the constant contact with water. Similarly, gutters that leak or overflow can cause damage to your walls by allowing too much contact with water, which these areas of your home were not designed to handle. Eventually this can cause materials to warp and rot. Your foundation can be at risk of mold, cracking, and even collapse when this water collects so close to your home, increasing the risk of mold, rot, and even flooding when water isn’t carried safely away from the foundation through the downspouts. While easier and usually more affordable to fix, landscaping can also be damaged by a rush of water caused by non-functioning gutters. In cold weather, when lots of freezing and thawing takes place, ice dams can form in the gutters, causing water to seep into the walls of your home.

How to Select Gutters for Your Home

When it comes to selecting a gutter system, the options are quite literally endless, with different material options and styles to consider. But the fact is, most homes have a very basic guttering system on them that may have been DIY installed, or simply whatever the cheapest option was when the house was built.

When analyzing your gutters for problems or choosing new gutters, there are a few key components to consider:

• Size – The size of gutters your home needs is based on the amount of rain your area typically receives. This can be calculated by your house’s roof pitch and the maximum rainfall intensity for your region.

• Pitch – The pitch at which the gutter is installed can help the flow of water to drain into the downspouts and wash away dirt and leaves that collect in the gutters. However, too steep a pitch can cause installation problems.

• Fabrication – Gutters from the home store usually come in segments that must be sealed together. These seams can be difficult to seal correctly, causing debris to collect and leaks to occur. Using seamless options can improve the effectiveness of your gutters.

• Required Maintenance – While gutter maintenance is a necessity, depending on the design, your gutters can require significantly more or significantly less maintenance. To keep your guttering system functional, using gutter protection can reduce the maintenance required.

Gutter Maintenance

To keep gutters functioning properly and your home protected, inspect and clean gutters regularly. Gutters should be cleaned to remove any leaves or other debris that has collected. When inspecting your gutters, look for things like gutters that are sagging or have loosened from their fastening to the roof, leaks in seals between joints if you have sectional gutters, and downspouts that are clogged with sticks and leaves. Downspouts should also direct water away from the home and utilize splash blocks, an extension section, or pipe to keep water diverted away from the house.

Consider your options for gutter protection to reduce the maintenance required for your gutters. Utilizing gutter covers or toppers can keep the majority of debris from entering your gutter system, reducing potential blockage. If you don’t have seamless gutters, fit specifically to your home, maintenance can be greatly reduced by using a seamless system. Instead of having to locate leaking seals and caulk them every year and clear blockages caught on seams, a seamless system ensures minimum potential for broken or clogged gutters.

We Recommend Quality Over Price

If you aren’t positive that your gutters can protect your home, give us a call at (855) 735-8255. We are happy to come out and evaluate your setup. We pride ourselves on giving you a straight answer and never selling you something you don’t need. We will happily tell you if you existing gutters are doing the job.

If we find that your gutters aren’t doing the job – and you are interested – we will give you a free quote for our customized guttering system. Our prices are very fair, and most people find that the protection you get for the price is an absolute no-brainer.