Your home is likely the biggest purchase you will make in your life, which makes extending the lifespan of your home of the utmost importance.
An often-overlooked exterior element is your gutter system. However, gutters play a major role in the lifespan of your home, helping to protect a variety of other exterior elements. As a New Jersey roofing contractor, our American Home Contractors team desires to help you understand the importance of gutters and how to maintain them.
So what role do they play in your home care, and how can you aid them in properly performing their job?
The Importance of Gutters for Your Home
As we already mentioned, gutters play a major role in the lifespan of your home. This is because they are designed to protect your home from water intrusion by doing two things: draining and diverting.
Water drains from your roof into your gutter system and is then diverted away from your home’s structure through the downspouts.
Overall, the role of gutters is to protect the interior of your home from water intrusion by protecting elements of your exterior. Gutters help extend the lifespan of these elements. They play an important role in protecting three major home exterior features, your:
- Roof
- Siding
- Foundation
What Causes Clogged Gutters
Clogged gutters can be the result of a variety of problems. The most common cause of clogged gutters is debris. A buildup of leaves, twigs, and other yard materials can cause improper water flow, causing backups.
Clogged gutters can also be the result of damaged or pinched downspouts. Over time, dents can appear in the gutters, back-logging water flow, especially when downspouts become pinched.
The Issues Clogged Gutters Cause
Damaged Roof
Without the proper flow in your roof’s drainage system, water can begin to pool in places on your roof. Your roof is designed to shed water, and your gutters help in accomplishing proper water flow. Without doing so, your roof can begin to sag or leak.
Interior Leaks
Leaks from excess water in your roof will make their way inside your home. This can cause ceiling stains, mold and mildew growth, and can even lead to dry rot in unseen places of your home, damaging its structure and giving your home a foul smell.
Mold Problems
Mold growth is promoted by excess moisture. The water that makes its way into your home will not always manifest in a noticeable leak. It can seep into drywall and structural boards, promoting mold growth through the absence of light and lots of moisture. This can wreak havoc on the integrity of your home.
Damaged Siding
When gutters backlog, they begin to overflow, and that excess water can make its way down your siding. This can affect the paint or integrity of the boards. Water can also penetrate into any gaps or cracks in your siding, creating rot in the boards or affecting your home’s interior.
Flooded Basement
Undiverted water can pool around your home, providing greater opportunity for basement flooding, especially when heavy rains are present. Without downspouts directing water away from your foundation, your home could experience basement flooding.
Cracked Foundations
Foundations absorb water. So when excessive water is allowed to pool around your foundation, the concrete will take it in and begin expanding and contracting with changing temperatures. This expansion can lead to major cracks or even foundation settlement, spelling expensive trouble for your home.
How to Prevent Clogged Gutters
To help extend the life of your roof, you need to keep your gutters from backing up. By maintaining your gutters, you can help prevent clogging.
Routine Inspections
Routinely inspect your gutters. You should assess your gutters after fall, before the harsh weather of winter hits, as well as prior to the rains of spring, but assessing your roof before each season will really help you catch issues before they arise.
Walk your home looking for cracks, discolored siding near the roof, or fallen nails and screws around your home. These can be signs your gutters need repair. You can also run a hose in your gutter to see if any leaks exist. If they do, contact a gutter contractor for repairs.
Repair as Necessary
If you catch problems during your inspections, have your gutters repaired immediately. Screw in all loosened areas. And contact a roofing gutter contractor to address leaks and discolored siding. If you notice damage to your roof around the broken gutter areas, you should have a roofing contractor come for an inspection and repairs.
Routine Cleanings
Gutters are constantly filling with debris, so they continually need to be cleaned out. Cleaning your gutters at the turn of each season will help keep water flowing properly. If you notice large chunks of leaves and twigs piling up, clear out that area before it causes sagging and backlogging.
Install LeafTech Gutter Guards
If your gutters are continually filling with debris, consider installing LeafTech gutter guards. Gutter guards are protective structures, typically metal, that secure over the opening of your gutters, and LeafTech is the most effective gutter cover system on the market. They have slits for water to make its way into your gutters while keeping the unwanted junk from getting into the system, saving you time and energy in gutter cleanings.
Don’t Let Clogged Gutters Affect Your New Jersey Home
Protect your interior, roof, siding, and foundation by keeping your gutters well-drained. If you find that gutter care is a common issue for your home, or you simply want the process to be simplified, our team at American Home Contractors can help.
We can provide you with a gutter inspection and perform all necessary repairs to your system. We can also install LeafTech gutter guards, so you don’t have to spend your valuable time cleaning muck from your gutters. Request a quote from us today to find out how our gutter contractors can help provide peace of mind with your home.
