For many homeowners, maintaining their home’s gutters and downspouts is not always a priority. While gutters and downspouts are not aspects that homeowners can necessarily enjoy, regular maintenance is crucial to keep the structural integrity of your home. Although maintaining these aspects may seem like a daunting and unnecessary job, allowing leaves and other debris to build up can significantly damage your home.
Clogged gutters and downspouts prevent rainwater or snow water from draining away normally. With the water lacking an easy route to drain, it overflows and can even start dripping down the walls. This causes damage to the woodwork and walls around your house, and moisture can enter your house if it’s not waterproof. If you want to take the challenge to maintain your gutters and downpipes, here are tips to help you through the challenge. Read on to learn them.
1. Inspect Your Gutters And Downspout Regularly
The first and most important step of keeping your gutters and downspouts in good condition is frequently checking their condition. When inspecting, look for any cracks, rust, holes, or any other sign of damage. In this case, you may want to seek the rain gutter downspout repair services to help inspect your gutter. You can also inspect the gutter system by pouring water down the gutters and observing how it moves. If the water flows smoothly up to the ground, everything is okay. If it collects in a section on the gutter, you need to adjust the slope. Also, if water doesn’t flow out of the downspout, the downpipe is clogged and needs to be addressed.
Regular inspection is crucial as it helps spot potential problems before they escalate to costly damages. It also helps you know when to clean or unclog your gutter system. If you spot any problem, it’s essential to address it immediately to avoid significant damage in the future.
2. Routinely Clean Your Gutter System
Regular maintenance of your gutter system through cleaning prolongs the lifespan of the gutter system and your home’s structure. Regular cleaning helps your gutter system stay in good condition, ensures it works efficiently, and prevents pests from inhabiting your gutters.
Specialists recommend cleaning your gutter system at least twice a year. However, this depends on where you live; if you live in a rainy region, cleaning and inspection should be more frequent as gutters can clog faster, and the water’s weight can loosen the gutters. Also, if your home is surrounded by trees, you should clean the gutters frequently because leaves and other tree debris tend to accumulate in the gutter system.
When cleaning your gutter system, you can remove leaves and larger debris with your hands, but remember to wear protective gloves. For smaller debris, you can flush them out using a hose pipe water. Clogged downspouts are unclogged using a strong spray of hose pipe water to loosen the debris. If the downspout is connected to an underground pipe, disconnect it first to confirm when water flows out.
3. Clear The Roof
It’s essential to clear the roof of any leaves or debris using a rake so that when the rain comes, the debris won’t be directed to your gutter system and clog it. However, be careful while working on the roof as sharp objects may cause injury; ensure you wear protective equipment like gloves and eyeglasses. Use a strong ladder that’s in good condition. Furthermore, avoid working on the roof when wet or icy as you may slip and cause unnecessary accidents. Also, don’t go on the roof when there are strong winds.
4. Install Gutter Helmets Or Covers
Gutter helmets or covers are items that prevent large objects of debris from entering and clogging your gutter system. Gutter helmets are installed on the top front of the gutter and have a cutout drain at the end. However, if your home is surrounded by trees, you need to inspect them regularly to remove leaves and other tree debris. Additionally, bees and wasps like inhabiting under the helmet covers, so be careful when inspecting the helmet covers to avoid being injured by these creatures.
5. Hire A Professional
Many individuals panic due to the idea of climbing up the ladder with supplies to inspect and clean your gutter system. Such panic and tension may increase the risk of accidents. However, it doesn’t have to be so because companies specializing in home maintenance can help. Hiring professionals is essential as they clean and unclog your gutter system and spot any potential problems and repair them before they escalate to bigger issues.
Conclusion
There you go! Those are the different steps to keep your gutter system in good condition. Following the above steps helps avoid serious damage to your gutter system and extends its lifespan.