If you’ve been ignoring your gutters, now is the time to give them some quality attention. Your gutters are a crucial part of your roof’s drainage system and shouldn’t be left to simply fall into a state of neglect or disrepair. Clogged or damaged gutters are ineffective at protecting your home and can result in a leaky roof, water damage, mold, and mildew growth. Unkempt gutters can also attract nuisance critters that can damage your home. Gutter maintenance is important and as such you should clean your gutters routinely. Here’s a look at some specific reasons to clean your gutters.
Protect Your Home From Water Damage
The professionals recommend doing routine maintenance work on your gutter twice annually. This can help to prevent water damage from impacting your home by ensuring that your gutters are in tip-top shape. Water damage caused by impaired gutters can take place both on the exterior and interior of a home and can leave you with unsightly stains and discoloration on your ceiling and walls. However, if your gutters are in great condition, you’ll have nothing to worry about.
Limit the Risk of Having a Cracked Foundation
You may not have thought about the impact that your gutter system may have on safeguarding your home’s foundation, but it’s a big one. Your gutters work to keep pooling water from rainfall or melting snow from penetrating the base of your home. If your gutter system is ineffective or compromised, it can cause your foundation to crack and leakage to result when water pools from clogged gutters that need cleaning.
Keep Pests Away
Nuisance pests, like rodents, love to hide away in clogged, unkempt gutters. When you have gutters that attract pests, this can pose a serious health risk for your home’s occupants. Rodents carry nasty diseases that you want to avoid at all costs. Additionally, a pest infestation can cause damage to your home directly, from scratches to borrowing that could lead to significant repair costs.
Protection For Your Roof
Clogged gutters cannot work as they are intended to and causes the water to pool with no exit pathway. With nowhere to run, the water is forced to the roof of your home and this could lead to leakage and water damage to your ceiling, walls, and roofing system. From rot to water stains, if you don’t protect your roof by cleaning your gutters, you could end up with costly repairs.
Prevent Ice Dams From Forming
The winter season brings a lot of challenges and ice dams are not things that you want to tackle during the cold season. Ice dams are created when warm attic air heats a roof’s underside causing the snow on the top side to melt run down the roof and meet the eave or roof edge where it refreezes because of the frigid temperature (under the freezing point). An ice dam prevents runoff and often causes water to gather under the roof’s shingles, which leads to moisture accumulation that can the roof itself, as well as the fascia and soffits. The weight of the ice dam can cause the gutters to detach.
Contact American Construction for Roof and Siding Replacement
If you are interested in new roofing and siding, contact American Construction for roof and siding replacement. We offer top-notch service and guarantee quality craftsmanship and delivery. Contact us today to learn more about our services and to get a free quote.