Gutters are an often-overlooked part of the home. Found along the edge of a roof, they are responsible for collecting rainwater and directing it away from your house. Without them, you would be vulnerable to water damage as rainwater cascades down your walls and seeps into the foundation of your home. But what exactly are gutters, how do they work and how can you keep them clean? Let’s break down why gutters are important and discuss some maintenance tips.
What Are Gutters?
Gutters are long troughs that run along the edge of a roof. They come in all shapes and sizes, but their purpose is always the same: to collect rainwater from the roof and direct it away from your house so that it doesn’t cause any water damage to the roof, walls, and foundations of your home through repeated exposure. The water collected in gutters is usually directed out through downspouts which carry it away from your house to a safe location such as a drain or ditch.
How Do Gutters Protect Your House?
Without gutters, rainwater would cascade down your walls and seep into the foundation of your home, especially over repeated exposure to rainwater during a rainy season or simply years of wear and tear. This could lead to costly repairs as water damage can weaken a building’s structure over time. Gutters also help protect against mold growth since wet surfaces provide an ideal environment for mold spores to thrive. Mold has been linked to various health issues such as asthma attacks, allergic reactions, sinus infections, headaches, coughing, sneezing, and more. By collecting rainwater before it reaches your walls or foundation, gutters limit the potential for mold growth inside or near your home.
How Can You Keep Your Gutters Clean?
Keeping your gutters clean is essential if you want them to work properly. Clogged gutters don’t just look bad, they can also cause severe damage to your home if left unchecked for too long. After all, a gutter can’t do its job when it’s completely clogged with debris or riddled with holes that cause it to leak all over your house anyway. A few simple steps can help ensure that your gutters stay clean throughout the year: inspect them regularly for clogs, remove debris by hand, use a pressure washer to handle cleaning them and unclogging them, hire a professional gutter cleaner when the job gets too big to handle or install gutter guards to prevent debris from entering in the first place. When it comes time to perform a replacement, don’t hesitate to look into high-grade gutter installations such as an aluminum gutter installation as the sooner the job is done the better for your home.
It’s easy to overlook the importance of having functioning gutters on our homes but doing so could result in costly repairs due to water damage or mold growth inside or near our homes. Taking some simple steps such as inspecting our gutters regularly for clogs and removing debris by hand will go a long way towards ensuring that our gutters remain clean throughout the year so they can continue protecting our homes against water damage and other issues caused by excess moisture accumulation. Keeping our gutters working properly is essential if we want our homes to remain safe and structurally sound!
