If you’re a homeowner, one of your top priorities is keeping your house safe and protected from the elements. Whether you add a storm door to your front entry or invest in thicker windows, you can take certain steps to ensure your home remains in excellent condition.
When it comes to preventing water damage, the importance of gutters can’t be understated. By directing rainwater away from your home, a gutter system plays an essential role in mitigating moisture and water accumulation that can cause problems ranging from mold and mildew to structural damage.
What Are Gutters & What Is Their Purpose?
Gutters are for water management. A gutter system consists of several troughs attached to a building’s roofline to collect and discharge rainwater that streams down the roof’s surface.
Once rainwater moves down the roof and reaches the gutter, it flows through the gutter to a downspout, which sits vertically on the side of the building. The bottom opening of the downspout is angled away from the building’s foundation, allowing rainwater to dispense onto the ground or into an underground drainage system.
There are a few different types of gutters, including:
- K-style gutters
- Seamless gutters
- Box-style gutters
- Fascia gutters
- Half-round gutters
These gutter styles can be made of various materials, which have little to do with how they work and mostly only impact the building’s appearance. No matter the gutter’s design, they all accomplish the same goal — gathering and draining rainwater away from the structure.
Top 3 Benefits of Gutters
Installing gutters for your home is a key part of its maintenance. When you have a gutter system, you can avoid various problems with rainwater impacting your house’s roof, foundation and yard. Some of the top benefits of gutters include:
1. Foundation Stability
Without a gutter system, rainwater would drain right off the side of your roof and gather at your home’s foundation. When that happens, rainwater can erode the soil around the foundation.
Specifically, any kind of water that accumulates at your house’s foundation — whether from the rain, melted snow or landscaping — can cause hydrostatic pressure. This pressure is exerted by fluids at rest, meaning stagnant water that pools and evaporates around the exterior of your home can cause stress on the foundation’s walls, eventually weakening them.
Creating a designated path for rainwater to flow away from your home through a gutter system is one of the best ways to protect your foundation from damage.
2. Flooding and Water Damage Mitigation
Just as keeping water away from the base of your home is important for its stability, doing so can also prevent basement flooding. If your foundation already has cracks and crevices, rainwater could easily enter your basement, especially during severe storms. Even minimal amounts of moisture buildup can lead to mold and mildew issues, including various health problems. A flood can do further damage, ruining your belongings and the walls and floor.
Thanks to a gutter system, basement flooding is less of a concern. When rainwater has a clear path to drain away from your house toward a designated area, it has a much lower chance of collecting around your foundation and leaking inside.
3. Insect Protection
No one wants to deal with an infestation of insects in their home. Investing in gutters is one of the best ways to keep your house pest-free. Many insects, including mosquitoes and termites, are drawn to standing water, which can become a problem when rainwater accumulates around the outside of your house.
Over time, certain insects gathering around that standing water may get inside your house through small openings in the siding, windows or other areas. Additionally, an influx of bugs could impact your flowers, plants and any landscaping work you’ve done around your home. Reduce the chances of bugs entering your home by keeping the rainwater moving away from your property and eliminating a potential ecosystem for them.
How Do You Clean Your Gutters?
Like any part of your house, your home’s gutters require occasional cleaning and maintenance to keep them working as expected. Since your gutters are exposed to the elements, debris like leaves and twigs can easily end up inside them. If you forget to clean them out, your gutters can clog and block rainwater from draining properly, creating other problems like damaged shingles or attic moisture buildup.
The type of gutter you have can affect how you clean it. Generally, you can use a ladder to access your gutters and clear out the debris by hand. Simply put on a pair of gloves, grab the debris and place it in a bucket, moving from the downspout toward the rest of the gutter. When you’re finished, you can flush out the leftover bits of debris and dirt with a hose. For downspout clogs, you can also use a hose to clear the blockage with high water pressure.
Try to clean your gutters once in the fall and once in the spring to keep them in good shape. If it’s rained recently, wait a few days before breaking out your ladder and bucket — clearing out dry debris is much easier. Additionally, you can have a gutter guard installed to keep debris out and make cleaning much simpler and less frequent.
How to Know When to Repair or Replace Your Gutters
Eventually, your gutters can weaken, crack and sag, and you’ll have to repair or replace them. An old, rusted gutter system won’t be as effective as one that’s in good condition and connected properly. If you visually inspect your gutters and notice any of the following signs, it may be time for a gutter repair or replacement:
- Broken seams between gutter components
- Peeling paint
- Rust
- Water damage
- Sagging or pulling
- Cracks and splits
- Moisture damage in your attic or basement
Working with a professional rain gutter installer can help you determine the best approach. An expert can inspect your gutter system’s condition and make recommendations that best suit your situation. As a result, you can trust your gutter system to drain rainwater properly, protecting your home and landscaping from moisture damage, flooding and other issues.
Choose AmeriPro Roofing for Professional Gutter Services
AmeriPro Roofing is here to meet your roofing needs. We have decades of roofing experience and have completed more than 150,000 successful projects. Our team can address roofing repairs and replacements, plus siding and gutter installation. Whether you need gutter guards to keep debris out or want to replace your old gutters with a new seamless system, AmeriPro Roofing can do it all.
Learn more about our gutter services and the gutter jobs we’ve completed in the past. Ready to protect your home with a new set of gutters? Reach out to us for a complimentary roof inspection today, and we can get started on your gutter project!
