How To Keep Those Gutters Clean
Why it is important.
Summer storms are wicked. They can look like you are under the surface of water if the rain decides to come down hard enough. They can look even better if you’re out in a screen room, where you can hear the elements at work, I digress. These very elements can cause you problems, however. The gutters on your house can be overworked, especially deep in the summer months, and this can cause you as the homeowner a wide variety of issues. Without gutters, or properly working gutters even, the runoff of rain can leak into your home, causing damage to your furniture and floors. It can also stain and warp the walls inside and out. The worst case scenario is problems it can cause with the foundation. The situations a problematic foundation can cause a house are nightmarish, to say the absolute least.
Maintaining your gutters is a necessity if they are not guarded, and even still should be checked up on if they are. A whole lot of horrible things can pile up inside them; anywhere from leaves and twigs from your neighboring trees, to decomposing bodies of critters that had gotten stuck in them. Keeping the passageways clear to control the rain runoff among other weather anomalies can help you keep your house strong and looking good.
How to do it.
The Home Depot, an L.P. Homes favorite, recommends that gutters should be maintained at least twice a year. They also recommend that the first thing you do is check for damage. That could range from cracks to peeling paint; anything out of the ordinary. One thing they point out is that gutter paint is designed to resist the brutality of the weather, so if that is peeling away, there is something going on up in those gutters of yours. Another thing to test for is clogging in the downspouts. A way to do this is run water through the gutters and see if there is normal water flow that comes out the bottom.
The next thing to do is clean out the debris that you find up there. Depending on the height of your house, make sure you are using the appropriate ladder for the occasion. This part may be a bit nasty, so make sure to be prepared. Wear gloves.
Also, PRACTICE LADDER SAFETY. There is not a bold enough font appropriate for bringing this statement to your attention. If a homeowner gets careless with this, they can severely hurt themselves. Maybe consider having someone hold onto the ladder for you as you work, never overextend, and never climb on top of the last rung, no matter how tempting.
Once you have cleared out all of the nonsense that has piled up inside those gutters, a good final step to ensuring your success is once again using water to clear out debris through the downspouts. You can combine these two steps here in fact, cleaning out the gutters and checking the downspouts for blockages.
One big thing to consider is gutter guards. This can reduce the amount of times you need to get up on the ladder to clean them out. They work by placing a literal guard on the surface level of the gutters to keep the solid matter from getting in while letting the water do so. They are very handy and come in many forms, depending on what you are looking for.
There are also many ways to clean out those gutters. Bobvila lists a bunch of creative ways, including the use of a leaf blower.
If you are uncomfortable with this task, such as climbing up the ladder, maybe consider contacting a professional. You can find several on HomeAdvisor that’ll do a fine job for you.
The one thing that can get in the way of enjoying that great summer storm is worrying about what the rain will do to your home if the gutter system isn’t working properly. If you can figure out a good routine to combat this concern, then you are golden. It’ll be right back to appreciating what weather can do, instead of worrying about what it might do.