What Is The Purpose Of Gutters?

The purpose of a rain gutter is to drain water off the roof and away from the property.

When gutters aren’t functioning as they were designed, damages should be expected to be incurred. Here are just a few of the more expensive items that can happen.

  • Water damage to landscaping and flower gardens
  • Damage to a home’s concrete foundation
  • Flooding and/or rotting in a basement or cellar
  • Moisture seeping in the fascia and behind siding
  • Possible Black Mold
  • Many other unsavory things

Just like anything of value, the gutters have to be protected and maintained to protect a home. 

Are Rain Gutters Really All That Important?

THEY ARE.  They are important because that small, humble looking gutter on a house, is extremely important for keeping the home protected from rainwater.  Have you ever laid in bed late at night listening to a vicious storm rolling through? No, gutters cannot protect you from an F5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri or a Big Nor’easter in Boston, Massachusetts nor a Pineapple Express in Los Angeles, California.  However, whether (pun intended) in Kansas City, Missouri, San Francisco, California, Richmond, Virginia or Tampa Bay, Florida gutters are the first line of defense against  rains entering a home.

READ: ‘Everything you need to know about gutters

Alright already, We know the purpose and the importance of gutters on a home.  So now what. Such a smart American home owner you are! The smart American home owner sets a cleaning plan in place to protect a home’s gutters!

Cleaning and Maintaining Gutters And Downspouts

The fact still remains, cleaning gutters is one of the most neglected areas of home maintenance, and it is something that can very well end up causing a lot of expensive problems down the road. Now that you are among the few savvy and smart American home owners, let’s discuss the course of action to clean and maintain this crucial item defending the home’s value.  

There are three main discussions worth noting:

  • Having Gutters Professionally Cleaned And Inspected Is The Smart Move To Make
  • What Happens When Gutters Are Not Cleaned On A Regular Basis?
  • Being Proactive With Gutter Cleaning And Maintenance Will Save Money

Gutters aren’t there for decoration, even though some types are quite beautiful, they are there to keep water from damaging the home. When they can’t do their job properly this can result in a lot of costly repairs being needed, which is obviously something any smart American home owner wants to avoid.

Having Gutters Professionally Cleaned And Inspected Is The Smartest Move To Make

So by now you know that a professional gutter cleaning company is sitting behind the keyboard.  So, that makes us biased, right? Such a smart American Home owner you are! So in order to practice due diligence let’s examine the options:

  • DIYers
  • The Neighborhood Handyman
  • Professional Gutter Cleaning Service

Read more here:  ‘5 Reasons To Hire A Professional Gutter Cleaning Company

DIYers

How does the idea of spending a free weekend climbing up and down a ladder most of the day while digging through disgusting debris in gutters sound? It doesn’t sound appealing, Right?. But if the DIYer decides to try to clean gutters themselves, that’s exactly what they are going to end up doing.

Now even if the DIYer decides they still want to do the job themselves there is no way they have the training to look for signs of wear and damage that indicate that their gutters are going to need repaired or replaced soon, nor do they have the experience to look for places  that damaged gutters are causing fascia or siding damage. The Savvy American home owner does not want to be the DIYer when it comes to gutter cleaning. But if you still are convinced that being a DIYer is for you, then perhaps you should read about ‘Using A Pressure Washer For Gutter Cleaning’.

The Neighborhood Handyman

We all know that one guy down the street.  The guy that has their nephew or niece advertise for them on Craigslist and Facebook. They are the neighborhood handyman.  Using a handyman has a liability to the home owner.  Some of these are:

  • Not being insured.  That means if they get injured or they damage the property, the home owner is liable
  • They are inconsistent on showing up and their quality of work is also inconsistent
  • They lack experience, they will often miss small problems that will cost the home owner more in the long run.

So. let’s move on to the best option.

Professional Gutter Cleaning Service

Yes, No big surprise here.  Professional Gutter Cleaning Services is the best option.  Here are five reasons that this is the best option:

  • Efficiency
  • Safety
  • Inspection
  • Convenience
  • Peace of Mind

If you want to know more about each of these reasons you can read the article ‘5 Reasons To Hire A Professional Gutter Cleaning Company’.

What Happens When Gutters Are Not Cleaned On A Regular Basis?

Let’s take a moment to discuss the frequency of cleaning gutters.  Over time dirt, plant material, insects, and various other types of debris end up trapped in gutters. This happens even if gutter guards are in place to help prevent it;  although properly installed gutter guards will help to slow down the accumulation of debris. When the debris in a home’s gutters becomes excessive there are two main problems the home owner is going to be faced with.

First, the debris will block the normal flow of water which will cause water to start to flow out of the gutter into places undesirable.

Second, the added weight from this debris will weigh down gutters and slowly damage them. If the home owner is fortunate they will catch this early and probably only have a repair bill to show for it. If the home owner is not so fortunate, and doesn’t spot the problem quickly, then they will likely end up with a bill in the range of several thousand dollars to completely replace the home’s gutters.  

Generally speaking, gutters should be cleaned at least twice a year. However this guess-estimation is subjective to a home’s location. Only a local professional gutter cleaning service can recommend the frequency to which gutters should cleaned.

Being Proactive With Gutter Cleaning And Maintenance Will Save Money

A lot of home owners neglect their home’s gutters and don’t realize that without them their home could end up suffering some very expensive damage. There are mold spores literally everywhere just waiting to germinate and start spreading. What do those mold spores need to thrive? They need water and shelter. Those mold spores have an ideal place to thrive within the crevices of any home exposed to moisture, but without that moisture and shelter they remain harmless. Introduce some moisture and shelter and there will be a major toxic mold problem.

Not only will a home have to be vacated until the mold is cleaned up since it’s toxic, but mold remediation is quite expensive. So by being proactive and making regular gutter cleaning a priority a home owner can avoid this problem altogether, and by doing so they can avoid a huge bill.  There is actually a sky scraper that was built new in Texas that was never opened because black mold infested under the wallpaper. ‘OSHA Shuts down building over mold’ .

Conclusion and Review

The desire to save money is a strong motivator, and it’s something any smart home owner should embrace in most circumstances. One of those circumstances is not cleaning gutters.

The gutters on a home are there to provide a means of controlling the flow of rainwater off of the roof during a rainstorm. Instead of just having the water flow wherever gravity pulls it, gutters guide it so that it doesn’t end up in places that are undesirable. Without properly working gutters, a home will end up with moisture infiltrating into places that should never get wet. This of course leads to water damage and toxic mold that is expensive to repair.  

On top of the damage it causes to the home, uncontrolled water drainage will also erode the soil and damage landscaping. With a properly working gutter system, however, rainwater can be guided in a way that it can be useful instead of damaging.

The best option of achieving this is to use a professional gutter cleaning company.