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How Does Cleaning Your Gutter Save You Money?
Dirty and clogged gutters can lead to extensive damage to your home, and by cleaning and maintaining them regularly, you side-step expensive repairs.
As such, cleaning your gutter can save you anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. That is why it is a necessary part of home maintenance.
It seems far-fetched to suggest that cleaning the gutters on your home regularly could save you such substantial amounts of money, but dirty or clogged gutters can lead to all sorts of expensive problems.
Prevents Premature Gutter Replacement
Although gutter cleaning may just seem like another menial task on a lengthy to-do list, you need to say on top of it. With routine maintenance, you can prevent damage to your gutters.
While cleaning out dirt, debris, pests, etc., you eliminate problems leading to blockages and dangerous animals taking up residency in the gutter.
By cleaning the gutters, you will also likely notice any other potential things that may pose a problem, such as leaks, sagging, or mold and mildew. Catching these issues early will eliminate expensive repairs later on.
Saves Your Foundation
Issues with your home’s foundation may develop as a result of clogged or dirty gutters. If the channels contain debris, such as tree foliage, twigs, dirt, seeds, and the like, it may cause rainwater to overflow directly next to your home.
When the water overflows so close to your home, it can damage the foundation. Weakened foundations are more likely to shift and crack, which can cause a domino effect throughout the rest of your home, such as cracks in the walls and flooring, stability issues, and so on.
By completing routine gutter maintenance, you can help yourself steer clear of expensive, not to mention dangerous, problems with the foundation.
Flooding
Besides destabilizing your foundation, debris clogging your gutters can cause flooding in both your basement and yard. If the runoff water that overflows from obstructed gutters collects near your basement, it could seep in through the walls or windows.
Rainwater mixed with a finished basement and the water damage it brings with it is something most homeowners hope to never deal with.
Once the water gets in, it can cause substantial water damage to anything in the basement, including walls, floors, ceilings, appliances, and furniture.
Costs to repair water damage can easily be thousands of dollars. If there is standing water in your basement, you will have to pay to have it pumped out, driving the costs up even more.
Landscape and Yard Damage
Dirty or obstructed gutters also may damage or wash away landscaping done near your home. Enough runoff water can wash away or dissolve certain landscaping materials and cause pits and holes where the water pours from the gutters.
Hiring a landscaping company to fix the damage may cost you a good chunk of change.
What are the Dangers of a Dirty Gutter?
Dirty gutters can present several dangers that are costly to fix. As previously mentioned, issues such as a weakened foundation can present all sorts of unwanted effects. Other hazards of dirty gutters can include roof damage, pest infestations, and broken gutters.
Roof Damage
In wet climates, gutters are a necessary addition to homes, as they direct the flow of rainwater away from your home. However, when you do not clean your gutter system, buildup of debris can cause many issues, including roof damage.
In some cases, rainwater can pool on your roof due to clogged gutters preventing runoff, which leads to standing water. Water on your roof for long periods of time can eventually lead to rotting shingles, fascia boards, wood along with water leaks, among other issues.
A damaged, leaky roof is hazardous because it could collapse and injure you and your family.
Plus, repairing water-damaged roofing is expensive, usually costing several thousands of dollars, if not more.
Pest Infestations
It is no surprise that pests flock to clogged gutters. Debris usually includes tree foliage, twigs, dirt, and seeds, which animals use to build nests.
Birds, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, and other rodents may climb up the downspout or access the rain gutters via closely flanking trees. Once they rearrange the debris into nests along the gutter, blockages can be even more restrictive to water flow, sometimes even preventing the flow of water altogether.
Other pests that commonly take up residence in clogged gutters include stinging insects (wasps, bees, and hornets), snakes, mosquitoes, ants, and cockroaches.
One of the most important ways to avoid pest infestations is to keep the gutter clean. Without the sticks, leaves, needles from pine trees, and other nest-building materials, birds, mice, squirrels, and other pests are less likely to inhabit your gutter system.
Snakes usually won’t reside in clean gutters, as they do not hold the same appeal as clogged gutters, which typically contain an easy source of food and shade.
You can deter stinging insects with certain repellents, some of which are natural and do not kill the insect. Mosquitoes need standing water to lay eggs, and if the gutters are clean, the likelihood of them finding a suitable residence is low.
All of these pests and critters bring with them germs, bacteria, and other diseases. Once they are residing in your gutters, they are more likely to contact you, cause damage, and burrow their way into your home.
Broken Gutters
Clogged gutters can be a harm to the gutter itself. The constant weight of debris places stress on the brackets, and pooling water after a rainstorm adds to the weight. Additionally, if the gutter does snap off, it may drag parts of the roof with it.
Some gutter configurations cannot handle the extra weight, possibly leading to bracket damage or even the whole gutter ripping down. We’re sure a gutter falling on your head and a trip to the hospital isn’t on your agenda anytime soon.
Homeowners will then face both the costs associated with replacing or repairing the gutters and fixing the roof. Costs can skyrocket quickly, especially when roof damage occurs as a result of the broken gutter.
How Do You Go About Cleaning A Gutter?
The vast majority of these problems, you can entirely avoid by simply cleaning the gutter on a routine schedule. Cleaning a gutter is a reasonably straightforward job, but it takes a bit of time and getting your hands dirty, so to speak.
Call our professional or fill out our form if you are not comfortable cleaning your gutters. Most homeowners don’t want to risk climbing high up a ladder, nor do they have the proper tools or training to turn gutter cleaning into a DIY project.
However, if you wish to clean your gutters yourself, here are the basic steps.
Gather The Proper Equipment
To start, you will need to gather the necessary equipment. You will need a sturdy ladder (possibly a ladder stabilizer), a tarp, a set of thick rubber gloves, a scoop or trowel to remove debris, and your garden hose.
Layout the tarp beneath the ladder, as it will help you quickly clean up the debris from the gutters when you are all done. Ensure you place the ladder on sturdy and flat ground, so you don’t tip over.
Also, be aware of any large rocks beneath the ladder that could shift and cause you to lose balance. Use the stabilizer as necessary.
To clean the gunk out of your gutters, use a small scoop, gutter scoop (specifically for gutters), a small garden trowel (shovel), or even a children’s sandbox shovel.
You should wear thick rubber gloves to protect your hands in case of any sharp debris or dangerous pests, such as stinging insects.
Remove Debris
Once you have collected all of your equipment and set it up accordingly, start removing the gunk in your gutters.
Use the small shovel to remove the debris carefully. If you find any pests that could be dangerous to remove or handle, such as snakes or stinging insect nests, you may need to have a professional remove them before you can start.
Move along the entirety of the gutter system, removing the debris along each section. Ensure that you remove any obstructions from the downspout as well.
Flush The Gutters
Once you remove as much of the debris as you can, save for bits of dirt and grime that you could not pick up with the shovel, rinse out your gutters.
Use a garden hose with a spray nozzle or a pressure washer to flush out the last bits of grime from the gutters and downspouts.
When you flush the gutters, watch for any leaks, which could pose a problem. Repair any you find and fix sagging metal after you finish cleaning the gutters. It may be as simple as mounting a gutter hanger to support the hanging section.
If these fixes sound too complex, give our gutter repair experts a call for help or fill out the form below.
How Can A Professional Gutter Technician Help?
Good gutter professionals have the proper tools, knowledge, training, and experience to efficiently clean your gutters without damaging them or your home and property.
Issues that our professionals can help with include loose gutter hangers, loose downspouts, clogged gutters, pitch and slope problems, and much more.
Our gutter cleaners can also recommend specific products that will help avoid issues like pest infestations, such as gutter guards and filters.
Call us today or fill out our form below to schedule your gutter cleaning with our professional gutter cleaning service. Do it for peace of mind and to avoid costly repairs that may develop due to poorly functioning gutters.
