The winter season can be detrimental to your home. Snow, ice, and strong winds can turn your holiday season into a winter storm. This, in turn, can damage your exterior and roof, chip away paint, and ruin your gutters. Your gutters are especially prone to the seasonal changes, since they’re exposed to the conditions. Fortunately, these tips for winter gutter maintenance will protect your gutters for even the worst winter weather—especially in Maryland and Virginia.

Keep Gutters Clear of Debris

This is probably the most obvious solution to gutter maintenance. Keeping gutters debris-free will make sure they are working efficiently. Be sure to clean your gutters during a thaw or clear day. Snow and ice can accumulate, so you should consider installing a heat cable or de-icing system. This will ensure no ice dams develop in the extreme cold. It will also prevent roof damage and leaking.

Check for Structural Damage

The siding of your gutters is important for protecting their interior. Be mindful of staining, rotting, or other water damage. Cracks or gaps in your gutters can lead to water damage on your home’s exterior. Repair these gaps as soon as possible.

Invest in Gutter Covers

Gutter covers or guards are used to prevent clogged gutters and damage. There are four main types of gutter guards: brush, foam, surface tension, and screen. Brush gutter guards prevent large debris from blocking the passageway, but do not effectively block small debris. Foam guards resemble Styrofoam and prevent large objects from blocking water flow. However, they do not prevent algae or plant growth. Surface tension guards narrow the gutter openings which reduces clogging. Lastly, screen gutter guards are micromesh guards that protect against small and large debris. These are the most common and most effective guards used. Typically, screen guards are made of metal or plastic and can be mounted on or snapped in place.

Keep Surrounding Areas Trimmed and Clear

Similarly, you should ensure the area around your gutters is clean and maintained, too. Trim trees to prevent leaves and branches from building up. Likewise, snow or ice can accumulate on tree branches causing it to crash down and damage your gutters and house.

If you don’t feel comfortable with gutter work, contact us at Gutter Maid for the best gutter cleaning in Maryland. Don’t wait for the worst of snow, ice, and wind to hit. Call us to protect your gutters and home from the winter conditions.

Gutters are an important aspect of your home maintenance as they help to prevent the rainwater from seeping into your roof, walls, landscape, and foundation. Due to this important function, you have to ensure that your gutters are free of debris and clutter, so it will allow the rainwater to get drained.

Unfortunately, gutters get clogged often due to accumulation of leaves and other debris and this can prevent the smooth run-off of rainwater. To prevent such clogs, you should clean your gutters often. In fact, experts say that gutter cleaning should be done at least twice a year.

So, why should you hire a gutter cleaning company? Here are some more reasons to clean your gutter with the right gutter cleaning services company.

Rain Water

Now you might wonder why in the world should you worry so much about rainwater? First off, statistics show that an inch of summer rainfall can pour nearly 1500 gallons of water on your home! This is a lot of water and it has to be drained completely. Even small amounts of water stagnation can cause damage to your building structure, especially the roof.

Many times, clogged gutters are the single biggest reason for roof leakages and damage. This is particularly true if you have shingles on your roof as it can lead to the formation of ice dams as well.

Also, rainwater can seep into your foundation, walls, and indoor areas. If it is severe, it can have a drastic impact on your interior decorations too.

Avoids Breeding

Besides protecting rainwater damage, dirty gutters can serve as the perfect breeding ground for bees, pests, and other insects. If your gutters are covered, it can even give rise to the growth of molds inside. On the other hand, when you have open gutters, water stagnation can lead to mosquito menace! You’ll know its implications if you happen to stand on your deck or in your yard.

Fascia Boards

Fascia board is the one that is mounted just below your gutter and it is the one that holds your gutter in place. When your gutters are blocked, water will constantly overflow from it and after some time, this will cause the fascia to rot.

When the fascia rots, it gives direct access for pests to enter your attic!

Extends the Life of Your Gutters

When you clean the gutters often, they last longer. When you don’t the additional debris increases its weight and at the same time, it can cause rust and corrosion too. All this can lead to major repairs for you. Hiring a professional gutter cleaning company is your best bet to make sure your investment lasts for a long time.

Saves Money

Though you may think cleaning gutters can be a drain, in fact, is the opposite. When your gutters are clean, the possibility for roof or structural damage is greatly reduced and this translates to direct savings for you. In addition, there are many low cost gutter cleaning services available today, so the entire cleaning process will not cost you a whole lot and it is usually completed within a day or so.

In short, clogged gutters are a financial bomb ticking to go off in your home. Most times, they can lead to structural damage, seepage, roof repairs, and a breeding ground for pests. To avoid all these problems, take the help of a professional gutter cleaning services company to maintain the health and longevity of your gutters and through it, your home. In the long run, it can help you to save money as well.

It’s easier to maintain the interior of your house than the exterior. Easier might not be the word, exactly — though it’s certainly easier to remember that you need to keep the inside of your house clean, than it is to remember that you need to take care of things like gutter cleaning. This is why some people prefer to have the basics in terms of maintaining their home’s exterior taken care of by professionals. Though you don’t necessarily have to clean gutters often — at least twice a year — the job is something of an undertaking no matter what. The same can be said of cleaning your roof, ensuring that your house’s appearance is well-maintained, or handling something like a leaf guard installation. There are many benefits of having these tasks handled by professionals, especially if you only need to do so intermittently. Yes, you may be tempted to handle them by yourself; but why would you if you have the option to ensure that the job is done right? Below, we’re going to look into the advantages of working without professionals to handle everything from gutter installations to cleanings, repairing your roof, and more exterior work.

1. Cost Efficiency

You probably would think that cleaning gutters on your own is more cost efficient than working with professionals. Certainly, you don’t have to pay yourself. But you will have to pay for the materials involved in these tasks. This is particularly notable when you’re handling a gutter installation. You can order everything yourself — but do you know that you’re getting the best deal? For that matter, are you buying the products that are the best fit for what you want and what your home needs? It can be hard to tell when you’re not doing something that is strictly your job. Working with professionals means that you’re getting the best deal possible, from people who often have access to deals that you yourself wouldn’t necessarily be able to arrange. This will also save you a lot of time — rather than working with dozens of price comparisons and ensuring that you’re buying everything that you need to buy, you can simply outsource the work to a professional company.

2. Safety

You may know the basics behind a gutter installation, but can you really handle it safely? Can you clean gutters safely, or patch a hole in your roof without issue? The fact is that it can be difficult to do these things. They require a lot of physical labor, much of which is done a good distance off the ground. A lot of people rather easily injure themselves when they’re in the process of handling gutter installations. While you can run the risk yourself, it’s probably a better idea to just rely on professionals. The last thing you would want is to hurt yourself or others while working on a job that isn’t your forte. Though it’s still a little difficult for the professionals to handle some jobs, they know what they’re doing and are at far less risk than the laymen.

3. Efficiency

The fact is that it’s just a lot simpler to hand this kind of tedious job off of a company. Do you really want to spend your weekends cleaning your gutters? You can let a professional gutter cleaning company do the job, and you’ll end up saving a lot of time and energy. You won’t have to worry about whether or not things have been done correctly, and you can just relax! This kind of efficiency will allow you to be able to focus on other things. Take full advantage of it!

Again, you don’t have to hire a gutter cleaning company. You don’t have to outsource any of the exterior work that must be done to your house. But working with professionals will ensure that the job is done well, and you have far less to worry about.