Gutters are a hardworking part of your home, ensuring that you and your home stay protected from the elements. However, many homeowners overlook the significant role gutters play in protecting your home and don’t engage in maintaining or repairing their gutters as often as they should. It’s understandable — they’re not a part of your home that’s considered very much, and hiking up a ladder twice a year can feel like a daunting task when you’re already pressed for time and just keeping your floors clean feels like a big achievement. But let’s talk about why it’s so important for your gutters to be cleaned out and in good shape, and why you should hire a gutter cleaning company.

Take a Minute for Your Gutters 

Your gutters run along the edge of your roof and connect to downspouts, which funnel water away from your siding and foundation. There are two main types of gutter shapes — half-round and K-style. The K-style is often what people picture when they think of gutters. Generally speaking, you need about one downspout for every 30 to 40 linear feet of gutter. The more downspouts you have, the greater the capacity of your gutter system.

The most popular material for gutters is aluminum, followed by copper, steel, and vinyl. When thinking about the size of your gutter, remember that bigger isn’t always better. If you live in icy temperatures, ice buildup and snow in big gutters can weigh it down and cause it to break.

And just a reminder — your gutters should be cleaned out twice a year! We’ll get to why that’s important in the next section, below.

Why Is Keeping My Gutters Clean So Important? 

A gutter’s primary function is to keep water damage from impacting your roof, keeping water away from the foundation entirely, and preventing moisture from collecting in your windows. Water damage to your roof can significantly reduce its lifespan, cause rot and mold, and present you with an expensive roof repair or replacement cost.

Moisture in the windows causes your windows to fog up between panes with condensation and can negatively impact your windowsill or inside walls. And bad gutters can mean basement flooding, erosion around your foundation, or straight up damage to your foundation, all of which are a homeowner’s nightmare. Indeed, clogged gutters are the top reason homeowners face issues with water in their basement.

Think about it this way — one inch of rain in the summer puts nearly 1,500 gallons of water on your roof. That water has to go somewhere. Every gallon of water weighs about eight pounds. If your gutters are clogged and the water can’t run through them, they’ll be supporting thousands of pounds in water — not good news for them.

Be smart about your home maintenance and simply keep up with clearing debris out of your gutters and doing routine inspections to make sure that everything is working as it should.

Why Should I Hire a Gutter Cleaning Company? 

Let’s face it — a house is a lot of work. And sometimes we can’t always get to everything we want to get to. That’s where professional gutter cleaners come in. They might also work for a larger company that can handle gutter installation and gutter replacement if necessary. A gutter cleaning company can make that twice a year cleaning easy as pie. They’re professionals, so they come equipped with the tools and know-how to make it extremely quick and easy.

Hiring a professional gutter cleaning company takes the stress, time, and hassle out of doing it yourself, but still ensures that the job gets done when it needs to. If you schedule it in twice a year, that part of your home maintenance is all set without any further thought!

Do yourself a favor and look into professional gutter cleaning companies. They’ll make it easy to check at least one homeowner’s task off your list every year.

You know how important it is to clean out your gutters after the fall since all those leaves are likely blocking water and leading to potential household problems. But it’s even more imperative to keep your gutters clean and working properly over the winter.

Even the slightest problem with your gutters can lead to major, costly, and damaging issues down the line. In fact, clogged gutters are actually the number one cause of basement water problems. In order to avoid basement flooding and mold growth, as well as other structural damage to your home, it’s important to take excellent care of your gutters over the winter.

Here are some great homeowner tips for limiting and preventing serious winter damage to your gutters:

• Hire professional gutter cleaners — No matter how often you get on your roof and clean out your gutters, you’re never going to be 100% sure they are thoroughly clean and working correctly without the help of professional gutter cleaners. Luckily, you can work with a quality gutter cleaning company that can offer not just cleaning assistance, but gutter replacement and gutter installation services, as well.
• Regularly inspect your gutters and roof — Even after you’ve had your gutters thoroughly cleaned or repaired, you should take a look at your roof and every inch of your gutters every few weeks to make sure there aren’t any breaks or blockages. Make sure there aren’t any gaps or leaks within your gutters or visual damages to your roof.
• Upgrade your insulation — Insulation is key for a home over the winter in order to keep your family comfortable, heating costs down, and avoid other issues. But insulation can also ensure the best performance for your gutters. Quality insulation and ventilation can prevent ice dams from forming in your gutters and on your roof, subsequently stopping further damage from occurring.

If you are ready to ensure that your home’s gutters are ready for the new year and want to work with professional gutter cleaners, give Gutter Maid a call right away!

As a homeowner, one of your main responsibilities involves taking care of your home’s roof and gutters. Though you should be cleaning out your gutters a few times a month over the summer, you must not neglect your rooftop over the winter.

Even excellent rooftops that are in great condition need to be handled properly. But lower-quality roofs, as well as roofs that are over 20 years old, have a much greater likelihood of succumbing to harsh winter weather conditions like snow accumulation, high winds, and ice buildup. That’s why it’s so important to take care of your roof and gutters over the winter.

Here are some great winter gutter maintenance and cleaning tips:

• Inspect for structural damage — First, before you do anything, you should inspect your gutters to see if there is already serious damage that has occurred. Inspect seams and anchors, examine fascia, siding, foundation, search for leaks, and look for signs of staining, rotting, and other water-related damage. You might need major roofing repair work or gutter replacement, which should be addressed before general maintenance tasks. Make sure you’re being extremely careful whenever getting on top of your home’s roof. It’s best to let a family member or neighbor know whenever you go onto your roof so someone is aware you’re up there just in case you fall.

• Consult with a professional gutter cleaning service provider — Whether you’re in need of some thorough repair jobs or complete gutter replacement, you shouldn’t do everything yourself if you want to ensure home, roof, and gutter protection over the winter. Hiring a professional gutter cleaning company is a great way to keep gutters clean and protected over the winter, subsequently saving your time, money, and stress in the long run.

• Utilize heat tape and de-icer — Install heat tape on the gutters to remove any ice blockage that might have occurred from water freezing inside the gutter and troughs. Since untreated ice blockage can create water damage on the roof, de-icer and heating tape are great for preserving your home’s structure over the winter.

If you want to learn more about taking care of your gutters over the winter or hire professional gutter replacement and gutter cleaning services, give Gutter Maid a call today!