You’re walking up the stairs, heading into the office or maybe just coming home to your third floor walkup at the end of the day. You’re eager to get there, taking it two steps at a time lightly touching the railing to keep yourself on track. Then suddenly you hear a sick wet popping sound and your right knee turns to the side and you find yourself falling to the ground, eating the leading corner of a stair right in your chin. Things were going so well today, and suddenly your knee has decided it doesn’t quite feel like doing it’s job anymore.

In much the same way you don’t realize how important a certain body part is until it suddenly stops working as you’re climbing the stairs one day, most homeowners don’t stop and realize how crucial their gutters are until water damage is wreaking havoc on their home. Everything seems fine before the day comes that your home gets hit by a driving rain, and your gutters decide they don’t feel like doing their job anymore.  How do you prevent this scenario? In the same way that you can protect your knees with a proper diet and regular stretching, you can protect your gutters with just a few good habits.

Clean your gutters regularly
There is no substitute for regular brushing of your teeth, and there is no substitute for regular gutter cleaning. Remove all debris that may cause clogging. We recommend doing this by hand, not by a pressure washer or other automated method.  How frequently you need to clean your gutters depends on weather conditions and also how close you are to trees. If you, or your neighbor, have several mature trees in your yard, it is likely you will need to clean your gutters more frequently.

Check your drainpipes
If you want to protect your knees, your hips, and your back, one of best things you can do is buy good shoes. When your guttering is installed particular attention should be paid to where to locate your drainpipes. These are an integral part of your drainage system as they take rainwater collected by the gutters and pass it into the underground drainage system.
Having them placed correctly to ensure your gutters are drained correctly will ensure your gutters last as long as possible. Unfortunately, because everything your gutters capture goes down these drainpipes, they’re extremely susceptible to clogs. Because of this, once installed, regular checks should be made to make sure there are no leaks in the drainpipes and water is running directly from the guttering into the underground drains.

Stop ice and snow damaging gutters
During freezing weather and snow yourn gutters can ice over, preventing melting snow from running down the drainpipes. In these circumstances the water simply overflows over the edge of the gutters, causing water to run down your walls and potentially damaging the guttering, your walls, or insulation. Although you can do little to prevent cold weather, you can remove snow from your gutters as soon as is safely possible before it melts and causes damage. If you are concerned about safety, contact us to have our team come out to remove it for you.

Gutter maintenance
Maybe you find yourself getting tired unexpectedly, or your blood pressure is slightly higher than normal. Not a big deal, but these are minute signs of worse issues you may not be aware of yet. Even if you’re regularly cleaning your gutters and checking your drainpipes, it’s possible small issues may escape your notice over time. Small leaks or slight sags may not have any kind of immediate impact on the operation of your gutters, but can open the way for far worse issues if not addressed. Getting at least a yearly inspection by our gutter experts ensures these issues are identified and corrected before they can progress to anything worse.

Staying on top of taking care of your gutters, just like taking care of your body, makes sure that your home is protected for the long term. For a minimal amount of investment and effort, you can save yourself not only a surprisingly large amount of money, but also the frustration and stress that comes from allowing your gutters to open the doors to long term damage to your home. Contact us for a no obligation estimate today.