Clean Your Gutters Twice A Year
March 5th, 2007 | Published in maintanence, roofing, tools, walls | 4 Comments
One of the biggest problems found to when roofs leak, and walls and basements overflow is the fact the people neglect their gutters. Leafs, dirt and small branches clog up eaves troughs and downspouts, which prevents water from flowing through them. This build-up tends to overflow, often damaging a person’s home.
Here are some simple instructions on how to clean your own gutters;
1. Use a ladder to access the gutters, and make sure you have another person to keep the ladder in place and spot you. Bring along an empty bucket with rope tied to it, so you can dispose of the debris in the gutter safely, rather then dropping it all to the ground and having to do a second clean up. You can use the rope to lower the bucket down to your partner, who can empty it when it’s full and you can safely pull it back up. Also, do not rest the ladder up against any gutters as they will bend and cause damage to them.
2. Use a small gardening shovel to scoop the debris into your bucket. You might also want to bring along your garden hose to spray out small dirt.
3. Using the garden hose, spray the opening portions of your down spouts to ensure that they are clear and clean. You can also use a Shop-Vac at the bottom to help suck out any loose debris.
Using a mesh cover over your gutters will help block out 90% of falling leafs and twigs, and also allows a clean rain flow off of your roof. This is especially important in the winter, as the gunk in your eaves troughs will block water, which will freeze and weigh down your gutters, causing considerable damage.
The debris from your gutters also makes excellent compost, so use it to your advantage, rather then tossing it in a garbage bag and putting it on the curb.
March 27th, 2008 at 11:28 am (#)
The Consequences of Improperly Pitched Gutters
Rain causes a very large volume of water to pour down on a roof. The roof is the first line of defense for protecting the interior of a structure from this rain. Many roofs have a pitch that the water can sheet off of and also prevents heavy collections of rainwater gathering in pockets on the surface of the roof. If water pooling does happen the roof can become damaged and broken resulting in the water getting underneath the roofing material and into the structure. This causes numerous problems that are very costly to repair.
A damaged roof can allow rain water to run down inside the roof and subsequently continue to pour down the wall of the house passing over window frames, windows, door frames, doors and possibly onto the damp proofing at the bottom of the house. This water stands in puddles and takes a long time to dry. This water could cause significant damage to the structure of your house by rotting away wooden window and door frames. This standing water can also cause cracks in paving and concrete. During the colder months this damage does not take long to manifest itself and can cause other major problems.
What do gutter downspouts do to prevent this from happening? First, the gutter system and downspouts are put there to prevent this from occurring. They collect the rainwater once it has reached the end of its descent down the roof. From there the slight pitch in the gutter system will direct the rain water into the downspout and down into the drain and safely away from the structure and foundation. But be sure that the gutters are pitched correctly to avoid other potential pitfalls. Improperly pitched gutters that are angled away from the wall with even a slight gap is like having no gutter whatsoever. Another outcome may be that improperly pitched gutters cause all the rain water to collect in one area, this rainwater is then likely to overfill the gutter channel and run down one part of the wall. The power of this concentrated volume of water can erode the brickwork and the cement work causing serious structural damage and internal damp and rot. These incidents will be more costly to repair than having the drainpipe fixed or even having the improperly pitched gutters completely ripped down and replaced. It is simple to tell whether a gutter is pitched properly by watching the flow of water when it rains. The flow of water should be unimpeded from the high point on the gutter system down to the downspout. The bottom line is that a gutter system will save you thousands of dollars in structural damage.
Simply put, rain gutters and downspouts are a simple way to channel rainwater off of a roof and away from the structure. Gutters and downspouts protect the structure from damage because it won’t stand up to water constantly running down the sides of the house, the fascia boards, siding, foundation, and surrounding landscaping. If the water is not channeled away from the structure it continues to compromise the structure as well as the foundation. Structures with poorly engineered gutters and downspouts or without them at all, will have rainwater collect and pool underneath the roof. This eventually weakens the foundation, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Today, gutters and downspouts have many different designs than they did just 20 years ago. Seamless gutters and gutter guards have made installing and maintaining gutter systems much easier than ever before. Aluminum is the best material for rain gutters and seamless gutters can be quickly produced right at your home by gutter machines that make perfect gutters for each application. Another development has been gutter guards. These various types of gutter guards make gutter cleaning a less frequent event and in some cases can eliminate it all together. Gutter guards, filters, gutter helmets, gutter screens, and other gutter protection systems help to eliminate leaves and other debris from clogging gutters and downspouts and causing the need to clean them.
Although gutters, downspouts, and gutter protection may not be the first thing that comes to mind when protecting your property, they can save you a lot of money and aggravation over the life of your investment.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:58 pm (#)
should gutters ever empty out onto a roof?
July 21st, 2009 at 7:59 pm (#)
No, they really shouldnt empty out onto the roof. They should run down a section, along the side of the house. Be very careful not to have the water hit your foundation. After awhile, it will erode the concrete.
January 21st, 2011 at 5:51 pm (#)
If you haven’t used a gutter guard before, I would defintely use Gutterglove gutter protection. I installed it on my home because it keeps out all the leaves, pine needles and even roof sand grit from entering your gutters because it uses a very fine micro mesh for filtering all debris out. I don’t have to climb a dangerous ladder to clean out my gutters ever again. Yahoo! You know, they also got the highest rating in a national consumers magazine from testing numerous gutter guards. I just wanted to recommend them and pass on this tip. Here is their website: http://www.Gutterglove.com
No more gutter cleaning!!!