Several thoughts come to mind whenever people hear the phrase gutter cleaning. For example, arduous, mind numbing, an all day chore, and potentially dangerous are some of the more common reactions. Like many things in life, there are no tangible rewards for doing the work involved with cleaning your gutters. However, if you do not clean your gutters at least annually and preferably semi-annually, you run the risk of not only tangible, but also expensive consequences to clogged downspouts.
The purpose of your gutter system is to handle the rain and snow run-off of a large surface area. This large surface area is also known as your roof. A healthy gutter will channel water away from your house forcing the water to drain into a nearby sewer or into the ground several feet away from your house. The entire system keeps the interior of your house dry while keeping your siding, windows, and foundation relatively dry. So what can happen if your gutter does not function as designed?
Water travels with the force of gravity until it meets a barrier that halts that travel. At this point, the water pools together until it is high enough to flow over whatever barrier stopped it in the first place. Initially, water flows down the roof and into your gutter. Next, it flows down the gutter until it reaches the downspout or a wall of debris of leaves and twigs. In the case of an obstruction, water will fill up your gutter until it begins to flow over the sides of the gutter. Now all the water coming off your roof is traveling down the side of your house.
Water is tenacious and unrelenting. It will enter any gap in your siding or crack in your foundation that it comes across. If water enters your house through a gap in your siding it can cause mold growth or structural damage to drywall or wooden studs. The biggest danger in this situation is that you might not even be aware of the problem until it becomes very expensive to fix.
If flowing water enters any cracks in your foundation, it will often flow in and subsequently flow out of the crack taking minuscule pieces of your foundation with it. These cracks can grow over the course of months and years to the point where water enters your basement. Instead of facing the trouble of cleaning your gutters, you now have a leaking foundation which is a problem several magnitudes larger than your original chores.
For the two reasons mentioned above along with a host of other reasons, it is a good investment of time and energy to take care of small chore today before it becomes a huge problem down the road.
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