Why you should clean your gutters? Gutters are one of the most important components of a roofing system. They are responsible for channeling water away from your home and protecting it from potential damage due to overflow or flooding. As such, it is essential that you keep your gutters clean and free of debris for them to do their job correctly. Unfortunately, many homeowners neglect to take care of their gutters and end up paying the price later on down the road when they experience costly repairs or, worse, total failure due to clogged gutters. Below are some potential consequences of failing to keep your gutters clean.

Flooded basements

Basements are especially vulnerable to damage from clogged gutters since the water has nowhere else to go when it can’t flow through them. When rain falls and collects in your gutters, that water needs to be diverted away from your property. If the gutters are stopped due to a buildup of leaves and debris, the water will sit there until it overflows and eventually winds up in your basement. This can lead to flooding, significant structural damage to walls, floors, and furniture, and mold growth if not taken care of quickly.

Insects & Rodents

Clogged gutters are a haven for pests and can attract everything from birds to rodents to insects such as mosquitoes. The stagnant water in clogged gutters provides the perfect breeding ground for these pests, which can quickly become an infestation if not addressed promptly. In addition to being a nuisance, they can also cause additional damage to your property.

Foundation Damage

If the water isn’t properly diverted away from your home due to blocked gutters, it will pool around your home’s foundation. This can cause erosion of the soil surrounding your foundation walls, which is not only unsightly but dangerous since eroded soil can lead to cracks and other structural damage that could compromise the integrity of your home’s foundation.

Driveway destruction

Your driveway is subject to a lot of wear and tear, especially if you don’t clean your gutters. When clogged up with debris, water runoff from the roof will cascade down the side of your house and onto the driveway below, wearing away at its surface. The natural reaction of concrete or asphalt to being saturated is for it to crack and shift. This can create potholes in your driveway that can be difficult and costly to repair. Additionally, when temperatures drop in colder climates, this problem is compounded as ice buildup in gutter systems causes even more extreme shifting, which can lead to serious foundation damage.

Landscaping destruction

Landscaping can be drastically affected when gutters are not kept clean. Clogged gutters cause water to back up and overflow, leading to excessive moisture buildup in the soil around your home. The added moisture can weaken the roots of plants and trees, making them more susceptible to disease and pests. It can also wash away valuable topsoil essential for plant health, leading to costly re-landscaping efforts.

Roof damage

Not cleaning your gutters can lead to roof damage in several ways. The first is that clogged gutters cause water to back up, which can then seep under shingles and saturate the wood deck. This causes rot in the wood, resulting in costly repairs or complete replacement of the roof.

The second way that dirty gutters can harm roofs is from ice dam formation. When the snow melts on an uncleaned gutter, it trickles down behind the gutters onto the fascia board and stops when it reaches cold air at its edge. That freezing water then refreezes and builds a dam of ice until more snow melts and washes over the dam. Eventually, this will work its way up under shingles and cause water to seep into the roof, leading to costly repairs or replacement.

Finally, when rainwater can’t get through a clogged gutter, it runs off and falls onto the edge of your roof. This creates a constant bombardment of water on one side of your shingles, which weakens them over time and leads to leaks and rot in the wood decking underneath.

Conclusion

Clogged gutters prevent rainwater from flowing properly away from your home. This can lead to serious structural damage, such as rotting fascia boards, sagging rooflines, interior wall and ceiling stains, mildew growth, and even foundation cracking or settling due to excess water pooling near the base of the house. Also, dangerous pests such as mosquitoes and rodents can breed in standing water, leading to infestations that can be difficult (and costly) to eradicate. For these reasons, it is important to keep your gutters clean of debris regularly. Gutter cleaning ensures that rainwater will flow away properly from your home and helps maintain the overall structural integrity of your house and its foundation.