7 Reasons That Gutter Cleaning is Essential
Homeownership comes with many wonderful perks. You can paint any part of your home any color you want! Your pets can run wild without any repercussions from a building manager.
But there are some less enjoyable aspects of homeownership. Mainly, the responsibility to care for every part of your home now rests solely on your shoulders.
If your toilet starts leaking or the back door handle breaks, it's up to you to solve the problem.
One essential home maintenance duty is proper gutter cleaning. There are all sorts of issues that will result of your gutters haven't been properly looked after.
Here are 7 reasons that gutter cleaning is essential to a well-maintained home.
Insects love clogged gutters
Clogged gutters can become a breeding ground for all sorts of things.
Insects love the wet conditions of dirty and unkept gutters. If you aren't taking regular care of your gutters, they will fill with water, leaves, sticks, dirt and other debris.
Creepy crawlies will swarm around these conditions and make their home in your gutter. You might not think about it at first, but finding a teeming spiders nest or cloud of mosquitoes swarming about your house will make you realize how big of an issue this can be.
Insects might not bother you to look at if you're not very squeamish. But some arachnids and other insects can even be dangerous. Don't attract more of the little critters than you need to!
Disease can breed there
Not doing proper cleaning gutter can lead to damp wet conditions that aren't healthy.
Mold can grow in a dirty gutter and this can damage your health.
There are many diseases and illness that are associated with stagnant water. If you allow the ends of your gutters to become clogged and water pools in the gutters then you're at risk of growing some nasty stuff.
Water damage inside your home
Gutters are designed to protect your home inside and out from water damage. If you aren't paying attention to gutter cleaning then water can backup, damage your roof and leak into your home.
Pooling water on your roof can cause serious (and costly) damage to your roof. If left untreated, this can even lead to roof cave-ins and leaks through your whole home.
Without regular gutter cleaning, you might have to deal with flooding problems in your basement or under your house.
This would be a costly and extremely tiresome homeowner issue to deal with.
Water damage outside your home
One of the most obvious functions of rain gutters is to protect the outside of your home. Rain gutters that receive proper gutter cleaning will direct water away from your home in an organized way.
Without rain gutters that are functioning properly, you can have major water damage to the exterior of your home. Even the foundations of your home can be jeopardized by clogged rain gutters.
If water is pouring out of your clogged gutters in a haphazard way, the soil around your house can be destabilized which can cause your foundation to shift.
A shifting or unstable foundation can crack. Big cracks can even lead to cracks in your walls and an unsafe place to live.
Water that isn't controlled and maintained by gutters can cause driveways, patios, and sidewalks to crack and shift.
The siding of your house and exterior doors could also be damaged without proper gutter cleaning.
Protect your landscape
If might seem like a small detail compared to potential cracked foundations, but clogged gutters can result in destroyed landscaping.
If you've put significant time and effort into taking good care of your yard, don't put it at risk by not doing regular gutter cleaning. If water spills off in random places because of a clogged gutter during a big storm, your meticulous landscaping could be drowned.
For many people, one of the biggest joys of homeownership is taking care of a yard. Don't let clogged gutters ruin all of your hard work!
Avoid small infestations
Small rodents like rats and mice love the nesting potential of a clogged gutter.
Birds will use all of the sticks and leaves caught in your gutter and build nests directly in your gutters. These pesky little creatures can not only damage your roof and gutter, but they can pose a potential health risk for you and your family.
Finding a bird's nest in your gutter is the best case scenario when it comes to small infestations. But you just might find a rat's nest living above your heads.
There are few things worse than the possibility of a disease filled rat falling from your gutter and landing on or near you. These kinds of things happen without proper gutter cleaning!
Gutter cleaning saves money
All of these issues associated with not cleaning your gutters can come with a huge price tag.
The simple solution that will avoid all of these potential hazards is to make sure you properly care for your gutters. It's an investment at the front end to avoid paying the large ticket price of the potential disaster.
Homeownership is a big responsibility. When people buy their first home, they often only think about the listing price of their home without considering all of the varying costs that come along with homeownership.
Some people try to clean their gutters themselves, but they aren't always prepared to deal with the kinds of issues listed here. Professionals know how to deal with the potential hazards associated with clogged gutters and they can do so safely.
Any work done on or around your roof is very dangerous work. Don't risk slipping off a ladder when you're surprised by a bee's nest and let a trained team take care of the problem.
Regular gutter cleaning is the cheapest and best way to take care of your home and your family in a responsible way.