How can Gutters Protect Your Home?

When you look at your house, chances are that you look at your gutters and may wonder why they are there. What do they do? If you’ve never thought about the way that they work, it’s possible you think of them as some kind of trough that’s used for collecting water anytime it rains. Even though that’s basically their function, they’re very important and probably more important than you realize. They protect your home and that means you have to make sure they’re taken care of.

There’s a lot of Ways They Help with Protecting Your Home

• When it’s raining, they move water that is on your roof and send it into the downspouts. This lets you control the water’s flow around the house.
• If you don’t have any gutters or your gutters are blocked, this water is going to fall off of your roof and go to your property’s ground. This is going to make your soil wet. The wet soil can lead to damage to your landscaping and erosion.
• Soil that is wet can cause problems with your foundation as time passes. When the soil is moving around the house, your foundation can shift and crack, which means that you’re having issues with your structure.
• If the gutters are blocked or damaged, water will also slide down your house’s side. This can damage your siding, particularly if it’s made of wood.
• Siding that is rotten is a lot more damage prone by insects. Insects are able to get into the home through wood that is rotten and continue making tunnels or chewing up wood in the structure of your home. This can cause issues that can compromise your home’s integrity if you’re not discovering them right away.
• When you have siding that is rotten, it can also be damaged by bigger animals like woodpeckers. These kinds of birds are able to eat those insects living in the siding and they also can nest in wet siding.
• Gutters that have been blocked by snow, ice, or leaves can often back up on the roof. Melting ice or water can sit underneath or on your roof, which can cause leaks. These types of leaks can also cause interior damage.

There are a Variety of Gutter Types

How do you know your home’s safe from damage from water? When you’re installing gutters, you should be sure that you’re installing gutter types that are going to work the best for your home.

Sectional gutters come in pieces and they can be installed by you on your own. If you’re on a budget and want to save money, they can fit on your home and do the job that you want them to do. If you are installing gutters on your own, be sure that you’re adding ample supports such as brackets so that they’re connected securely at their joints. Because there are a lot of joints on sectional gutters, you want to make sure that they’re not leaking as time passes.

Seamless gutters are another choice. These can help with reducing your worries with sagging and leaking at the joints of your gutters. Unfortunately, you have to have someone else to do these types of gutters, since they’re made right at your house and they’ll exactly fit your home. But since there aren’t as many seams, you’re going to discover that they don’t cause as many issues with leaking when compared with the sectional gutters.

Gutters Have to Be Correctly Installed

It doesn’t matter the type of gutters you’re choosing, they have to be properly installed. If you’re installing them on your own, be sure that you’re doing the things below:

• Properly angling your gutters – Even though it appears that your gutters are sitting straight on your roof line’s bottom, they’re actually angled gently to your downspout so the water’s easily moving towards its spout and then down.
• Making sure your gutters aren’t tipping forward – The last thing you want is for water to come spilling out anytime you have rain.
• Putting them several inches below the line of your roof – The gutter has to catch the water rather than the water pouring over its side.
• Properly supporting your gutters – There has to be ample brackets or hangers so that your gutters aren’t sagging.
• Keeping an eye on your seams – Be sure your gutters are aligning properly.

You need to Care for Your Gutters on an Ongoing Basis

Just like any other thing in your home, you will need to regularly maintain your gutters so that they’re working well. They won’t work if they’re full of snow or leaves. To ensure that they’re working the best they can, remove any leaves and the other type of debris during the spring and fall or you can install gutter covers so you don’t have to clean them. If you’re somewhere where you’re getting lots of snow and ice, it’s also a good idea to add something like Helmet Heat, which warms your gutters. It’s going to let the water entering the gutters to remain liquid instead of becoming ice dams which can block your gutter.

If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning and maintaining your gutters yourself, you can always hire someone to do the maintenance for you. When you are looking for someone to do the maintenance make sure that you are reading their reviews and seeing how other people did with the company. This is going to help you with making the right decision.

Gutters may not seem like a big deal but remember that they are a very important part of your house. If you aren’t taking care of them, you may find that you are having bigger problems because of it. So make sure that you are cleaning them regularly and that you’re taking care of them. This way you know that your house is also taken care of. You’ll be a lot happier and your home will look great.

About Gulf Coast Exteriors

GCE Gutters is a residential and commercial gutter service committed to providing professional quality service at a competitively low prices in Fort Myers and Cape Coral Florida. Let GCE Gutters show you how we are becoming the area’s finest gutter cleaning, repair and installation company in Lee County.