It’s that time of the year when cleaning your gutters may seem like a nuisance task, but unless they are properly cleaned and maintained, clogged gutters can cause significant damage. Your gutters are an important toll that provide the proper drainage from the roof to the ground. If this tool cannot function properly, it will allow water to seek the path of least resistance to the ground, and that might very well be through your building.
With the arrival of fall and the falling of leaves, now is the time to address this task. Here are several reasons to keep your gutter clean:
1. Damage to Your Building’s Foundation
Gutters are meant to keep water away from the foundation of your buildings, but when they’re clogged, water may not travel down the drain pipe as intended but instead spill over the sides. If this problem isn’t addressed, your foundation could be damaged as a result of all the water pooling where it’s not supposed to.
2. Water and Wood Don’t Mix
If you have wooden fascia boards, water that pools in your gutters can damage them. Debris filled gutters will stress the roofing system and may cause the gutter to collapse and fall to the ground, damaging your roofing structure.
3. Unwanted Guests
Clogged gutters attract birds, insects and more. These unwanted guests can cause damage to your building not only from the outside but also make their homes inside the walls of your buildings, which can create damage and mess. From termites to cockroaches to woodpeckers, it’s important to make sure that you don’t have any extra tenants in your building.
4. Sudden Growth
Cleaning your gutters will allow you to flush away the seeds that may have fallen into them via wind from nearby trees or from birds carrying seeds that have fallen out of their beaks. These seeds, if left unchecked, will grow and add extra weight on the gutters and roofing systems, eventually weakening them.
5. Ice Out
Ice-damming is the backup of water against the roof, lifting shingles and other roofing materials that will not only damage the roof, but also leak into the building. Typically occurring during cold weather, this is caused by water that is pooling due to clogged gutters. Leakage into the building can cause interior ceiling issues, peeling paint and eventually create mold.
Clogged gutters at camp may go unnoticed until the spring time. Effort now will prevent damage to your buildings in the long run!