Your gutters play a crucial role in protecting your home from potential damage. If you’re like most people, though, you probably only give your gutters a second thought when there’s a problem. The truth is, keeping up with gutter maintenance is one of the more important tasks on a home care checklist.
Clean, clear gutters divert rainwater away from your home’s foundation and roof areas, working to prevent erosion and water damage. Clogged and overflowing gutters, on the other hand, do little in the way of diversion. Instead, they become laden with a surprising array of debris, holding water and becoming quite heavy in the process. The weight of an uncleaned gutter puts a considerable amount of strain on the gutter hangers, sometimes causing gutters to detach from your home altogether. All the while, water is pouring over the gutter and pooling at your home’s foundation every time it rains.
What Happens When You Don’t Clean Your Gutters?
Failure to maintain your gutters can lead to a host of problems. Moisture collecting in the dense organic debris can cause wood rot behind gutters; expensive roof damage is also not uncommon. From a purely financial perspective, the cost of neglecting gutters can be shockingly high.
Water collecting around the foundation of your home can damage it, sometimes flooding basements and crawlspaces in the process—the average cost of foundation repair: $6,000. Replacing a gutter system runs around $1,450 on average and replacing a roof costs about $11,000. Thinking of cleaning your gutters yourself? The average cost of an ER visit after falling off a ladder is about $1,200.
Leaves and sticks aren’t the only things collecting in your gutters, either. Moisture and even a small amount of organic debris create the perfect breeding ground for algae and lichen. In addition to spreading unchecked through gutters and downspouts, it can also detach and become lodged in downspouts, creating invisible clogs with the potential to cause real damage to your home.
There’s also the wildlife to consider. A leaf-lined gutter full of tree litter is an irresistible home for all manner of small rodents, insects and pests, which can then make their way inside via attic spaces. Cleaning your gutters, on the other hand, makes it a bit less likely you’ll have unwanted visitors creeping in through the attic.
When and How Should I Clean My Gutters?
If you can’t remember the last time you had your gutters cleaned, it’s time. If you can see leaves, plant matter or sticks protruding from gutters, cleaning is long overdue. Under ideal circumstances, an ongoing routine maintenance routine keeps troubles with your gutter system at bay. This schedule should include cleaning before leaves fall for the season, then once again once all leaves have fallen. Sticking to this schedule means your gutters will be clean for most of the year.
The process of thoroughly and effectively cleaning gutters is an involved one and requires a lot of risky ladder climbing. Even the hardcore DIY enthusiast may find it’s safer, more cost-effective and much easier to hand this task off to the professionals.
Our gutter cleaning process includes meticulously removing all debris by hand, not blowing everything out to create a mess on the ground below. Since we’ve found everything from snakes and wasp nests to dog toys and golf balls in gutters, it’s also a safer approach for everyone involved. All debris is collected and bagged so we can haul it away; we never leave our mess behind for you to clean.
Once we’ve cleared the gutters by hand, we flush all the channels and downspouts to ensure they’re functioning correctly. This also allows us to locate any clogs hidden out of sign inside a downspout. Throughout the cleaning process, we conduct a thorough inspection of your gutter system. We keep you informed about trouble spots, needed repairs or areas to watch so you can avoid disruptive and expensive surprises.
This service comes with a full 14-day clog-free guarantee and is provided by service providers trained in OSHA best practices and ladder safety.
What About Gutter Guards?
If reading about how surprisingly high-maintenance gutter systems can have you reaching for the nearest gutter guard flyer, it might be best to think twice. Despite lofty claims, we’ve never found a system that actually functions as intended. Low-cost guards from your local big box home improvement store rarely fit properly and are prone to breakage. Ironically enough, the broken pieces can contribute to clogs throughout the system those guards are supposed to protect.
Professionally installed systems may come with more bells and whistles, but in the end, these expensive additions still can’t keep your gutters debris-free. Cleaning these systems often requires specialized tools, and damage during removal is still relatively common. Even when they’re functioning relatively well, fallen leaves and organic debris will sit on top of the guards, sealing the gutters and causing water diversion issues.
Your home is likely your single largest investment, and you want to protect it accordingly. High-end gutter guards can be a significant investment as well, and they’re not often a good investment. The leaders on the market are expensive and still only partially effective. They still require cleaning, and those cleanings are more costly due to the guards.
A far better investment is a good maintenance schedule that keeps your gutters clean and clear just about year-round. You’re able to go back to ignoring your gutters in peace, without visions of flooding basements and a rotting roof. We can help you protect your valuable investment without leaving a mess on the ground or your hands. We’re fully insured, and our employees are extensively trained in safety practices. We’ll leave your gutters and property free of tree litter and organic debris and the invitation to pests they provide: no fuss, no stress, no ladders and no risking personal injury for you along the way.
