If you’re a homeowner or even a renter, you likely have some form of gutters on your house. Without them, rainwater would simply drip down from our roof, potentially climbing into attics or pooling at the foundation, causing potential damage. However, drain pipes, or water spouts, help alleviate these problems, channeling liquids away from the house and preventing damage to foundations or soil.
How Gutters Work
The basics of how gutters and downspouts work are very simple. A gutter system is a set of troughs around one’s roof that collect rainwater and debris as it
runs off the sloped top of the house. At the lowest point of these troughs, situated at corners or spaced strategically in the midst of long runs of gutters, downspouts, as they are commonly called, are placed to drain the water out of the gutters and away from the house.
These spouts funnel water to the ground, ending in a bend that turns the water away from the foundation and disperses it over a wider area of soil. Without this, the water would either flow as a strong stream and erode away portions of soil, or would pool up right at the base of the home, leaving room for water damage or intrusion into the lower extremities of the building. This protects the home and also prevents erosion which can leave unsightly marks on your yard and cause damage to plants in that area.
Cleaning Gutters
Unfortunately, it’s not quite a simple system. As with everything on a house, there is some form of maintenance and upkeep needed. Gutter maintenance is traditionally not a very complex task, but it is time-consuming and it’s certainly not fun. Typically, you have to climb a ladder and manually remove obstructions from inside gutters to properly clean them. If you fail to do this regularly, leaves and debris will clog the downspouts and prevent water from flowing through them properly, which can lead to water overflowing the gutters and spilling out onto your house and lawn. This is not an ideal situation.
Gutter Guards
Modern inventions have figured out ways around these challenges, though, with prefabricated, specialty-designed gutter maintenance systems. These systems act to prevent leaves and other detritus from entering the gutter and clogging it up, allowing it to remain clean and free of obstruction. They usually take the form of a screen or grate that is too fine for large objects to enter. These guards preserve your gutters and help you keep your house clean and well-maintained with much less effort.
You may think it’s easy enough to continue manual maintenance on your gutters, but the amount of hassle you can prevent by installing these maintenance systems is certainly worth the cost. Additionally, you will prevent additional damage to your gutters and house by preventing an excess buildup of obstructions and will take yourself out of harm’s way. Take a look at these products today to find the best gutter maintenance system for your home need
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