Why do home inspectors always stress the need to keep your gutter system regularly cleaned and maintained? Well, one reason is that even a few inches of rain falling onto your roof can produce thousands of gallons of water runoff. If the gutters and downspouts cannot successfully divert this water away from the house foundations, you will start to experience many issues frequently associated with water intrusion. With this fact in mind, here are a few tips on cleaning and maintaining your gutter system:
You will generally need to use a lot of water when cleaning out the gutters. All of this water must be directed away from the house, as you want to avoid over-saturating the soil around the foundation.
If you decide to do the gutter cleaning yourself, make sure to put safety first. Ideally, you should have someone with you to foot the ladder. You also need a good pair of gloves to protect your hands and arms while clearing out the dirt and debris from the gutters. There are very often sharp objects, insects, or even rodents in the gutters, and you don’t want to deal with them with your bare hands.
The downspouts are another area that you should check. Make sure they are securely attached to the house and properly fitted to the guttering. Occasionally downspouts will be mistakenly fitted upside down – this can cause leaks, so check this is not the case. Lastly, inspect them for signs of damage resulting from being accidentally hit by vehicles.
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