Do you think about the state of your gutters? Is this an important part of your household maintenance? Well maybe you should give it some thought. Cleaning out your gutters every year will make your house look cared for but importantly, prevent potential damage to your home or offices come to that.
What is a gutter? It’s a joke, but good for SEO. Rain water needs to be collected in your gutters, trickle along to the downpipe and flow into your drain, ending up in a water recycling system. Without gutters, water would just drop straight down, flood your drive, drown your flower beds and miss out going to the treatment works.
Why do gutters block?
Over the year sludgy goo stuff collects in the horizontal part of your guttering and in Autumn the dropping of leaves is the main culprit but will also be a heady mix of degrading moss, pigeon poo, grit from the roof, and even decaying birds. Once these deposits clump together, they can become too large for the water to shift, creating a gunge obstruction, so further restricting natural water flow. Before you know it, the downpipe is clogged, the gutters are sputtering water from all the wrong places and in some cases, grass starts growing out of your gutter!
Why should you look after you gutter?
Bunged up gutters is a situation that really needs avoiding, for several serious reasons:
- In Winter, water trapped in the gutter or downpipe can freeze and split the pipes
- Overflow water can egress behind facias and other structural gaps, and eventually cause expensive water damage to flat roofs below, like bay windows, extensions or conservatories.
- Gutter joints and fixings may become weakened by the weight of the water-soaked debris laying in the gutter
- Water damage through blocked gutters can lead to expensive repairs to all the above and in some cases may impact on your household insurance.
- Clogged gutters smell and the stagnant pools of water are a magnet for mosquitos.
Dealing with gutters is something very few us do personally. Instead we bring in the professionals.
That’s because it’s a ghastly messy job and often requires ladder work which certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.