Essential Gutter Maintenance
Tips
By Paul Graham
It is important to periodically monitor the overall condition of a home. Wear
and tear as a result of weather and age occurs in every home, and it is wise to
take care of problems before they lead to extensive and costly repairs. Routine
maintenance should be done to ensure that everything is well in all parts of the
home. This should especially be the case as far as the exterior of the home is
concerned because it is the exterior of the home that is most subjected to wear
and tear.
1. Maintain Your Gutter
One of the best tips that can be given for the proper maintenance of the
exterior of the home is by maintaining the gutter. The gutter is the trough
fixed under or along the eaves for draining rainwater from a roof. Gutters in
general are also are called eaves spouts, eaves trough, rainspouts and spouting.
Because they are located at the exterior of the home their proper maintenance has
a direct impact upon the overall appearance of the home. Maintaining gutters is
an easy task. One only has to think about the serviceability they are able to
offer once they are rid of everything that they need to be rid of. Clogged
gutters can cause landscaping, lawn and shrubbery, walls, foundation, basement,
crawl spaces and existing gutter system great damage. This is the reason why
these channels should be kept clean at all times.
2. Gutter Maintenance Tips
In maintaining gutters, it is important for one to make sure that he has all
the materials needed before starting work. It is not advisable for him to stop
in the middle of a task to hunt for a tool. The first step is to clean the
gutters with a narrow stiff-bristled brush. A wallpaper brush can be used to
sweep out debris when the gutters are dry. It is also not advisable to clean the
gutters by flushing them with a garden hose. This might cause the downspout to
clog. Gutters should be cleaned when they are dry, and the hose should be used
to flush out any remaining debris.
- Clean any leaves, twigs or other debris off the roof
- Walking on the roof and using an old broom or a leaf blower, pitch all
debris down into the yard
- Once the roof is clean of debris, start on the gutters themselves
- Using a narrow trowel or putty knife, gently lift any debris in the
gutters out and pitch it down to the yard
- For safety purposes, it is a must to check all the supports when the
gutters themselves are clean enough
- Hose the gutters down
- Use the hose to test the gutters ability to rapidly redirect water
3. Gutter Tips
It is not advisable to lean ladders against the gutter. Installing a plastic
support piece to the gutter to support the weight of the ladder is what should
be done. The support piece in question provides a permanent access point to the
roof and is fastened to the wood underneath the roof using galvanized deck
screws. It can also be mounted directly to the gutter. Purchasing a ladder
stabilizer for added ladder safety is also a must as the ladder stabilizer locks
onto the rungs of the extension ladder, preventing the ladder from shifting side
to side.
4. Prevention Is Better Than Cure - Gutter Guards
Those who want nice-looking, serviceable gutters for their homes are advised
to consider installing gutter guards, screens that prevent debris from entering
the gutter. These devices also direct the flow of water away from the house and
into the ground. This way, one will have gutters that will prove to be more of a
blessing than a curse. Proper maintenance of these devices will cause them to be
extremely useful while adding a touch of style to the exterior of the home which
they form part of.
For more great gutter related articles and resources check out
http://www.gutterhq.com
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