Maintenance is an unavoidable part of having gutters. You may upgrade to seamless rain gutters to reduce the upkeep of your roof’s drainage system. But even straight shots of unmarred metal stretching the length of your house need some attention every now and then.
Ask any long-time homeowner about the most common gutter problem there is, and clogging would likely be the unanimous answer. Many factors could affect the performance of a gutter system, but none is more impactful than major blockage.
So, how do gutters get clogged in the first place? There’s more than one culprit for this phenomenon, but below are the usual causes.
Your Asphalt Shingles Have Shed Some Granules
If you have a newly installed asphalt-shingle roof? Expect your gutters to be full of granules shortly. Granule loss doesn’t constitute low product quality, for brand-new asphalt shingles tend to have excessive protective granules.
Loss of shingle granules is likewise a natural occurrence as shingles age. It pays to check out your roof occasional to look for evidence. Granule-strapped shingles may look shiny or dull since the top-most layer of material is wearing away.
You Are Sharing Your Roof with Animals
Unprotected gutters offer refuge for critters. Irrespective of size, a nest is an obstruction big enough to negatively affect the flow of your water in the gutters.
More than a nuisance, wildlife can be a threat to you and your family’s welfare. If you suspect or have found animals living your gutter system, call a specialist. A crew of professionals know how to handle such a situation and get rid of any pest safely and peacefully.
Your Backyard Trees Haven’t Been Trimmed in a While
There’s a reason why tree particles are the frequent “cloggers” of gutters. How they end up there needs no explanation, but it’s not a reality you have to live with.
If you have tall trees towering your house, you should get their overhanging branches cut accordingly. Proper trimming helps keep your shingle granules where they are. Large branches can bruise your roof and scrape some materials that will end up in the gutters.
To avoid putting up with this task, make sure your trees are at least 10 feet away from your property. This distance will generally suffice to keep trees and twigs at bay.
Your Kids Have Been Losing Some Sport Equipment
Children’s toys don’t just magically disappear. More than not, they get stuck in the gutters.
You may not learn about what happen to them early because not all kids would tell the truth. But the gutters should be one of the first places to check out when searching for missing large toys, especially when your children love to play in the yard.
Gutter clogging is a serious cause for concern. The inability of water to reach the ground properly and quickly could soak your siding, damage your foundations, and ruin your landscaping. If you live in snow country, clogged gutters increase the chances of ice damming.
Invest in some kind of gutter protection to minimize the likelihood of clogging. With so many products on the market, exercise due diligence to pick the most sensible system for your gutters.
