Hard storms are nothing unusual here in Cincinnati, Ohio, and with hard storms can come gutter damage. To prevent that damage from having long term effects, you need to know about gutters, gutter cleaning, gutter repairs, and gutter installation. In this short guide, you will be informed of the top four things to understand about your home's drainage system.

1. Gutter components

Knowing the individual components of your gutter system is the first step in understanding that system. While it might seem complicated at first, taking it one step at a time makes this a manageable task. To start, the gutters themselves attach to the edge of your roof and hold the  hold the rainwater as it drains. These gutters may be a seamless style, which come in one piece per side, or they may be sectional, broken up into shorter sections connected together to cover the side of your roof. The gutters then funnel water down to the downspout. A downspout is a vertical hollow tube that connects to the side of the home and carries the rain to connect to the next piece, the elbow. The elbow is a bent piece of metal that directs the rainwater out and away from the house's foundation. Any of these connections between parts can create opportunities for gutter issues, like leaks or clogs. This, by the way, is why there’s such an advantage in seamless gutters because they reduce these opportunities.

2. Gutter maintenance

Now that you know how the parts of your gutter system, you should have a clearer understanding of how their maintenance works. Just like so many other parts of your home, your gutters also need regular upkeep. Each connection between the different pieces we reviewed earlier is a particular opportunity for leaks or clogs. To both prevent and monitor for such issues, gutters should be cleaned during the season, removing debris that collects within them. By performing this cleaning, you prevent clogs that can can cause standing water to act as an extra weight in the gutter or foster rust damage, as well as get the opportunity to spot leaks early on and address them.

3. Gutter installation

Now that you know the basics of how your gutters work and are maintained, you can take the next step to understand how the gutters are installed. This is how you elevate your gutter game up to another level. By knowing how the gutters are installed, you can watch for issues with the gutters connections and mounting. Your gutters are installed by fasteners and hangers which connect to the facia. This is a wooden board mounted below the roof apron and extends along the edges of your home. It is crucial that this mounting is done at the correct level with the roof to allow water to run off into the gutters. Further, the gutters must be installed with a “pitch” or slope that ensures water then runs off to the downspouts. If this pitch or level is off, water will not drain correctly, and instead pool on your roof or collect next to your foundation.

Correctly understanding your gutter system gives you the opportunity to get the best quality. Just like understanding your car or your computer can give you a better user experience, understanding your gutters gives you a solid start in getting the most out of them. This was just a matter of scratching the surface, but we hope we’ve given you the chance to begin the process of learning more about your gutters and how they work. If you want to take the next step, call us today to schedule one of our professionals to come out for a cleaning and gutter inspection.