When a puddle of water mysteriously appears on the basement floor, or water seeps into a house and leaves an ugly yellowish-brown blotch on the wall or ceiling (a prime breeding ground for mold), you might look for a leak in the roof, or cracks in and around the walls, windows or doors. Sometimes you do indeed need to repair or replace a roof that's seen better days. And if your windows and/or doors are warped, rot-damaged, or just plain old (and not energy efficient), perhaps they do need to be replaced.
BUT, when water enters your basement or breaches any area of your home, it can can quite often be traced back to clogged gutters. Any water that spills over a clogged gutter can damage the exterior and interior of your home. When the water pools around the foundation, it can cause cracks to form and and cause damage to the foundation. A properly landscaped home, with the ground sloping away from the foundation at least six inches for the first ten feet, can keep the water from pooling too close to the foundation.
One inch of rainfall on a 1,000 square foot roof sends more than 600 gallons of water into your gutters. Properly installed and maintained gutters and downspouts take on all that water and send it away from your home and property; when they’re clogged, the water cannot flow through the gutter and downspouts and away from the house. Some of the rainwater will find another path and end up where it will do extensive damage to your house and property.
Maintain your gutters and downspouts and you will avoid many conditions that undermine the integrity of your home including:
- Flooding
- Foundation damage
- Pest infestation
- Roof damage
- Warped and rotted window frames, siding and doors
- Mold
Repairing structural damage to your home is far more expensive than maintaining your gutters and downspouts. And a recent survey found that 30% of homeowners and renters who had issues with mold spent more than $5,000 to mitigate the damages.
Learn how important your gutter is from the top of your house to the bottom and you will never take it for granted again!