How Gutters Keep Your Home Safe

Gutters are a crucial part of any home and you might not realize just how hard a gutter system works to keep  your home safe.  Gutters are the first line of defense against water damage, which is why cleaning them out, repairing, and maintaining them is so important.  Homeowners should strive to clean out gutters at least twice a year as the seasons change to remove debris and prevent gutters from clogging. 

Neglected gutters could spell out trouble for your home, so if you need a little encouragement in tackling this chore, take a look at just how much gutters do to keep your home in prime condition.

How Gutters Can Prevent Landscape and Soil Erosion

A good gutter system works by collecting rainfall and water runoff, then channeling it along the gutter lengths and out through the downspouts.  Thanks to gravity and the extended length of the downspouts, water shoots out and away from your home’s foundation, safely across landscaping beds and far from the foundation.

Imagine if you didn’t have gutters or if your gutters were clogged or damaged, unable to do this job.  Water would fall straight down, into your landscaping and next to your foundation, seeping and collecting dangerously close to your home.  It wouldn’t take very long for your landscaping to erode and whatever plants you have close to your home to become waterlogged and diseased.

An intact gutter system prevents water from eroding your landscaping, soil, and destroying your plants.  You’ll want to make sure it remains unclogged and that your downspouts are functioning as they should be.

How Gutters Can Protect Your Home’s Foundation

The most important function of a gutter system is to protect your home’s foundation.  Even though a house is built to withstand a lot throughout its lifetime, the foundation isn’t impenetrable to something as sneaky as water damage.

An easy way for moisture to seep into your home’s foundation is simply by running off of the roof and collecting at your home’s base.  Over time, the foundation becomes exposed to this moisture and can cause serious structural damage among other issues like mildew, mold, and leaks.  Gutters prevent this from occurring by channeling the water far enough away from the foundation so there’s no exposure to this moisture, keeping your basement nice and dry and the overall structure sound.

Foundational issues are serious and can mean expensive repairs, not to mention the difficulty you’ll face when it comes time to resell.  But one easy preventative measure is to make sure your gutters remain unclogged and damage-free so they can do their job in pushing water away from the home.

How Gutters Ensure Longevity to Your Roofing System

Gutters are a part of your roof system and share the same purpose of keeping your home dry, safe, and to channel away water.  Gutters also exist to help protect your roof and make sure it functions well for as long as it’s designed for, which traditional asphalt roofs are meant to last at least two decades—if not longer.

Clogged gutters or homes without a gutter system in place will cause the roof to handle the burden of redirecting water all on its own.  Soil and landscaping erosion occurs as well as an increased exposure to moisture should any water linger.  Standing water that collects on the roof forces the system to handle this extra weight, eventually giving in and allowing leaks.  Once water makes it past the shingles, the first line of a roof’s defense, the underlayment suffers water damage.

Over time, the effects can be devastating, and repairs become terribly expensive.  You’d be looking at replacing a roof much earlier than intended, not to mention the other areas of the home that require repairs from water damage.

How Gutters Can Fend Off Insects and Pests

Something you might not guess about your gutters is that they fend off insects and pests.  Standing water attracts pesky mosquitos during the warmer months, but a good gutter system sends water away from your home, eliminating these pools of water that mosquitoes and other bugs are attracted to.  This is a nice little perk that encourages homeowners to clean out their gutters or else spending time outside during the summer turns into a bug bite circus.

How Gutters Can Help Mitigate Freezing Conditions

In many parts of the United States, the winter brings ice and snow aplenty.  Snow piles onto the roof and when freezing conditions occur, ice dams can form.  Gutters keep your home safe by collecting any melting snow and redirecting the water far away from your home and its foundation.  This prevents ice dams from forming, which are not only dangerous to you, but can seriously damage your roof if they’re not addressed.  The bottom line is that gutter maintenance remains important throughout all seasons.

At Feldco, we proudly serve the Midwest with great products, service, and installation. Now’s the time to speak to a product specialist about your leaky gutter. Get a free quote today!