Eavestrough cleaning may not be high on your list of home maintenance priorities, but routine maintenance is essential. Gutters are meant to catch and direct rainwater from the roof, down into the drain and away from the house, minimizing possible structural damage. Clogged or broken gutters will lead to costly repairs, so they should never be out of sight, even though they are out of reach.
An eavestrough, a rain gutter, a roof gutter, or a surface water collection pipe is a trough or canal that runs through the house’s roof area. It gathers rainwater or snow-capped runoff from the roof, discharging it, usually to downspouts or downspouts that carry it to the drainage system.
And you have to regularly maintain your eavestrough to avoid any unwanted consequences. Here’s why.
Why do gutters get blocked?
This could be a combination of falling leaves, moss, twigs, and other debris that may build up with time. The leaves are blown onto the roof, going down into the gutters. If it’s warm, the leaves can cling to the gutter walls and roofs, and the flow of rainwater can trap in corners and downpipes.
Over time, leaves break down to become fertile compost. Making it the ideal breeding area for seeds, moss, and weeds that have been swept to the roof or dropped by birds. If left unmanaged, these parasitic weeds will invade your gutters, obstruct the normal flow of water, plug the down-pipe leading to rainwater build-up, and potentially overflow. Gutters need to be in good condition during the winter to ensure the free flow of water to prevent snow and ice build-up destruction.
Why is Eavestrough Cleaning Important?
The Eavestroughs are designed to collect rainwater from the roof and take it away from the home’s foundation through the downspouts.
This is a good fact that the eavestrough system is designed to collect water from the roof of the home. As it ultimately redirects that water to a safe distance from the walls and the foundation. For most of the part, this system works in relative obscurity. It does its job during and immediately after every rainfall and winter thaw.
Foundation Cracks
If water fills up and pools along your home’s foundation, it can end up freezing, which can cause it to expand and crack in your foundation.
Bracket Damage
Clogged gutters are carrying too much weight, which can result in damaging the brackets
Keep Pests Away
Clogged up eavestroughs can be appealing to a number of critters as a nesting site. From mosquitoes to cockroaches, a bed of damp leaves can be inviting to pests.
Overwatering Garden Beds
If your gutters get clogged to the point that water is overflowing over the side and onto your garden beds, you will endanger the wellbeing of your plants by effectively drowning them. Overwatering can be as harmful as watering is not enough.
Fascia Damage
The fascia is the board that runs just below the gutter. Overflowing water will destroy this vital part of your gutter system.
What happens when you don’t clean your gutters?
Unfortunately, the flow of water through eavestroughs is not constant; in a manner of speaking, the system fulfills its primary function only when it is caused by rain or thaw. If the gutters are not cleaned, and the water is overflowing from the gutters, it will fall along the building’s foundation. Also, if the foundation is wet and then freezes, it will cause cracks and heaviness. In extreme cases, water damage can lead to structural failure in the home or building.
Stagnant water can cause many other undesirable and potentially harmful/dangerous conditions, for example:
- Mold formation
- Rusting of the gutters
- Breeding ground for mosquitos
- Gutter damage
- Roof damage
In the interim, the gutters essentially lie dormant. It is during these quiet periods that the foundation for future problems can be established. When weather conditions and small animals can conspire to deposit foreign matter/debris such as the following in eavestroughs and/or over the openings to downspouts:
- Dry leaves
- Maple tree keys
- Organic matter or waste
- Asphalt shingle granules
- Dry twigs or nests
Any such material then covers the gutter mechanism and then stops it if it is called on to work correctly. Since the water cannot flow as expected, it pools inside the eavestrough and either stagnate or, based on its cumulative volume, inevitably pours over the lip/edge. This overflow can be incredibly destructive to the home itself as well as its surroundings. Which may result in substantial and costly repairs to any and all of the following areas:
- Foundation
- Roof or shingles
- Masonry or siding
- Landscaping
- Soffits or fascia
- Doors or windows
A routine cleaning of your gutters can prevent damage to your roof, exterior and foundation, saving you thousands in possible repair costs.
How often should you clean your gutters?
Generally speaking, you should seek out at least twice a year to clean your gutters. You should clean every three months once depending on the kind of leaves you have near your home (such as cedar trees).
Importance Of Eavestrough Cleaning
Households are advised to do half-yearly maintenance, typically in the spring and autumn, to ensure that the facility is free of all the debris and can work at optimum levels if necessary. If any immediate or inevitable faults are detected during these checks, the appropriate or proactive work will be carried out in a time-sensitive manner, while preventing further and potentially expensive damages to your Eavestrough or even your home.
Once again, homeowners could be well served by using Shine Windows’s skills to carry out such inspections and complete any necessary repairs to either the eavestrough or the building envelope.
However, eavestrough cleaning typically means that homeowners have to work on a ladder or simply walk across their house roof. This could not be possible for certain people either because of safety issues, physical disabilities and/or lack of time or inclination.
In such situations, homeowners may prefer to focus on the eavestrough cleaning services of a skilled roofing contractor such as us, Shine Eavestrough and Gutter Cleaning in Toronto.
