An ideal house should have well placed gutters and downspouts. Faulty home gutter system is often a primary pet peeve for many house owners. Both are inexpensive and easy to install, but unfortunately often overlooked by many homeowners. Good gutters should be able to prevent water from pooling or dripping in front of your door entrance. Frozen water can cause injuries, because it is slippery. Water can also endanger the foundation of your house, making your home structurally unsound. Many houses only have small gutters above the front door and when it is raining heavily, the gutter is overloaded with water. When choosing a gutter system, you should consider the square footage of the roof. You should know that in a single day, the gutter may need to accommodate thousands gallons of water.
You should also be aware of where the soil should be directed. When the water from the downspouts falls into the wrong area, it may seep into the basement or crawl space. After a few years, you will start to see early signs of water damages inside your basement. One important purpose of a gutter is to make sure that water can be directed safely away from your house and won’t cause any kind of damage. If you are not sure about this, it is a good idea to examine the current placement of your gutter and make sure it is safe. The water should not be allowed to fall into the soil and there should be a drainage system that can rapidly direct the water away from your house. Waterlogged soil near your house can be a quite risky thing. It will slowly weaken your wall and foundation over the years. Preventing these problems are relatively easy and affordable. Unfortunately, weakened foundation due to water damage is unfixable, in many cases, it will need to be rebuilt completely.
Poor gutter system may also cause some amount of water to collect in some areas of your house. This can happen if the roof and gutter are not designed to direct all the water to the intended place. It could be rainy for a few weeks before the first snow falls and frozen rainwater on your roof can be quite damaging in the long run. This could happen if your gutter is not slopped slightly. During the fall, a large amount of leaves and dry twigs will fall on your roof and may clog your downspouts. When waterlogged leaves freeze on your roof, this could put extra pressure and you shouldn’t be surprised to see leakage and other damage.
In many houses, gutter is simply poorly maintained, because it’s clogged with dirt and debris. If it happens, water from the roof will overflow to the surrounding soil and damage to your wall and foundation will certainly happen. You should make sure that your gutter is fully functional, by making sure that it is not full of muck. Cleaning your gutter is an easy thing to do, but it also depends how the gutter is designed. If much of it is under the concrete driveway slabs, then there’s no way for you to completely clean it.
