How Important Is It To Keep Your Gutters Clean?

With Winter winding down and Spring quickly approaching, we start getting excited to spend more time outdoors enjoying warmer weather, flowers, walks, sports and gutter cleaning….well, maybe not the gutter cleaning. But enjoy it or not, it’s something that needs to be done, like it or not. And while we all have great intentions of getting it done right away, when it comes to cleaning our rain gutters and downspouts, let’s be honest, no one really wants to and the task often gets put off!

The purpose of your gutter system is to direct the flow of rainwater off and away from your home, if they are clogged or damaged, they cannot do what they are intended to do and the integrity of your home can suffer.

Clean gutters are one of the most important parts of your home’s maintenance, to help protect it from:

• Heavy build up of debris which can cause the gutters to pull away from your house and cause structural damage.
• Water spilling over the edges of your gutters and damaging your doors, windows, walls and patios or decks.
• Heavy build up makes it easier for ice dams to form, which damages your roof.
• Vegetation growing in your gutters which encourages insects to take up residence.
• Water accumulation which can cause rust and corrosion, leading to the need of replacing your gutter system.
• Mold and mildew growth
• Water accumulating which will find its way into your basement, crawl space and foundation.
• Accidents…water that overflows from your gutter can cause your driveway or walkways to become slippery causing slipping and falling.

When your gutters cause any one of these problems, not only can the repairs become expensive but they are time consuming as well.

How Often Should Your Gutters be Cleaned?

At a minimum they should be cleaned twice a year, once in the spring and once in late fall. Depending on where you live (especially in the Great Pacific Northwest), and the amount “stuff” that has fallen into them, you may need to clean them more frequently.

Hire a professional to do the job for you

Keeping your gutters clean isn’t a particularly difficult job, but most people avoid doing it themselves whenever possible, partly because it can be a dirty, slimy, time consuming job and because there are some associated risks such as falling off the ladder or falling off a steep, slippery roof.

Most of you know me as a professional window cleaner, but I also specialize in cleaning gutters. As a professional, I will come to your home prepared with the proper equipment to safely and efficiently do the job for you…

Keep both feet planted on the ground and Contact me for a Free estimate!