If you’ve ever experienced the damage caused by clogged gutters or an ice dam rooted in those gutters, you may have wondered if the sluices and downspouts that make up your gutter system are more trouble than they’re worth.
After all, what do gutters actually do?
Gutters Direct Moisture Away From Your Home
The fundamental purpose of a gutter system is to direct the rain, melting snow, and hail that falls upon your roof to some point away from your home. Moisture can be destructive and gutters are one form of defense. That’s why yearly cleaning of debris is vital to keep them working as they should.
Gutters Protect Your Exterior Walls
Because of gutters, rain dripping from the eaves doesn’t slide down the exterior walls of your home, where water could slip between shingles or clapboards, behind window or door frames, or in cracks in the paint to cause further damage. Gutters also prevent debris like tree branches, shingle particles and leaves from being dragged down the siding, leaving dirty trails.
Gutters Prevent Basement Flooding
A house without gutters in a rain- or snow-prone area will soon find the soil around the foundation of the house saturated with water. Saturated soil puts pressure on the basement walls that, over time, can undermine the foundation. Also, moisture may seep through tiny cracks causing pooling, flooding, or a build-up of moisture in the basement and the growth of mold.
Gutters Protect Slope And Landscaping
Without gutters to sluice water away from the foundation of the home, water dripping from the eaves can cause erosion of the natural slope. Ruts and puddles will develop in areas where the roof’s natural slope directs the most water to fall, causing standing water.
Gutter-less runoff can also harm garden beds, bushes, and other landscaping close to the walls of the home.
If clogged gutters or ice dams are a persistent problem, contact a trusted roofer about gutter guards and other improvements.