The 4 Expensive Dangers of Cluttered Gutters - How You Can Easily Avoid Them in Your Home

9/14/2020 (Permalink)

Article at a Glance:

• You will know 4 Dangers of Gutter Clutter can cause devastating damages to your home
• You will be given 3 Easy (and free) tips on how to avoid it

Gutter clutter can create a multitude of problems for your home. It’s a silent beast that hides in your gutters, slowly creating large, expensive problems. And these problems can cost upwards of thousands of dollars of damages to your home.

While the falling leaves look beautiful this time of year, it’s what you don’t see (or think of) that creates the devastating damage to your home. Thankfully, it’s easily avoidable. When you have finished reading this article, you will be better equipped to avoid the unnecessary damages. 

First, we will take you through the problems (knowing how and why is the most important part, so read thoroughly). Then we will give you 3 easy steps to follow. These 3 steps are proven to be HUGE savers (and they’re free!).

Danger 1: Damage to Home Foundations

Cluttered today, deep water damage tomorrow. Clogged gutters are infamous for causing water overflow into the foundations of properties like yours. While this doesn’t sound so bad, the water flow can cause crack foundations, weakening them, which ultimately can become a huge safety risk to you and your family.

Danger 2: Damage to Roofs

Water leaking into the roof can be an expansive problem (meaning it starts small), but the water breaches deeply into the wood and plastering. Certain structural components such as; door frames, the inside of walls, and ceilings reach a critical point quickly. This critical point results in cracks, rotting and even collapsing of the roof or walls.

Danger 3: Electricals

Electrical corrosion is a common (and often silent) problem in the homes of West Virginia. While electrical corrosion can happen from a multitude of reasons, cluttered gutters are one of the causes you must be aware of. As water overflows, leading into the roof or foundations, the moisture (or even water) will corrode electricals, and repair of these can be costly (not to mention the fire danger).

Danger 4: Creepy Crawlies

Insects and parasites love water, they love the damp and they especially love hiding spots. Gutters filled with wet leaves are their equivalent of an island paradise. Flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches and termites carry many germs, into your home and creating a home for them in your gutter only brings more to your home. 

(If you're unsure of insects in the home, or even want to have them gone, we recommend our local Pest Control Lamp Pestproof in Vienna).

The 3 Easy Steps to Avoid These Dangers

Follow these easy steps and the likelihood of the above dangers will dramatically decrease.

1. Check your gutters regularly: Make it a routine to check your gutters at the beginning and end of each season. An hour or so every 3 months is worth the risk of tens of thousands of dollars of damage.
2. Be on the look out for an unusual increase in insect activity: If you notice an increase in insects around your home, especially mosquitoes, check the state of your gutters.
3. Maintenance of your garden and trees: Keep your trees and plants pruned. Don’t allow them to overgrow. A great suggestion is to keep this as part of the seasonal gutter check.

We hope that this has helped and you have found value. If you have any further questions please call us on 304 428 7378 or click here to contact us.

The Team at SERVPRO of Wood, Ritchie & Pleasants Counties.

Related Articles:

Silent Water Damage - 3 Things You Need to Know

Crawlspace Waterproofing - How It Can Help You Avoid $10,000+ in Damages