Gutter Maintenance
Tips
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It is important to
periodically monitor the overall
condition of a home. Wear and tear as
a result of weather and age occurs in
every home, and it is wise to take
care of problems before they lead to
extensive and costly repairs. Routine
maintenance should be done to ensure
that everything is well in all parts
of the home. This should especially be
the case as far as the exterior of the
home is concerned because it is the
exterior of the home that is most
subjected to wear and tear.
1. Maintain Your Gutter
One of the best tips that can be given
for the proper maintenance of the
exterior of the home is by maintaining
the gutter. The gutter is the trough
fixed under or along the eaves for
draining rainwater from a roof.
Gutters in general are also are called
eaves spouts, eaves trough, rainspouts
and spouting. Because they are located
at the exterior of the home their
proper maintenance has a direct impact
upon the overall appearance of the
home. Maintaining gutters is an easy
task. One only has to think about the
serviceability they are able to offer
once they are rid of everything that
they need to be rid of. Clogged
gutters can cause landscaping, lawn
and shrubbery, walls, foundation,
basement, crawl spaces and existing
gutter system great damage. This is
the reason why these channels should
be kept clean at all times.
2. Gutter Maintenance Tips
In maintaining gutters, it is
important for one to make sure that he
has all the materials needed before
starting work. It is not advisable for
him to stop in the middle of a task to
hunt for a tool. The first step is to
clean the gutters with a narrow
stiff-bristled brush. A wallpaper
brush can be used to sweep out debris
when the gutters are dry. It is also
not advisable to clean the gutters by
flushing them with a garden hose. This
might cause the downspout to clog.
Gutters should be cleaned when they
are dry, and the hose should be used
to flush out any remaining debris.
- Clean any leaves, twigs or other
debris off the roof
- Walking on the roof and using an old
broom or a leaf blower, pitch all
debris down into the yard
- Once the roof is clean of debris,
start on the gutters themselves
- Using a narrow trowel or putty
knife, gently lift any debris in the
gutters out and pitch it down to the
yard
- For safety purposes, it is a must to
check all the supports when the
gutters themselves are clean enough
- Hose the gutters down
- Use the hose to test the gutters
ability to rapidly redirect water
3. Gutter Tips
It is not advisable to lean ladders
against the gutter. Installing a
plastic support piece to the gutter to
support the weight of the ladder is
what should be done. The support piece
in question provides a permanent
access point to the roof and is
fastened to the wood underneath the
roof using galvanized deck screws. It
can also be mounted directly to the
gutter. Purchasing a ladder stabilizer
for added ladder safety is also a must
as the ladder stabilizer locks onto
the rungs of the extension ladder,
preventing the ladder from shifting
side to side.
4. Prevention Is Better Than Cure -
Gutter Guards
Those who want nice-looking,
serviceable gutters for their homes
are advised to consider installing
gutter guards, screens that
prevent debris from entering the
gutter. These devices also direct the
flow of water away from the house and
into the ground. This way, one will
have gutters that will prove to be
more of a blessing than a curse.
Proper maintenance of these devices
will cause them to be extremely useful
while adding a touch of style to the
exterior of the home which they form
part of.
For more great gutter related articles
and resources check out
http://www.gutterhq.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Morris
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