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 functions 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.
Maintain Your Gutter
One of the best tips for 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, rain spouts 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.
Gutter Maintenance Tips
In maintaining gutters, it is important to make sure that your contractor has all the materials needed before starting work. It is not advisable for them 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. Here are some other tips:
- 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
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.
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.