Long Island Roofing: Article About Cleaning Gutters
These rolls of mesh material are inserted into your gutters. They prevent leaves, twigs and other debris from getting into the gutter. Not only do gutter guards help prevent clogs, but they reduce the frequency with which gutters need to be cleaned.
Long Island roofer answers a question: What tools and supplies are needed to clean gutters?Only a few common items are required to do a gutter cleaning. You'll need work gloves to protect your hands and a ladder to access the gutters. A hand rake or garden trowel will help you scoop out the mess, and a garbage bag will be needed to hold the debris. At the end of the job, you will need a hose to spray out anything that still remains in the gutter.
Cleaning gutters is an important part of keeping your roof and home in good condition. Unfortunately, many homeowners forget to do this essential task, or else they put it off as long as possible. Not only does this expose your home to several risks, but it makes the cleaning job much more difficult. Having a Long Island roofing company maintain your gutters twice a year will reduce the amount of effort required for each cleaning and prevent thousands of dollars in potential damage.
When gutters get filled to capacity with leaves and debris, the material absorbs rain water and gets heavy. At a certain point, this excess weight stresses the gutters and their brackets to their breaking point, and they may be pulled off the house. Replacing fallen gutters is a costly job on its own, but fixing the windows and outdoor lights that might break as the gutters fall is even more expensive.
Water that spills over from overflowing gutters can eventually work its way into your walls. Over time, the wet wood inside can rot and compromise the home's structural integrity. The danger with rotting wood is that the problem may not become apparent until it's too late.
During the winter, ice dams are another consequence of clogged, overflowing gutters. Ice dams form at the edge of the roof and prevent melting snow and ice from running off the roof. The water stays trapped on the roof and eventually infiltrates the shingles, causing roof damage.
A roofer from Long Island roofing can answer any question you have about architectural roofing or shingle roofs.
If you notice icicles dangling from the edge of your roof, you may also have ice dams.
As you can see, there are several compelling reasons to keep your gutter clean and free of clogs. While it's always safest to hire a professional roofing company to perform the task, you might feel comfortable tackling the project yourself. The optimal times to clean your gutter are in the spring and the fall. Cleaning gutters is a messy job, so be sure to wear work gloves. When you grab and remove handfuls of debris, you may also notice a thick sludge in the gutters. The sludge is made up of granules that have come off the shingles, mixed with water and dirt. Once you've removed as much as you can by hand, you can use a hose to spray out whatever debris and sludge remains. A plumber's snake can help clear out any stubborn clogs that the hose didn't remove.
It's true that keeping your gutter clean requires some time and effort, but avoiding the task can end up being an expensive mistake. If you'd like to cut down on gutter maintenance, you may want to install gutter guards. These devices help keep your gutters clean and free of clogs. Instead of requiring a twice-yearly cleaning, gutters with guards only need maintenance every few years.
