Clean the Gutters, Save the House
Posted on 09/11/2015
Best Ways to Clean House Gutters
When you endeavour in the long process of house cleaning, you will eventually get to the exterior of the house. The real hardship and tedium comes once you fix your gaze on the gutter. There will be an inner struggle about wasting any time on cleaning it, but the conclusion you should most definitely reach is yes, clean it. The gutter might seem like only a bonus attachment to the house, but it has its useful functions, and it can be quite harmful if it is left neglected. And neglecting the gutter means you are really, really neglectful, as the frequency it needs attention is basically a few times a year, so you don’t even have to spend that many times doing it like home cleaning.
And this is the job where professional cleaners will not help. Cleaning companies are concerned with the state of the inside of your house, and the exterior is a handyman’s job. But you don’t really need one – gutter cleaning is simple and you can do it all by yourself.
Neglecting to do it might result in more than clogging it. Those small waterfalls around your house will probably be the least of your problems when the actual structure of the home becomes threatened. Yes, that is no exaggeration. The purpose of the gutter is to keep water away from the walls of your house. With no properly working gutter, your house can get damaged down the road. It might not be an immediate threat, but enough waiting and the damages will not be pretty and will make you wish you did your job sooner. If gutters are dammed up, the water from your roof is dispersed along the roof, and might slip along the walls of the house, working its way to the ceiling and walls of your home. And yes, that is a threat to the structure as its weight assaults the foundation of the house.
Gutters should be clean especially because of the leaves and debris that appear there on a windy day. Debris especially can do a lot of damage in high amounts. Provided your gutter has enough debris, it will become a cylindrical sponge for rain water which will absorb as much liquid as it can, becoming more and more heavy as it goes. When heavy enough, your gutter can literally collapse, tearing parts of the roof or walls along with it. So, in short, make sure you don’t have debris problems. A good way to both check if you have a clogged gutter, and to clean the debris from the gutter, is hosing the gutter down. A fast and strong stream of water will pretty much cleanse the insides of the gutter and should leave it debris free.
Leaves are no real problem, but are really tedious to clean. They require a ladder and you need to feel safe when on that ladder. You also need gloves, because picking wet leaves from a gutter is neither the warmest, nor the cleanest endeavour. This also requires a lot of time, so equip yourself with as much patience and diligence you can, because there will be a lot of climbing down the ladder to move it barely a few inches to the side and then climb back on to pick more leaves.
Take care of your gutter just as thoroughly as you take care of your home cleaning, because in the end it could come back to haunt you. Give it your best to have a free-flowing and leaf-free gutter, and your house will be safe and your wallet will not have to endure any financial damage.
