Gutters and signs of life

• Posted on July 20, 2017
• by mikew
• in Fix It & Use It
• No Comments.

There are so many things that I find in gutters during my inspection… standing water, leaves, pine needles, moss, cable lines, baseballs, action figures, etc. Keeping these clear is so important because the gallons upon gallons of water shedding from your roof must go someplace. We have essentially installed irrigation canals that are ready to dump this water anyplace we choose. It takes little time in our wetter seasons to fill 50 gallon rain barrels for gutters become a torrential river when it pours and bubbling creeks when it sprinkles. It is an untapped energy source – I’m awaiting the day when some inventor develops small water wheels to be install in gutters that generate electricity! Problems arise when we forget that more than water rolls off our roofs. Everything that I mentioned earlier fills up the gutters and prevents the water from leaving. You know its time to clean your gutters when you find signs of life in your gutters. And this dry season is the perfect time to pull out your shop vac and suck out all the debris!

Delay on this and in the Fall you can damage the roof sheathing and fascia boards, fill your crawlspace or basement with water, and see walkways and driveways settle and crack. A little maintenance now will go a long way later!