Obviously, you just like any other homeowner, love to have many trees planted near the house. Nothing can compares to the beauty of trees. Unfortunately, there are several setbacks of having big trees planted near your home.
Photo by A Plus Gutter Systems – Search home design pictures
One of them is the amount of leaves that can accumulate in your gutters. Trees are spectacular during the spring and summer but in the fall there are good chances that their leaves to be trapped into your home gutters. That can cause a lot of trouble and even serious damage to your property, because the rainwater cannot be drained away from your property. In fact, a dirty, stuck gutter can affect the integrity of your building. Water has no way to escape and therefore, moisture will penetrate inside of your home leading to mildew and mold.
It is extremely important to check and clean regularly, your home gutters.
JOB PREPARATION & SAFETY
Of course, job preparation is extremely important and first you have to pay attention to your safety, as you will work at heights.
Generally, any kind of ladders may be quite right for this kind of job but the best are those with wider bases. These ladders are stable and present more safety for you. However, regardless of the type of your ladder, do not forget to position it in a comfortable and safe wide angle against the exterior wall of your home.
RAKING OUT LEAVES & DEBRIS
Using protection rubber gloves scrape the leaves and debris out with your hand. Put them into a bucket that is hung in hook to your ladder.
WARNING: Avoid stretching too far. Move often your ladder along the gutters and work only on short lengths.
Clean up a gutter length completely before moving on to the next length.
USE DRAIN PROTECTORS or FITTING FILTERS
Use drain protectors or fitting filters, which can help you to protect your gutters. Check first if you can find these kinds of protections available for your gutter type.
Fixing these drain protectors or fitting filters while you clear your gutter will help you to save work in the coming years. They will cover the top of your gutters so that leaves cannot accumulate within your home gutters. They will be blown far away and will not block anymore your gutters in the future.
CHECK YOUR HOME DOWN-PIPES
The next step is checking your home down-pipes if they are also stuck with leaves and debris.
However, it is a smart idea to cap the down-pipes with special made caps. Using a garden house pour water in gutter and follow if the water is going down through the down-pipe.
If water stagnates in the gutter then you need to clear also, them. It is easy to do. You need only, to remove down-pipes sections and clear them using a rod or a broomstick.
CHECK for SPLITS
However, if water is not flowing freely, you need to check the joints of your gutter to see if their integrity has been affected by bad weather. It is possible to have broken sections. You need to repair or replace them.
FINAL CHECKS of YOUR GUTTERS and DOWNPIPES
Having cleared and repaired all your gutters check your down-pipes again. Check for any sagging area that need perhaps, more support. You need also to look for leaking areas.
In many situations, especially if you are living in the areas with heavy rains, the depth of your gutter can be insufficient to take a large amount of water. In these cases, it is mandatory to replace your gutters. However, it is much cheaper to replace your old gutters with new ones than repairing a damaged damp house.
An Eco Alternative to Traditional Roofs – Green Roofs (howtobuildahouseblog.com)