So spring time is here. The cold weather is beginning to recede, bears will now be seeking left over picnic baskets and the unfortunate ones, such as myself, are running to the pharmacy with itchy throats, runny noses and eyes that look like we spent all weekend at the local frat house brushing up on our keg stand skills.
Not letting that ruin our better judgement, let's take a look at some unseen problems around the house. Your home is not only your most precious investment, it is also the one you will spend the most time in. If you walk around your property and look up at your gutters you may think to yourself, " they look fine to me". And you may be right, they may "look fine" . But what if you were to go into your garage, pull the kids' bikes off the old extension ladder and make the spine chilling climb up to the edge of the roof . After looking into your once shiny gutter run, you may realize how clogged and loose your only hope of safe rain water channeling is. The northeast had quite a winter season with New York City reporting up to 36" of snowfall in the month of January (Accuweather Source). Having shoveled your fair share of driveways, you know that snow accumulation is not light and does not move itself. So, what does that means? Your gutters have a weight limit to their strength, and with that amount of weight, you are sure to have some movement and loosening, even some problems you never dreamed about.
Problems from Snow
Snow is essentially water in frozen form and will act as such. Your roof is covered with snow and one day, here comes a warm winter day where the temperature reaches a toasty 43 degrees Fahrenheit. You begin to hear the sounds of water flowing through the downspouts, past the driveway, and into the sewer drains. Fantastic! It will all be gone soon. But not yet, here comes nightfall and most of the snow that remains in the gutter and at the edge of the roof has now turned to ice. Ice which can withstand the weight of an 18 wheel semi-trailer and send it into an uncontrollable pirouette across a freeway. When this happens, you now have a track of perfectly formed ice in your gutter that wants to "stretch out its legs" . The ice has nowhere to expand so then pushes against the front and back of the gutter, further releasing the fastening bond that once was strong, causing a little more sag than last year. For some, that means a gutter finally releasing from its hold on the fascia and falling to its doom (hopefully not on anyone or anything expensive) and becoming an unsightly hazard. By the way, fascia is the wood section of your home at the end of your roof which the gutter is fastened to.
Fascia
Water sometimes finds its way behind the gutter and, having no way of evaporating or escaping, will rot away the fascia and even worse, find its way into you interior walls causing a hidden danger known as mold. To prevent this danger, have your gutters cleaned out and rinsed twice a year by a professional and have any loose spots secured by a screw-driven gutter hanger. Screws have a tighter hold in the wood fascia and won't loosen over time like nails will.
Foundation - Your support system
Another hazard to kick around in the old cerebral is the integrity of your foundation. Gutter are intended to channel rainwater safely away from trouble spots around your home such as areas of high foot traffic i.e. front and back doors, patios, roofs, and even your foundation. When rain water is permitted to seep against your house, it will do what it naturally does: find its way into areas its not supposed to be. As mentioned before, water will turn to ice and forcefully push and separate anything it settles in. This time its settling into the cracks in the foundation you will never see...hopefully.
Your foundation is coated with a layer of tar which doesn't really last that long. This is the same tar used to fill in cracks in our roadway systems and we all know the end to that story. So, you now have a hidden foundation with an unseen cracked, coating which supports your most precious possession with you and your loved ones sleeping soundly inside. Since your foundation is completely underground, this failing system is your only defense against a watery attack Mother Nature releases heavily in the spring time. Water, as you know, will flow anywhere gravity brings it to. Unfortunately, sometimes that means the cracks in your foundation. Flooding is a major headache and a very expensive one to boot. Think of all your possessions stored in the basement and imagine helplessly watching someone dumping them into a swimming pool. That is the scenario played during a severe rain storm mixed with a cracked foundation, and think about the costs.
The most important support system you will probably ever own is your home's foundation and it is being attacked periodically . The cost to repair is phenomenal. This whole scene can be prevented by a properly functioning gutter system, with a gutter guard, and downspouts with extensions on the bottoms. The gutter guards will prevent any leaf and debris clogs. An extension on the bottom downspout will direct the rain water further away from the foundation preventing any soaking and foundation crack expansions.
Gutters are often taken for granted, but provide prevention from thousands of dollars of damage to your home. Contact your local gutter company and have an estimate for this preventative service before it costs you more than you can afford.
Daniel Cerda, Gutter Specialist
www.SeamlessGuttersNJ.com
