by Shelia West

Created on: February 02, 2010

Gutters have a very necessary function.  They catch water running off your roof and redirect it away from your house.  If the gutters, downspouts, and drainage system are working correctly, they will steer the water completely away from your home.  This helps protect the house from the gound up. 

Gutters that have become clogged or have pulled loose from your house can cause serious problems.  Clogged gutters cause extra weight resulting in the gutters pulling away from the roof or even falling down.  Therefore it is essential that you maintain your home's gutters.  And it only takes a little preventative maintenance to ensure that you won't end up with serious water problems in your home's basement or crawl space. 

Maintaining your gutters is actually very easy to do.  However, you should cleanyour gutters twice a year.  Gutters should be cleaned and inspected thoroughly as one of your spring cleaning projects.  This will help eliminate any problems that may have occurred during the long winter months.  Look for areas where the gutter nails have pulled loose from the house.  The solution may be as simple as driving the nails back in.  If the nails are too loose to be driven back in, new nails should be put in within an inch or two of the old one. 

Climb up on a ladder so that you can actually look down the length of the gutter.  Any blockages should be cleaned out by hand.  Do not wash them down the downspout.  This could result in a much more serious blockage.  After clearing out the majority of the dirt, use a water hose and spray the gutters completely.  Move to the downspout and spray down it.  If the water drains quickly, your downspout is working properly. 

If the water drains slowly, you may have a more serious problem.  The drainage system could be stopped up underground.  If this is the case, you may be able to take the downspout loose before it goes underground and use a high pressure water hose or a small pressure washer to flush it out.  If you are unable to clean it out, you will need to call a plumber.  They may be able to clean it out using a plumber's snake.  

Remember I said gutters should be cleaned twice a year.  The second time you need to clean your gutters is after the fall season.  This is especially true if you have many trees near your home.  Always check your gutters after the leaves have fallen.  You could be surprised at how many leaves can end up in a gutter.

Of course, anytime you see water starting to run over the top of your gutter, you should check for blockage as soon as possible.  A properly working gutter system can normally hold most amounts of rainfall.  You may have occasional downpours that the gutters cannot accommodate, but that is seldom. 

Some people will use gutter guards to help keep their gutters free of dirt and debris.  These guards can be expensive.  They may be worth their expense, however, if you live in a very woody area, or are unable to clean your gutters very often.  Just keep in mind that they too can become clogged, preventing the rain water from even entering the gutter.  They will need to be check occasionally to ensure that they are not clogged up. 

Gutters will keep doing their job as long as you give them a little attention every once in a while.  That's not really a lot to ask when you consider how much good they do.         

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