Are you protecting your gutters from rotten leaves, pests, and mold? If you don’t have gutter guards installed, you’re likely not doing everything you can to protect your home and roof from these common threats.
Fortunately, gutter guards are an affordable and long-lasting solution to gunked-up gutters. They can also help protect your home during the frigid winter season.
This article will discuss how and why gutter guards are a sound investment for your property.
What Are Gutter Guards?
A gutter guard is a device that secures onto your gutter system and prevents leaves, sticks, and pests from entering. It can be a long, flat sheet of metal with small drainage holes or a series of tightly-fitted netting.
These helpful home maintenance tools are often affordable, but installing them can be challenging. After all, maneuvering on a tall ladder outside your home can be dangerous.
Fortunately, gutter guard installation services can make things far simpler and safer. Remember, this simple home upgrade could be essential in protecting your roof, especially during the wintertime.
How Do Gutter Guards Protect Homes?
Gutters are an essential part of almost every home. They help guide rainwater away from roofs and foundations. Without them, your foundation might start to erode due to excess water exposure.
But when your gutters are clogged with muck and rotting debris, there’s little room for rainwater. As such, heavy rainfall can lead to partially-flooded rooftops. It can also lead to foundation decay.
That’s why it’s essential to keep your gutters clean. Installing gutter guards can make gutter maintenance faster and far more straightforward.
Overall, gutter guards protect homes by:
- Reducing flooding near a home’s foundation
- Preventing flooding on a home’s roof
- Keeping leaves and twigs from clogging the gutters
- Repelling most types of common pests, including rats
As you can see, gutter guards provide year-round benefits to homeowners. They can keep your property’s foundation stable and strong, as well as your home’s roof.
Even better, gutter guards can reduce seasonal home maintenance duties. After all, they prevent leaves and sticks from collecting in your gutters, making it far easier to keep your system clean.
These tools are also instrumental during the snowy winter season. That’s because these devices can help prevent many of the common problems associated with frozen, debris-filled gutters.
Winter Gutters and Roof Damage
Part of being a practical homeowner is committing to consistent maintenance. But if you’re not clearing out your gutters each spring or protecting them with gutter guards, you may soon see some roof damage.
Colder climates are particularly prone to gutter-related damages during the cooler months. That’s because an unprotected and unclean set of gutters can become:
- A haven for pests
- Highways for mold
- Causes of erosion
Let’s explore each of these potential problems to discover how gutter guards can help.
A Haven for Pests
Most gutters have several sections that lead down to the ground beside a home. While these are designed to help rainwater flush away from a property, they can also become ladders for curious pests.
Clean gutters that are protected by gutter guards don’t tend to offer many advantages to pests. They might explore your gutter system temporarily, but they’re not likely to stay.
Filthy gutters full of half-mulched leaves and twigs are far more hospitable to insects, rodents, reptiles, and birds. And when these common pests move into your gutters, they can soon expand to your roof.
Some types of pests, like termites, can cause significant damage to a roof. Though the need for some roof repair services is unavoidable, homeowners can prevent termites from taking hold. Installing gutter guards is a great first step.
Highways for Mold
Allowing your gutters to remain filthy throughout the winter season could spell disaster when the spring arrives. That’s because rotting leaves, dead bugs, and thriving pest infestations can contribute to mold growth.
Though the filth in your home’s gutters might be frozen and inactive during the cooler winter months, the wet springtime season can usher in a sudden growth of mold colonies.
Left untreated, blossoming mold spores can travel into your roof, your attic, your insulation, and your home. This can lead to serious respiratory problems for you and your household.
Gutter guards prevent massive amounts of wet leaves from piling up near your roof. When you have these devices installed around your home, you won’t need to worry about dangerous mold growth in your gutter system.
Causes of Erosion
Even the most durable materials can buckle after long-term exposure to moisture and varying temperatures. For example, a rock can crack cleanly in two if placed in a humid environment and rapidly heated and cooled.
That’s because water can find a way into even the smallest holes and cracks. Materials that might seem impermeable at first, like thick stone or concrete, can quickly absorb water.
When this water is warm, it expands, pushing against the thing containing it. But when it’s cold, it contracts, pulling its container inward. This movement can destroy wood, stone, and many types of metals.
When your gutters are filled with frozen, moisture-filled leaves and debris, they’re a weapon waiting to go off. As soon as temperatures increase and the ice melts, you’re looking at partial property flooding or wet roofing.
Because this debris will continue to sit and release moldy water onto your home, you could be inadvertently contributing to your foundation’s erosion. Gutter guards can put a quick stop to this significant risk.
Prevent Gutter Damage Today
Dirty gutters can become a haven for pests and mold. They can also trap several pounds of rotting, moisture-filled leaves. When the cold weather arrives, this debris can freeze.
Filthy, overflowing gutters can lead to costly roof repairs and replacements. Fortunately, gutter guards can keep your home’s gutters debris-free and in excellent condition. So this winter, protect your home from clogged gutters.
If you’re ready to reduce your annual gutter cleaning duties and protect your home, contact us today for a free estimate!
