Maintaining and installing gutters and downspouts can seem like an expensive and difficult process if you do not understand the important functions that they perform for your house and landscape. Here are seven reasons to have gutters on your house and in good condition.
1- Protecting the Roof
Without gutters, rainfall can roll under the edge of your shingles or metal roofing and follow it back toward the soffit. Over time, this constant flow of water will lead to rot under the leading edge of your roof, even if your home has adequate drip edge installed. Gutters are essential for keeping this water moving away.
2- Protecting Walls
When rainfall comes off the roof in a steady stream with no gutters to divert it, it will run down the wall, finding every seam in your siding or brick and forcing its way through those gaps into the structural wood behind it. Over time, this leads to rot that can even extend into the living space.
3- Shielding Landscaping
Landscape plants need water, but the amount that will come off your roof during a rainstorm is far more than any plant can tolerate. The more runoff that hits your plants, the more stress they will suffer from the excess water. All that moisture will also support many plant diseases and will even foster the growth of mushrooms on your mulch or grass.
4- Preventing Pests
Like any living thing, insects need water. Termites in particular thrive in a damp environment. In fact, they cannot live very long without moisture. When your roof is dumping rainfall out on the ground against your house, countless species of insects will take advantage of this quality habitat and take up residence, with everything from mosquitoes to slugs moving in.
5- Eliminating Basement Flooding
When it comes to water, your basement is at a disadvantage from day one because it’s below ground. The less water you have outside your home, the less water there will be trying to force its way into your basement. Saturated soils keep water in place until it finds even the smallest gap to enter, so drainage is critical.
6- Keeping Walls Clean
No matter how clean your roof may be, it always has some type of dirt in it. It could be dust blown out of a construction site or simply drifting in from a nearby highway. Whatever the case, it will find its way onto your siding or brick if you do not have gutters to capture the runoff.
7- Fighting Mildew and Algae
Just like animal and insect pests, mildew and algae need water to grow. Without gutters, the rain will provide extra moisture for these unsightly conditions to develop on your exterior walls, creating extra work and expense for cleaning them off a couple times a year.
Water is a persistent and powerful force. It can do a great deal of damage if it’s not properly managed. Make sure that your home’s gutters and downspouts are carrying precipitation away from your valuable home and landscape.
