Insight To Help You Keep Your Home's Roof Drainage And Gutter System Well-Maintained

Posted on: 23 March 2018

Roof runoff from your home's roof and gutters to the soil below needs to be managed and maintained to keep your home's interior protected from water intrusion after a rain storm. For this reason, it is recommended to install appropriate gutters, check and repair them, when necessary to keep them draining the water appropriately and avoid an interior moisture leak. Here are some steps to help you keep your gutter system in tip-top shape.

Check and Repair Gutters

Your rain gutters may be a system on your home that once they have been installed you don't think about them again, but this can cause problems. During winter, for example, dripping rain gutters can cause water to freeze upon pavement and make an ice hazard.

Inspect your rain gutters to see if there are any sections which sag, are disconnected from the roof's edge, or leak, especially at seam connections. You can do this inspection safely from the ground, but if you have access to your roof, check the rain gutters up close to look for any areas of damage. You can also check your rain gutter's function by turning on a garden hose to your roof and watching how the water flows down the gutters.

If you find any broken, cracked, dis-attached, or otherwise damaged rain gutters, you should have them repaired and replaced as soon as possible. Talk to a local rain gutter replacement professional about having them repaired or replaced with new seamless gutters. There are gutter options available with a gutter guard to prevent debris from collecting inside them. This option can be helpful when you have trees in your yard that clog your gutters with their debris.

Divert Runoff Appropriately

As the water from your roof gutters flows downward, the water runoff will need a guide to deliver it to the ground to prevent saturation of the soil around your home foundation. If water saturates the soil and pools around your foundation, basement leaks can occur inside your home and cause water damage.

A traditional method to divert your water downward and away from your home's foundation is with a downspout and a diverter several feet long at the ground level. You can also use a splash block or decorative river rock creating a diverter ditch, directing water away from the soil around your home.

A rain chain attached between your gutter and the ground makes a decorative method for water to flow from your rain gutters and to a collection area below. The collection area can be made of a bed of rocks, a rain barrel, or a rain collection basin. Contact a gutter service, like ultimate guttering, for more help.

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