If you don’t clean your gutters twice a year, you’re risking clogs and major home damage
One place you can’t miss on your spring cleaning checklist: the gutters. Cleaning out your gutters in the spring (and fall!) isn’t just about keeping up appearances—clogged gutters can lead to major damage to your home.
Here are all the reasons why this twice-a-year task is important.
Your gutter has one essential function: to direct water that falls on your roof away from your foundation. If a gutter becomes clogged, the water can get stuck or spill out closer to your home’s foundation.
While it might seem like no big deal, water coming into contact with your foundation can create dangerous cracks over time. Those cracks can lead to a failing foundation, which means a crumbling home.
Your gutters are held to your home by wooden boards known as fascia boards. If your gutters become clogged, the water can overspill and rot the fascia. If neglected, your entire gutter system could collapse.
It isn’t just the fascia you have to worry about, either. If your home has wooden siding, that’s one more reason to be mindful of gutter clogs, as excess water spillover can rot the siding, too.
If you have a home with a yard, chances are you’ve done some level of landscaping. And after that elbow grease, the last thing you want is a clogged gutter to redirect water into your perfectly maintained flower beds. This clogging could cause overwatering and damage or even destroy your greens completely.
When it gets cold, ice dams (aka blockages of frozen water) can form in any gutter, especially if it hasn’t been recently cleared of clogs. Any debris makes it much easier for ice to form from water at the molecular level.
Ice might not seem like a problem initially, but it will eventually start to melt. And when it does, that water has to go somewhere—and chances are that means seeping into your roof and walls, putting you at risk of mold, rot, and structural damage.
"Ice damming, the process of water thawing and refreezing on the roof, can be a major culprit behind home leaks," says Michael DiMartino, senior vice president of installations at Power Home Remodeling. "By installing an ice and water shield, you add an extra layer of protection."
Clogged gutters invite standing water, a favorite playground for mosquitoes. The swampy environment of stagnant gutter water is their reproductive paradise. They aren’t the only bugs who love a good clogged gutter.
Rotting wood, which clogged gutters can cause, is irresistible to insects, including termites and carpenter ants, who live in and make a meal of wet, wooden environments. If left untreated, a termite infestation can cause serious structural damage to your home, depending on how much wood they eat away.
Homeowners typically worry about the external damage of clogged gutters, but your gutters can also cause interior damage to your walls and ceilings. When clogged gutters can’t collect water from your roof, your overflowing gutters will cause water to pool on the roof. This leads to roof leaks where the water seeps into your home through the attic and leaves unsightly stains on your ceilings and walls. In addition to worrying about the unaesthetic look of the leaks, wall and ceiling leaks could cause further damage like peeling wallpaper and mold.
If your gutters are clogged and water is falling too close to your foundation, it isn’t just the foundation that’s in trouble. All of the water that’s slowly cracking that stonework can also be leaking into your basement. Adding gutter covers to your gutter system can extend the time needed between cleanings but won’t save you from a basement flood.
We’ve already discussed how water being exposed to your home’s foundation over time can damage it by causing cracks. If you have a driveway, you run the risk of it being damaged or destroyed the same way if you don’t regularly clean your gutters to avoid clogs. Over time, the water being exposed to your driveway from the ground up can cause cracks and damage.
Cleaning gutters is a task most homeowners can do themselves if they own a ladder and can have a friend or family member spot them. Simply donning a pair of work gloves, climbing up, and removing debris is all you have to do.
But if you prefer to have a professional in your area clean your gutters, expect to spend about $160. The average homeowner spends between $120 and $280 to have their gutters cleaned.
Gutter guards can slow down the process of getting clogged gutters, but they won’t technically reduce your chances of it happening. They’re not a permanent solution. Instead, they’re a temporary fix where after some time, leaves and debris will continue to build on top of them and make your gutters less effective. Periodically cleaning your gutters is the best way to reduce the chances of them clogging.
With routine maintenance, gutters don’t usually need to be replaced for 20 years, but there are warning signs that they might need early replacement. Signs that your gutters need to be replaced include sagging, visible cracks or holes, peeling paint, rust, standing water in your gutter, and water leaking into your basement. Pushing off replacing your gutters can lead to extensive damage to both the interior and exterior of your home. Regular maintenance can help your gutters last all 20 years — and sometimes, even longer.
