Preparing Your Gutters For Winter
Let’s get in depth on how you should be preparing your gutters for winter. Living in a cold-weather climate in the USA can add additional challenges to home maintenance. I personally enjoy the winter months in Monmouth County, NJ. More family time, curled up on the couch watching a movie drinking some hot chocolate, it’s beautiful.
That’s the story on the inside of my home, but what about the outside? The gutters on your home do not enjoy the winter months. More so, your gutters take a bearing throughout the winter months and failing to properly prepare them can cause serious damage. Preparing your gutters for winter starts before it is even cold. Clogged gutters will cause that snow and freezing water to remain in the gutters adding extreme weight.
Winter Gutter Maintenance
Winter gutter maintenance is a crucial part of homeownership and should be planned ahead of time. Once winter arrives along with the freezing temperatures, gutter cleaning, repairs and maintenance will become much more dangerous. Have you ever tried walking on a snowy roof? What about climbing a ladder on ice? Well, I have and I strongly suggest you don’t. Ever.
So that only leaves two options. The first option is to completely ignore your gutters and hope they clean themselves. The second option is to get ahead of the game, and prepare them for winter, before winter. Let’s dive into these options:
Option 1: Ignore Your Gutters
This option is pretty ridiculous and if you are seriously considering this as an option you should definitely keep reading. Your gutters will never clean themselves. They will never unclog themselves and they most certainly will never repair themselves. This can cause major issues throughout the cold winter months in New Jersey, keep reading to learn why.
Option 2: Prepare Your Gutters
So obviously this is the correct approach. Like previously mentioned, cleaning and repairing your gutters before winter is the key. That means inspecting them to learn what needs to be repaired. Most importantly it means planning and executing those repairs prior to the temperatures dropping.
interested in cleaning your gutters yourself? Check out “Gutter Cleaning 101” to learn more.
Dangers of Not Preparing Your Gutters for Winter
The dangers are truly endless. To keep it simple, a clogged gutter will not allow water to quickly and free drain out of the gutter. This will cause the water to pool and freeze during the winter, adding extreme weight to your gutters. This extra weight can damage the angle of your gutters exacerbating the issue for the first. It can even cause your gutters to collapse!
Another danger occurs when your gutter has cracks or gaps along the seams. The additional weight can cause these gaps and cracks to increase and eventually cause collapsing. If these gaps allow water to drain behind your gutters you are in for a rude awakening and it needs to be repaired immediately. This means water is entering your attic or even exterior walls. This will cause mold, mildew and even deterior the wood weakening your home’s foundation.
Inspecting Your Gutters Before Winter
Step one is simply checking if your gutters are clogged. This can be as easy as walking around your house during a solid rain. If you don’t want to risk getting wet, grab your hose and spray a steady stream onto the roof.You are checking the gutters for any obvious damage such as leaking, overflowing, underflowing or cracking. Also be sure to check the downspouts for the same issues along with ensuring that water is properly flowing out of the end of them.
To complete a proper inspection you need to safely climb on the roof or use a ladder to be able to see inside the gutters. Being able to see inside your gutters is crucial to fully preparing them for the harsh New Jersey winter months. This will allow you to inspect and clean your gutters. When looking inside your gutters, you are checking for any leaves, debris, kids toys or anything else inside your gutters. They should obviously be removed and the gutters completely empty. Furthermore you are checking for any rotting, cracks, gaps and pooling. Pooling is when the gutters are no longer set at the correct angle and water pools instead of flowing to the downspouts.
Preparing Your Gutters For Winter
Now you know the steps to take with your gutters prior to winter. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Luckily for you I happen to know a gutter cleaning service provider in Monmouth County, NJ. They have very polite certified technicians and over 100 5 star reviews. You guessed it, All Clean Exteriors. We provide free instant estimates and a 100% money back guarantee. We even provide referral rewards where you will earn $75 cash for every single referral you provide us, with no limit. Reach out now 732-570-4923.
Gutters aren’t the only part of your home that should be cleaned prior to winter. Learn the Importance of Roof Cleaning.
