Roofing Professionals

Serving Springfield, Tennessee & Surrounding Areas

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Cleaning Your Gutters

March 8, 2018

A few times a year, Nashville residents haul the ladders, buckets, trowels, and even rakes out of their garages and ascend up the side of their houses and go about the arduous task of cleaning their gutters. It’s a task that few enjoy doing. It’s time-consuming, it’s dirty, and even dangerous if done haphazardly. But the reality is that it is a vital part of home ownership. As Nashville’s Top Rated Local® roofing company, we’ve spent a lot of time looking at people’s gutters, and some are cleaner than others. Here’s our handy guide to cleaning your gutters, and keeping them clean!

Don’t Ignore Your Gutters

Given that no one likes cleaning their gutters, it’s a project that many homeowners readily ignore. But avoid the temptation and take action! Cleaning your gutters should be a project you carry out at least twice a year. If you let grime, debris, and gumbo clutter your gutters, they can begin to overflow. Rather than funneling harmless down the drain, water can spill over onto the side of your house, damaging the paint, and working its way into cracks, weakening the structure of your home. In some cases, mold can build up around a clogged gutter, and when it becomes heavy with detritus, it can even pull away from the roof line, causing damage to your home.

Gutting Your Gutters

There are numerous ways you can go about cleaning your gutters. There are products like tongs and extension poles that can be used to break stubborn gutter gunk loose and make it easier to remove. If the debris in your gutters is relatively loose, you might consider bringing a shop vacuum with you, and just sucking up all the leaves and sticks there. One of our more industrious clients even tackled her gutters using a classroom yardstick.

But at some point, you’ll have to get on a ladder to get to the gutters that are higher up on your house. If you decided to clear your gutters on your own, it is vital that you settle the ladder on level ground, and have a partner hold the base of the ladder to ensure that it doesn’t tilt.

After you’ve dug out all the gutter gradoo, spare your lawn, and place a tarp or drop cloth under your work area. Drop the gunk on that, and when you’re done, you can easily fold it up, and funnel the debris into your trash can.

Maintaining Your Gutters

But cleaning your gutters twice a year doesn’t mean your gutter maintenance duties are over. When it rains, take a minute to throw on a raincoat, and inspect your gutters for leaks, and damage. If you see leaks at some points or areas where water is collecting, make note of them, and reexamine them the next chance you get on a sunny day. Regular gutter maintenance can save you a lot of money and heartache in the long-term.

Gutter Guards From Spark’s Roofing

Did just reading this make you tired? Not interested in the upkeep, don’t have the time, or just afraid of heights? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. Not only do we provide quality tile, shingle, and metal roofing, we also are qualified to install gutter guards on your home. We have several options available to match the type of gutters that are on your home.

Our gutter guards put a cover over part of your gutter to keep leaves, sticks, and debris out, while still letting rain water in. This means that your home avoids the potential for water build up along the roofline, and no chances for mold to grow either. Stop spending your weekends spent teetering around on a ladder, fishing out gutter gunk with a trowel. Call Sparks Roofing and have your gutter guards installed today!

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