If you want to protect your home from water damage, you can not do without keeping your gutters maintained. It may seem obvious, but you will be amazed to know that the majority of us don’t take gutter maintenance seriously. The consequences are, almost always, very expensive.
This article aims to make you aware of the costs you would have to pay if you neglect to maintain your gutters. We will explore how this failure will compromise your home’s structural integrity, lead to costly repairs, and harm your immediate environment. By the end of it, we hope you will give gutter maintenance the attention it deserves to keep your home safe and dry.
What Exactly is Gutter Maintenance?
Before we start, it is important to revise what exactly is gutter maintenance. It covers everything that is done to make sure your gutter stays working optimally. From regular cleaning to inspections and repairs, everything is included in gutter maintenance. If you fail to perform these checks, water flow is disturbed. Next, you will see your gutters clogged, leaking, sagging, rusting, etc. If these issues are ignored further, the repairs will get more and more expensive. Not just for novices, it is also better for seasoned homeowners to understand how to maintain gutters properly and avoid gutter maintenance mistakes that can cost you dearly.
Structural Costs of Maintenance Failure
When you neglect gutter maintenance as unimportant, your structure pays dearly. As gutters fail to handle water properly, the first thing this seeping water does is compromise your home’s structural integrity. Here’s a breakdown.
Foundation Cracks
Water pools around your home’s foundation and erodes it. This happens when;
- Gutters are clogged and water overflows.
- Your faulty downspout is unable to channel water away safely.
The hydrostatic pressure thus produced, cracks in your foundations. In simpler words, standing water weakens your foundations and cracks it. The rest is fairly obvious.
Roof and Siding Damage
When water overflows, your roof and siding are also damaged. This overflowing water seeps under your shingles. Once it’s there, there is no stopping it from rotting your roof decks and fascia boards. Your roof and siding are never strong enough to handle this constant moisture. Your paint bubbles and it disfigures your siding. In no time, the only solution left to you is to replace them.
Basement Flooding
When water is seeping consistently through your foundations, it floods your basement. As the foundational cracks become more pronounced, water seepage increases. In this case, your stored items can be ruined. Sometimes you have to install a sump pump to get this water out, which can cost considerably.
Financial Loss Due to Maintenance Failure
You have two options, either spend some money to maintain your gutters or pay much more to repair them. That’s right. Most repairs are needed when you fail to keep your gutters maintained. With timely maintenance, your gutters can last anywhere between 20-30 years.
Consider this, sealing your leaking gutters will cost between $200-$500. However, if you neglect them for long, it won’t be possible to repair this section. Now, the section will have to be replaced and it may cost you up to $1000. Let the problem linger further and it will cost you more. A full gutter replacement can go as high as $4000.
This is just the gutter, if your home is damaged, the costs skyrocket instantly. Take the case of a house’s foundation. If damaged, the repair costs can easily run into tens of thousands. The financial loss you will suffer due to decreased property value is another story.
The point we are making is that you can avoid all of this by simply keeping your gutters maintained. Your goal should not be limited to controlling the leaks, once formed. Be proactive. You must aim to keep your gutter so well-maintained that even leaks are not given space to damage your gutters.
Environmental Costs of Neglecting Gutter Maintenance
Your gutters are not just essential to protect your home, but also to protect your surrounding environment. The need of the hour is to go green, so you have to make your environment more sustainable. Your first step should be to maintain your gutters. You must be wondering how gutters protect the environment. Here’s how your failure costs the environment dearly.
- Ill-maintained gutters are not able to ensure efficient water drainage. Once blocked, the water will be allowed to get contaminated with chemicals, pollutants, and debris. This water then corrupts your local water sources, harms aquatic life, and impacts your whole ecosystem.
- Overflowing water from your clogged gutters erodes your soil health. Topsoil is essential for plant growth, and this water washes it away. Your landscape is thus compromised and kills plants and trees.
- Water resources are already stressed, around the world. If your gutter system is not properly maintained with a rainwater harvesting mechanism, you are wasting precious water.
- You will find increased mold and mildew growth if your gutters are not functioning properly and your surroundings stay damp.
- Your home also invites pest infestations if water remains stagnant for a long due to clogged debris in your gutters. These breeding grounds can disturb your mini-ecosystem.
In all, you can conserve water, reduce pollution, prevent soil erosion, and improve your immediate environment by keeping your gutter properly maintained.
What Should You Do?
By now, you must be fully aware of how much you lose by neglecting gutter maintenance. Here are what you can do to avoid these costs.
- Clean your gutters at least twice a year.
- Make sure your gutters are regularly inspected for any issues.
- Install gutter protection solutions. Start with gutter guards to minimize debris from entering your system.
- Optimize your downspouts. Extend them if necessary.
- Most importantly, prefer professional gutter services over DIY gutter maintenance. You will save much more in repair costs than you spend on this.
Maintaining your gutters regularly may sound too much but the neglect is far worse. If you want to preserve your home’s structural integrity, keep your environment clean, or save yourself from costly repairs, be proactive. This smart investment of time and money is necessary for your home’s overall well-being.
