Getting your gutters cleaned regularly can help extend the life of your gutters.

Over the course of the years, sediment from your roof can accumulate in your gutters. If you live in a place with a lot of trees those leaves can end up clogging your gutters to eventually cause permanent damage.

How to keep gutters clean

Depending on the shape of your house it could be an easy task to clean your gutters or substantially harder. With a one-story ranch-style house it could be as easy as two people and a ladder. Remember, safety first! Once you start going past a one-story home you would likely want to wear a harness, especially on steeply peaked houses.

With that, all you have to do is keep the channel of the gutter free of loose objects. Any birds that may have made a home, unfortunately, have to go. The easier the water can get through the gutter to the ground away from the house, the better.

Common issues with gutters

The most common issue with gutters is that they are clogged. Small sticks and granules from your asphalt roof can, over time, accumulate so much that one of the horizontal channels gets clogged. That can create a waterfall-like effect on one portion of your roof, potentially leaking toward your house.

When a gutter system does not drain properly for a long enough time this can expose the foundation of the home to water damage that can be extremely costly to fix.

Do I need to replace my gutters?

If your gutters have holes in them or are significantly damaged enough that water cannot drain properly, it is time to replace them. A new set of gutters can save you headaches near term and a lot of money in the long term when accounting for damage that water inevitably causes.