The weather is finally starting to warm up and all that snow is quickly disappearing. We’re right on the cusp of spring, so now is a great time to start your spring cleaning tasks around your home to get your home ready for the warmer months ahead. And a great place to start would be with your eavestroughs.
The eavestrough system of your home is a crucial one with a very important job. While often overlooked and underestimated, the eavestrough system is responsible for preventing water damage to your home, which can be a damaging and expensive issue to have to deal with if the necessary precautions aren’t taken to protect this system and your home.
Why Clean Your Eavestroughs?
Eavestroughs are meant to collect water from rain and melted snow and direct it away from your home far enough so that no damage is caused from any pooling. Since all components of this system need to be free and clear of any debris in order for this flow of water to happen, any clogging can cause a buildup of water and an overflow to occur. Water that fills up in eavestroughs because of this clogging and eventually makes its way into the roof or foundation of your home.
Repairs to roofs and foundations are extremely expensive, not to mention the potential hazard of mold buildup as a result of water sitting in various components of your home. Even the weight of clogged eavestroughs can be too much for your roof and fascia to handle. In this case, it’s possible for the eavestroughs to collapse and cause other forms of damage to your roof and your home’s exterior.
But routinely clearing your eavestroughs can help prevent any of this from happening, which is why developing a regular cleaning regimen is important.
How Often Should Your Eavestroughs Be Cleaned?
The good news is that your eavestroughs do not have to be cleaned as often as most other household chores. It would be impractical and time-consuming to have to climb a ladder every week or every day to make sure there aren’t any piles of leaves or other debris standing in the way of adequate water flow.
When it comes to cleaning your eavestroughs, twice a year should suffice, and the spring season is one of the best times of the year to do it. Once you’ve cleared out your eavestroughs, you can wait until the fall to do it again.
Having said that, there may be times when it may be best to clean your eavestroughs a little more frequently, especially if you have very large trees that abut your home and are notorious for leaving a ton of leaves all over your roof and eavestroughs. Considering our climate up here in Canada, the winters always come with below-freezing temperatures which can cause any standing water to freeze and turn to ice very quickly.
All that buildup and chunks of ice sitting in the eavestroughs can place too much weight on the system and eventually cause some damage. In this case, you may want to clean your gutters sometime in the early winter to make sure they are completely clear before the freezing temperatures start to set in.
Like most homeowners, however, the thought of having to climb a ladder to clean your eavestroughs probably sounds daunting and even dangerous. And you’d be right. That’s why a job like this is best left to the experts in eavestrough care, maintenance, repair, and installation. That’s why Tip Top Trough is available to help! Call us when you’re ready to have your eavestroughs cleaned!
