A little bit of gutter maintenance can go a long way. Cleaning your gutters a few times a year and making small repairs ensures you won’t be paying lots of money down the road to fix a flooded patio, a leaky roof, or worse. Particularly in the springtime, when tree debris can halt proper flow and animal nests can cause damage, it’s important to take steps to make sure you’re getting the goop out of your gutters on a regular basis.
Here are a few Zurn Man Tips to maintain your gutters during this spring season.
Safety First
When cleaning and maintaining your gutters, safety is the top priority. Before using your ladder, inspect it for cracks or broken welds. Make sure your ladder is secure before stepping on it. When it comes to cleaning the gutters themselves, use gloves to avoid scratches and cuts. Protect your eyes with glasses or goggles—you never know what could come out of the gutter. And, if you notice any wildlife nesting in your gutters, do not attempt to trap or remove it yourself. Instead, contact a wildlife removal service
Clean Out the Gunk
Clean the gunk from your gutters by investing in a gutter scoop, which makes it easy to scoop debris. Plastic scoops are preferable, as metal scoops can scrape against metal in older gutters and cause damage and rust. Most of today’s new gutters are made from aluminum, which don’t rust.
Look for and Address Any Issues or Leaks
In older homes, gutter spikes often become loose, and it can be years before the owners take notice. If you notice loose spikes, invest in new spikes and monitor them each time you assess your gutters. Also, if you see any rivets are missing, replace them using a rivet gun.
If you notice a clog in the downspout, you can often remove it by simply tapping on it. However, if that doesn’t work, you may need to remove it and clean the downspout separately.
It’s also important to identify the sources of any leaks. If you use your hose to run water through the gutters and notice leaks, repair them by removing any old caulking and replacing it with bead silicon sealing.
Pressure Wash Your Gutters
Once you’ve cleaned debris from your gutter and downspouts and made all necessary repairs, test them. We recommend using a pressure washer, as you can control the amount of water pressure and can ensure a more thorough cleaning. Properly secured gutters should easily be able to withstand the power of a pressure washer, as long as you don’t hit them with too high pressure.
Investing time and care into cleaning out your gutters helps keep storm water flowing properly, which in turn keeps your plumbing in order. However, if storm water is causing flooding in our around your home, contact Zurn using our quick service contact form to learn how we can help.
