Regular maintenance is the key to keeping your home gutter system intact. Those who help you prepare your home for sale has this one suggestion for you: make sure that your gutters have no bent areas. If your gutters are clean and well maintained, then this will add to your home’s sale-ability.

Most home improvement experts suggest that you clean your gutters twice yearly. If your gutters are clogged with debris such as leaves and twigs the rain will not run off or drain properly. It’s important to make sure that the rain isn’t spilling over the top of your gutter and onto your foundation. Over time, the home’s foundation will be damaged because of this.

A good suggestion would be to clean your gutters in the Spring as well as in the Fall after all the leaves have fallen from the surrounding trees. Inspecting your gutters for any holes or rust through is what you may want to do while you’re cleaning them. Make sure there are no loose nails. Check to make sure the gutters are securely fastened to the house.

After you have removed all the debris from the gutter you’ll want to rinse any remaining debris down the gutter and into the downspout with your garden hose. Doing this will also help you make sure that your downspout isn’t clogged with debris. If the water is not running into the downspout, what you can do is remove the downspout then replace after you have cleaned it.

To make sure that the water running out of the downspout is being properly diverted, a plastic or concrete diverter should be used. You would want to avoid the water emptying out on the ground and causing erosion.

Although they will still need twice yearly inspection, gutter guards have become very popular and do away with the problem of having to clean your gutters. A DIY type can also save you thousands of dollars over having the gutter guards installed by professionals because installing these gutter guards isn’t a big deal.

There are people who think that gutter guards are not worth the money and are very expensive. Gutter guards do not stop much smaller natural debris such seeds, small pieces of bark and twigs, buds, or evergreen needles from entering the gutter but they do prevent large leaves. Over time, all these types of natural matter breaks down to form debris in your gutter. Over the gutter guard screening, debris can also build up and they will have to be manually cleaned off. For others, they found out that gutter guards have actually caused them more problems.

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