One of the simpler ways to help a roof reach it’s maximum life span is to keep it properly maintained. Your roof is designed to route water away from areas that will damage your roof or home. When debris blocks these routes, water pools and causes damage by weakening the roof, walls, even foundations.
As they are mostly hidden from view, leaves and other rotting debris can get stuck in gutters, or other areas of the roof leading to build-up that can cause major problems. Gutters are there to help with drainage, once they get clogged with debris, they are no longer able to function properly, resulting in damage from water pools and improper drainage, not to mention damage to the gutters themselves.
What can you do to avoid this other than constantly cleaning them out and staying on top of the problem? Here are a couple of suggestions.
Rot and Leaf Guards
Atlanta Roofing offers lifetime gutter covers that attach directly to the gutter system. They can be placed on almost any size and type of gutter system and can barely be seen from the ground. Water is able to pass through the guard while leaves and debris are kept out.
Lose the trees and overhanging limbs
Trees are beautiful in every yard. They can really tie the landscaping together, however, when these beautiful specimens of nature hang over your home, they can cause much more harm than good. Trees that are situated close to a home can be dangerous, especially in high winds where the tree can fall into the home to even lower wind storms that blow damaging leaves and debris onto the house and clog up gutters.
To alleviate these dangers, trees should be removed or trimmed back to a point where they no longer pose a danger. Unless you understand what you are doing, removing trees and branches could pose a greater risk than leaving them, if you need to remove trees or large limbs, contact a professional to be sure it is done properly.
Keep your Gutters clean
It is a tough economy out there, perhaps you can’t afford to have a new Leaf Guard system installed to prevent potential problems and you don’t have any trees nearby to pose a danger. While it is time consuming, it is the most simple and cost-effective solution, clean the gutters out thoroughly and frequently yourself. It’s quite simple and costs your nothing, and the benefits of keeping the gutters clean far outweigh any negatives associated with cleaning them.
All long as you keep the gutters clean and they function properly you can keep the water draining as intended and prevent damage that could be easily avoided.