It may feel like it’s too early to talk about fall. After all, you probably still remember when snow was on the ground, your breath fogged with every exhalation, and you had to scrape snow and ice off of your car every single morning.
Well, time has a way of playing tricks on us. Fall is just around the corner, and with it, comes some annual fall gutter maintenance. We thought we’d put together a helpful checklist to illustrate this process.
Step 1: Clean Your Gutters
Go ahead and squeeze into the very back of your storage shed for that 20-foot ladder. Realize that you have to untangle the mess of tools and unused bags of mulch that you’ve carefully stored like a game of Tetris. Finally, bring out your ladder and try not to pinch your fingers trying to slide it out.
Lay it against your roof and pray that you don’t dent your gutters; they’re already hanging by a thread. Climb each wrung and prepare yourself for the swampy, half-decomposed mass of plant matter that awaits you.
With gloved hands, scoop out a year’s worth of dead leaves, festering water, and decomposing pine straw one handful at a time. Don’t worry, you’ll only have to repeat this process 100 more times as you circle the parameter of your home.
Step 2: Take a Shower
Once you’ve successfully cleaned your gutters just so they can become choked with leaves again in a few weeks, it’s time to take a long, hot shower because you probably smell like you’d been bathing in a rather stagnant and productive retention pond.
While the hot water runs down your face, take a moment to reflect on your life; the decision to buy a home. How you’d never even thought about gutters before then, and how that newly-constructed condominium complex downtown is looking awfully attractive these days.
Step 3: Consider a Gutter Inspection
Ask yourself why your gutters get choked with lead debris year after year. More than likely you have
a drainage problem. Should you go with 6-inch gutters instead of 5-inch? Maybe you should chop that oak tree down that you and your wife thought would be great for shade.
Right about now is when you should call us to take a look at your gutter system. We can offer suggestions to help you with your blockage problem. More than likely, your residential home doesn’t need a full gutter rehab (unless your gutters are hanging by a thread) and 5-inch gutters are a residential standard because they work. No, we’d probably recommend a gutter guard.
Step 4: Have Us Install Gutter Guards
Aren’t gutter guards just a roll of that cheap screen you can buy at your local hardware store? Sure; if you plan on doing it yourself. However, our gutter guard systems are much more sophisticated and will keep your gutters free of debris, while keeping rainwater in your gutters where it belongs. Cheap gutter screens can often repel water as well as they repel leaves, leaving the rain to splash down the side of your house and into your foundation.
Step 5: Never Clean Your Gutters Again
We’ll inspect your gutters and make any necessary repairs, then we’ll install gutter guards to keep leaves and pine straw out of your gutters for good. Go ahead, relegate that 20-foot ladder once more to the back of your storage shed. You shouldn’t need it for a while.