jbinnall24 September 3, 2014
The gutters on your home are an important tool to help keep unwanted water away from your foundation walls and footings. Excess water around the footings and foundation can cause unwanted settlement, foundation cracks, moisture accumulation and increase the potential of water infiltration into the basement. A wet basement is no fun and is conducive to mold growth if not kept in check. If your gutters look like this they are not doing there job and should be cleaned ASAP! Functional gutters and positive slope of perimeter grading are two important parts of overall foundation health.
If you have mature trees on or near your property gutter guards are a great way to keep debris from clogging your down spouts. Clogged down spouts cause your gutters to overflow which defeats the purpose of having gutters in the first place and leads to the conditions described above. Gutter guards come in many shapes and styles. They also vary widely in price. The ones pictured here cost ~$2.00/ft installed. Some of the more expensive ones can cost as much as $16.00/ft. Personally I prefer what you see here. The holes are small enough and the price is right.
Gutter guards are an option you can add to your home that will save you a great deal of labor cleaning your gutters several times per year and keep your gutters working when they are needed. However, having gutter guards is not an excuse to never clean your gutters again. I recommend that you inspect them once a year and flush them out if needed.
Gutter guards are just one of the multitude of things that we look at and comment on during the course of a home inspection. If you have friends, family or coworkers that are considering moving, building or purchasing a home send them our way and we will provide them with a thorough and informative property inspection.