The Benefits of Gutter Guards
Gutters are an extremely important component of your home. They protect it from water damage by properly channeling water from rain and melted snow away from the exterior of your home. When your gutters aren’t working properly, your home and surrounding landscape can be at risk for water damage—which can quickly turn into mold damage and is a lot more destructive than you might think!
Gutter guards are an effective product for ensuring your gutters work properly at all costs. At Budget Exteriors, we install high-quality gutter guards for our customers. There are a number of benefits to adding gutter guards to the exterior of your home.
How do Gutter Guards Work?
Before you understand why they’re awesome, it’s important to understand what gutter guards do and how they operate. Gutter guards work by providing a protective barrier over the opening of your gutters to prevent leaves, twigs, and other debris from clogging the system.
The appearances and types of gutter guards you can have on your system are various. Some brands opt for a screen-based design, while others use a reverse curve to keep out debris.
How Gutter Guards Can Help Your Home
As a homeowner, you must take on quite a few responsibilities in order to keep your home in the best shape possible. Gutter guards can help you better maintain your home, as there are several benefits to having gutter guards installed on your home’s exterior.
Less Maintenance
Clearing your gutters can be a long and messy process. With all the dirt that accumulates in the system, you may find yourself standing on the ladder for hours to ensure every last piece of debris is clear from the system.
With gutter guards, cleaning your gutters becomes a much easier and more efficient process. They restrict leaves, twigs, and other debris from getting into the gutters. When you go to clear the collected debris, all you have to do is brush away any accumulated pieces off the top of the guards. This cleaning process is much easier than digging deep into the system.
Prevent Gutter Clogging
The main purpose of gutter guards is to prevent leaves, twigs, and other debris from accumulating in the gutters and clogging the system. Clogs can result in excess water backing up and further ruining the gutters—along with a whole bunch of other nasty things which we’ll cover in a bit. Gutter guards provide a physical shield against the leaves and other debris outside.
Reduce Corrosion and Mold Growth
When wet leaves collect in your gutters, it can cause the system to rust and corrode. Additionally, other harmful particles such as mold and mildew can begin to grow in the system. This growth and corrosion can cause your home to wear down and weaken. Adding gutter guards can prevent wet leaves from accumulating in your gutter system, stopping corrosion and mold growth before it even begins.
Prevent Icicle and Ice Dam Formation
Clogged gutters can trap excess water within the system. During the winter, this can result in the water freezing and creating ice dams and icicles. Not only can ice dams contribute to the development of excess water, but they can also weigh down and destroy the foundation of your gutter system. When your gutter system fails due to freezing water, it can result in water damage along the foundation of your home.
Prevent Rodent Infestation
When your gutters consistently transport water through the system, rodents have fewer opportunities to nest in the systems. Additionally, when there aren’t any twigs, leaves, and other pieces for rodents to create nests from, they won’t feel encouraged to stay in your gutter system. Gutter guards can also provide a physical barrier to keep rodents out of the system in the first place.
Prevent Mosquito Infestation
Clogs in your gutters equals standing water—and standing water is the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. These pests are irritating to deal with, as any Minnesotan can attest to, but they’re even more expensive to get rid of. According to Fixr, an online home improvement resource, “The average homeowner with a quarter- to half-acre yard spends $350 to $600 from May to September on seasonal mosquito treatment.”
That might not sound like a lot when considering a large-scale investment like gutter guards, but given that gutter protection doesn’t require as much in terms of seasonal expense, it’s by far the smarter financial choice in the long run. Plus, guards act as a form of mosquito control in and of themselves, in addition to bringing all the other benefits that come with them. Why pay for a short solution when you can upgrade your home and help to control the problem in the long run?
Prevent Fires
Summertime is ideal for bonfires and hosting barbecues. However, when your gutters are full of highly flammable dried twigs and leaves, open flames can create a fire hazard around your home. Gutter guards can help prevent the accumulation of flammable leaves and twigs, which can keep your home safer around floating embers.
Save Your Home’s Foundation
It might be strange to think that gutters—one of the highest-up of your home’s exterior components—are intertwined with the wellbeing of your foundation—your home’s lowest component. But they are, and gutter guards can therefore drastically improve the health of the very thing your home relies on to stay standing.
When clogs accumulate in your gutters as a result of a lack of guards, gutters overflow. Water cannot be safely drained into the yard and instead seeps down into the soil around the foundation. This in turn causes the soil to change consistency and shape, which can cause serious strain and shifting for your foundation—and that’s not pretty. According to Structured Foundation Repairs, a business that deals with foundation and drainage, “As your foundation shifts, you will see signs like bowed walls, cracks around windows, and buckling floors. Doors and windows will suddenly not close properly, or they may stick when you open them.”
By preventing clogs and making your gutters’ jobs easier, gutter guards can safeguard your foundation from the ill effects of waterlogged soil.
Contact Budget Exteriors For Gutter Guard Installation Services
Installing gutter guards on your home’s gutter system can provide you with a number of benefits. From simplifying maintenance to preventing water damage, gutter guards can protect your home and increase the lifespan of your gutter system. Save yourself from costly repairs and unwanted issues with the installation of gutter guards. You can even learn more about them in our blog about one of our favorite brands!
At Budget Exteriors, we believe in securely and efficiently installing the products of the highest quality for our customers. Our team of professional contractors can install effective and long-long lasting gutter guards on your home’s gutter system. To get started with a free estimate, contact our Bloomington office today at 952-887-1613.