Purchasing a new home often comes with several responsibilities and a ton of projects. Whether you wish to improve the looks of your home or ensure its proper functioning, it seems that a gutter system is a must when it comes to draining rain water.
Available in various materials — PVC, vinyl, galvanized steel and aluminum — gutters prevent water from seeping into foundations. Cracks in the concrete structure and mold are often the result of water accumulation in the foundations. These situations can cause much more serious problems that will in turn lead to astronomical costs for owners.
In addition, the installation of a gutter system is simple and inexpensive. However, if you do not deal with professionals, it is important that you learn how to proceed. A botched job can cause other problems such as leaks and spillage that will damage the roof of the property. It is thus essential to hire people that you can trust or to follow specific directions.
When installing a gutter, homeowners need to ensure that rain water will come out at least 1.8 m away from their home, toward the street or at the back of the residence, but never toward the foundations of a neighboring home.
A poorly maintained gutter system can easily overflow and stain the visible part of the drainage system or even an outside wall of the property. This why it is important to take every precaution and use a ladder each season in order to remove dead leaves, ice and branches or purchase a gutter guard. This invention allows filtering water despite the presence of debris so as to leave the latter exposed to allow it to dry and eventually be pushed by the wind. You don’t even need to worry about such problems anymore!
Aluminum is the best material for gutters. It has the advantage of being very light and being able to withstand extreme temperature changes, such as what we find here in Canada, in addition to coming in a range of styles and colors. One might think that an aluminum gutter is more expensive. However, a gutter made of cheaper materials such as PVC requires additional accessories. Hence the reason why the two can be compared favorably.
In other words, gutters represent a low-cost investment that helps prevent major problems caused by rain water in the short, medium and long term. A quality gutter system, when installed and maintained properly, can last more than 50 years. Today, they are available in several designs and looks, and require very little maintenance. There is no shortcoming to a well-installed gutter. For new homeowners, it is a guarantee of security and one less thing to worry about.