In Canada, all homeowners living in a house (not a condo/apartment) need to have their gutters cleaned regularly, and if you don't know they need to be cleaned, a roofing company will certainly advise you to clean them regularly when you renovate your roof.
Vista Roofing, a professional roofing company, also specializes in gutter repair and cleaning, and Vista Roofing usually reminds homeowners during their work that they should always clean their gutters.
In this article, Vista Roofing will take you through the importance of keeping your gutters in good condition, as well as the basics and safety details about gutters.
What is a gutter?
A gutter is a trough installed beneath and runs parallel to the edge of your roof. Its main function is to collect and direct accumulated water fallen from the roof to disposal. Gutters allow homeowners like you to prevent water from falling off the roof uncontrollably, damaging the outer walls.
Basically, a gutter is your defense system against rainy weather. But in Canada, it’s also a great defense against the snow. Heavy snowfall is a regular sight in Canada; whenever the snow melts, it’s basically flood season. Without gutters, it’d be like someone’s dumping buckets of water off your roof.
Why does the gutter get dirty?
As mentioned, most of what goes into the gutter is rain and snow. With it also comes whatever falls from the sky, such as leaves. The ability of rain to knock off leaves is notorious. This leads to much debris being stuck up there in your gutter. As debris accumulates, it may obstruct water flow and lead to gutter overflow. Because the gutter’s now dirty, what comes out of the gutter will be dirty water full of dirt and other filth.
Contributing to dirty gutters, specifically in Canada, are squirrels, who are fond of running rooftops and collecting, thus bringing little debris from the ground onto your roof, into your gutter.
Therefore, even if you can get away with not cleaning your gutter in other countries, in Canada, where foliage is rich around houses (one of the reasons many prefer houses, you might say), rain is frequent, and snowy winters long, cleaning your gutters at least twice a year is a must.
When to clean your gutter?
Given the seasonal characteristics in Canada, the most important times to clean your gutter are the beginning of spring and the end of autumn. The beginning of spring is when all the snow melts, and the end of autumn is when all the fallen leaves come down.
If you have to choose the most important times to clean your gutter—and no other times during the year because of the hassle—it’s these two times.
VistaRoofing
VistaRoofing is your professional roofing company in GTA Canada. With a wealth of experience in Roofing Installation and requirements, we are proud and dedicated to offering the highest level of quality and service.
If you have any questions about gutter cleaning or other house problem, don’t hesitate to contact us.
