Owning a home keeps you busy, that’s for sure. You sit comfortably in your favorite chair and then you hear plink, plink, plink. Rain is falling. And then your mind races: the roof is in good shape, the siding is sound, but what about the gutters? What causes gutters to leak?
Why?
Why should gutters leak just when you were relaxing after a hard day? Why would they leak at all? If the roof is in good shape (thanks to annual inspections and routine maintenance from your favorite residential roofer), why would the gutters leak?
Six common causes of leaky gutters are:
- Clogs — Gutters clogged with leaves, twigs, and organic debris allow water to slosh over the sides, often soaking the fascia boards and causing water leaks inside your roof
- Cracks and Holes — Corroded, rusted, or damaged gutters can develop fatigue cracks and rust holes
- Improperly Sealed or Separated Joints — At corners and downspouts, a lack of sealant can allow gutter parts to separate, letting water drip or fall through the cracks
- Improper Slope — If your gutters are too gently or too extremely sloped (pitched), water can either sit and stagnate or overwhelm the downspouts
- Loose Fasteners — Gutters are attached to your home with gutter brackets and to each other with connectors; if any connectors, brackets, or fasteners are loose or missing, leaks can result
- Ice dams — Freeze and thaw cycles in winter take a tremendous toll on your roof’s lower edge and your gutters; ice dams can weigh down gutters and cause them to deform, then fail
How Long?
Sadly, nothing in this life lasts forever, and gutters are no exception. Eventually your Twin Cities home’s gutters will wear out. Often, long before they give up completely, they will fail in small, troublesome ways.
You can tell your gutters are near the end of their life if you are dealing with frequent clogs, dented, bent, or damaged gutters, or leaky gutters. Especially if you still have sectional gutters, you will suffer under plenty of small failures before the gutters quit on you entirely:
- Sectional gutters spring leaks everywhere, since they have many connectors and joints
- Sectional gutters are often made with inferior, thin metals that can corrode rapidly
- Sectional gutters represent an Old School approach that has been largely supplanted by modern methods, so repairing them is not cost effective
Your local, helpful gutter installer can custom-fit gleaming, new, heavy-duty seamless gutters for your home quickly and efficiently. These seamless gutters reduce potential leak locations dramatically, since the near-horizontal runs have no seams at all!
Because seamless gutters are custom-made at your home using special equipment and sturdy metal of your choosing (in a color you select), they are likely to last far longer than sectional gutters installed in bits and pieces. With only seams at downspouts and corners, leaks are rare. The heavy metal used in custom-made seamless gutters is heavier than the store stock you find at home improvement stores. That makes these superior, hefty gutters more durable than do-it-yourself gutters.
Half the Formula
Replacing leaky, old, deformed gutters with gleaming new seamless gutters is a great idea, but the gutters themselves are only half the formula for success. You need the right installer.
Leaving aside all the reasons doing the job yourself — or hiring a handyman service — is a terrible idea, consider what a highly skilled gutter installation contractor can bring to your Twin Cities home:
- The right equipment, including a specialized gutter-forming machine
- The proper tools
- Exactly the right metal, thickness, color, and finish you select
- Years of experience in gutter installation
- Knowledge needed to tackle special issues or problems
- Leaf protection systems
A contractor specializing in gutter installation can put your new gutter system in place correctly, the first time, so that it lasts for many years of trouble-free service. No more clogs, no more overflows, and certainly no more leaks!
If, instead, you settle for a company that installs gutters, mows lawns, details cars, builds decks, and shovels snow, you settle for inexperienced, unskilled laborers who have no interest in performing a good installation. They want their day’s pay and that’s it. If your gutters leak in a month, a season, or a year, they simply do not care. They got paid and have moved on to the next sketchy project.
When working to maintain or boost the value of your Twin Cities home, never settle. Expect the best in materials, labor, and installation by contracting with a gutter installation company dedicated to impeccable customer service. Homeowners in and around the Twin Cities of Minnesota can tap the experience and skills of Midwest Roofing Siding & Windows for all their exterior service needs. Contact us today to see how we can bring you the best in gutters, siding, windows, and roofing.