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How Drought Affects Your Home

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Why Gutter Cleanings are essential~ even in a drought.

When weather conditions run dry, more is affected than just your lawn and plants. The trouble runs deeper and broader, affecting wildlife, ecosystems, soil, and foundations.

Wikipedia defines drought as: “an event of prolonged shortages in the water supply, whether atmospheric (below-average precipitation), surface water or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or as few as 15 days. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region and cause harm to the local economy.”

Global Warming and extreme weather patterns are increasing drought potential. Even areas which do not usually succumb to drought are beginning to feel the effects. Not only does this affect the soil and plants, but also the economy and ecosystem. Specifically, it affects you as a homeowner. Soils dry and shift with drought, causing settling as gravity naturally seeks to fill in the cracks left behind by shrinking soil. Your home’s foundation may shift and settle into these, leading to cracks in foundation, structural damage, sticky windows and doors, and uneven, sloping floors.

Conversely, when it rains, clay-rich soil becomes expansive soil, trapping rain water, essentially flooding the soil and contributing to excessive run-off and flooding. This can lead to an even greater hazard if cracks have formed in the foundation. Now your home is primed for water damage and moisture-related issues.

While this devastation may sound frightfully out of control, there are measures you can take to protect your home (and your paycheck).

  • The first thing you will want to do is inspect your home. Whether you choose to do this yourself, or hire a professional (many offer free inspection), taking a thoughtful stroll around your home may highlight hidden dangers.
  • The next most important step is to GENTLY water the soil around your home…(think misting, not torrent). As long as there are no restrictions on water usage, keeping the soil moist around your foundation prevents caving or collapsing.
  • Next, consider your landscaping. If there are large trees near your foundation, guess who is going to win…NOT YOU. Tree roots will absorb more moisture, which is bad for your foundation. However, planting shade plants and shrubs will contribute to the prevention of soil evaporation.
  • Finally, clean your Gutters! As previously mentioned, rain after a drought oversaturates the soil, causing structural damage to your foundation walls. By cleaning your gutters, you are preventing this torrent of rain water from pooling and puddling near your foundation. This will also help to prevent the spread of algae to other surfaces of your home.

Professional Gutter Cleanings are extremely affordable, especially if you consider all the money saved ($$$$$) by preventing further structural damage to your home. While Gutter Guards are a helpful preventative option, they are not infallible, and still must be maintained to have smoothly flowing gutters.

Protect your investment! Schedule your Professional Gutter Cleaning with The Grime Fighters.

Life In The Gutter

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Leaves, dirt, saplings, and other life in your gutter can mean the destruction of your home.

At first glance, an overflowing gutter may look a bit comical. Packed with leaves, twigs, dirt, and other life, the task of carrying water away from your home may just be too tall an order. Bending and bursting, clogged gutters spill gallons of water to areas of your home vulnerable to erosion or absorption. And that is no laughing matter.

Gutter Cleaning may seem a simple enough task to DIY, and yet is easily forgotten or procrastinated. Unfortunately, the reminder usually comes in the form of another issue. Problems such as stained siding, bowed gutters, water pooling at the foundation, or worse still, dampness or leaking into cracked foundations, walls, ceilings, and basements. What was a simple job has now cascaded into a major problem.

Gutter Cleaning actually bears a huge impact on the health and life span of your home. Meant for the purpose of keeping your home clean and dry, left unmanaged, clogged gutters can actually reduce the life span of your entire home. That is bad for your wallet and bad for the planet! Repair, replacement, and renovation costs due to neglect far outweigh the small cost of a regularly maintained Professional Gutter Cleaning.

Advantages of a Professional Gutter Cleaning:

  1. DIY is not always cut and dry. Consider all the factors: ladder safety, having a safety partner, having tools while on a ladder, reaching without proper ladder contact, airborne debris causing eye and nose allergens, not to mention the time to properly do the job once you have obtained all of your materials, as well as running water (hopefully) through your unclogged gutter. Any issues could turn an afternoon job into a weekend project, costing you your precious time and energy.
  2. Professional Technicians are trained to look for areas of your home that may have damage, and issues that could lead to bigger problems. Knowledge is Power.
  3. Regular Maintenance of Gutters means a longer life span not only for your gutters, but also your roof, siding, foundation, fascia, and even the interior of your home.
  4. Regular Gutter Cleaning means your Roof and Siding will also stay cleaner longer, as moisture, debris, and algae will not have a resting place, and therefore a breeding ground in which to propagate. This also means a longer life for your roof, as shingles are a common food source for roof algae known as Gloeocapsa Magma.
  5. Keeping pooled and stagnant water away from your home also means less possibility of mold and mildew entering into your home, causing allergies and health issues.
  6. Cleaned, empty gutters serve to protect your home during some of the volatilities of the seasons, including heavy rainstorms in spring and summer, falling leaves in autumn, and ice damming in winter.
  7. Protect your investment. Long term regular care means less waste for the environment, and more money in your pocket.

Annual Professional Roof and House Washing coupled with Semi-Annual Professional Gutter Cleanings will help to keep your house and home pristine, clean, and dry. Professional Gutter Cleaning can be scheduled any time, but is essential prior to Spring as well as prior to and post Autumn. Don’t procrastinate or rely on DIY. Trust the Grime Fighters to keep your life out of the gutter! Get your FREE QUOTE NOW and schedule your Autumn Gutter Cleaning.