Get Your Gutters Right: Proper Gutter Maintenance Tips

We all know the saying “April showers bring May flowers”. April is now closer than ever, and if we’re going with the saying, that means a lot of rain may be ahead for this spring. One of the most important facets to keeping your home in great shape is the gutter maintenance. Gutters are the key to proper rainwater (and even melting snow) drainage. They allow the water to move to where it should be instead of sitting on your roof and making a mess of your yard. Let’s explore some tips for keeping your gutters in tiptop shape this spring!

Clean and Seal 

One of the first, and most important, steps to keeping up with your gutters is to get the goop out. Leaves, sticks, and other debris often gather in the gutters. These tend to turn into a goopy mess, which needs to be cleaned out regularly. This goop limits the amount of water that can properly pass through the gutters and move to the drainage areas. Cleaning the composted leaves and sticks out of gutters is key, especially in preparation for spring. Think of all of the debris that has accumulated in your gutters over the winter! Once you clean all of the goop out of your gutters, you can use it in your garden. Composted leaves make excellent mulch that’ll help prepare your garden or flowerbeds for planting come warmer weather.

Now that you’ve gotten rid of all those goopy leaves, it’s time to seal up the leaks. You want to make sure there are not leaky spots in your gutters in preparation for a rainy season. Leaky spots can lead to improper runoff and allow water to get underneath the gutters, causing rotted boards. The best thing to do is scrape away old caulking material to make room for a fresh patch. Make sure to do this step carefully to avoid making any of the holes worse. Once you have a clean surface to work with, you can fill the leaky spots with a silicone based caulk to ensure your seal is waterproof. This step is essential to avoid unwanted, and often unseen, damage to the wooden structure of your home. Water damage can be difficult and expensive to repair. If you stay ahead of the game by spending time sealing up any leaks, you’ll save money in the long run!

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Secure and Wash 

Since your gutters have been clean and leaks have been sealed, don’t forget about checking up on the security of your gutters! With strong winds and heavy rain, the gutters can detach from the rest of your house. It’s a good idea to check on the security of the spikes that hold your gutters in place. If you are missing a few spikes here and there, you can buy relatively inexpensive replacements at your local hardware store. Another security check to perform is taking a look at the rivets on your downspout. A heavy flow of water could have caused these rivets to pop loose. It’s important to repair any weak spots in a downspout as soon as possible to avoid it falling apart when you most need it. All you’ll need to repair your downspout for an easy fix is a drill and a pop rivet tool.

Finally your gutters are clean, waterproofed, and your downspout is in great shape! Now it’s time to wrap up your project by washing your gutters. This is the last step in making sure your gutters are ready to go come those spring showers. Making use of a power washer is the best and most effective way to get those gutters as clean as possible. You can rent power washers at most hardware stores, or even invest in one for your future gutter projects. Just be sure that most of the gunk is cleaned out of the downspout as well before you being to power wash; you don’t want to run into a clog!

If you find a lot of areas of rust on your gutters or think cleaning and repairing your gutters will be too much work, our team at Diversified Roofing is here to help. Rusty gutters mean it’s time to think about investing in a new setup. Investing in new aluminum or copper gutters can save you money in the long run. They don’t rust and tend to wear better through the years. If you still have questions about proper gutter care, let us help you with your next gutter project!

Raising the (quality of your) Roof

Whether you’re having your home’s roof restored or replaced, or you’re building a new home and are in the process of having the roof put in, choosing the right type of roofing may be the most important decision you make in this process. The roof, after all, is the lynchpin of your home’s first and most important function: to shield and safeguard you and your family against the elements. Your roof will be expected to brave the weather day in and day out, and hold fast against animals and water while keeping your home’s internal temperature regulated. That is a tall order, and only the right type of roofing will do the job correctly.

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Shingle All the Way 

Asphalt composition singles are some of the most popular roof types available today. They are typically low-cost, while maintaining an adequate amount of durability. When you take into consideration how easy they are to install, this is a recipe for a type of roof that most consumers see as a value buy: not great in any particular category, but overall you’re getting great value for your purchase. These shingles are typically either fiberglass; the fiberglass shingle is a glass fiber mat coated by asphalt and a filler for waterproofing. The fiberglass shingles tend to be more fire-resistant, which is of course preferable for your own personal safety.

Compared to the modern asphalt composition shingles, wood shingles are comparatively quite traditional, and offer their own benefits. Specifically, some of the most beautiful roofs are made with wood shingles. They are remarkably beautiful and quite durable, with a lifespan between three to five decades – longer than many modern shingles! However, wood shingles are also concomitantly quite expensive to buy and install. Wood shingles, in other words, are largely an aesthetic choice.

Dial T for Tile 

Metal roofing, on the other hand, is considerably more durable than other types of roofing, and can be made from a variety of different metals: galvanized or stainless steel, aluminum, copper, corrugated iron, and more. As often as this is seen in underdeveloped countries, commercial properties and structures where cost-efficiency, longevity, ease of installation, and durability also have a use for this roofing in the developed world.

Of course, if metal isn’t your style – and for most homes, it certainly isn’t – then slate may be more to your liking. Slate tile roofing is of some of the highest quality and greatest longevity used today, but the high cost of this type of roofing, when combined with difficult installation and the fragility of the tile itself, means that it may not be what you’re looking for, depending on your home’s needs. However, being a natural stone product, it can provide a beautiful look to your home, one that is unique in your neighborhood.

Another popular style of roof is the clay tile roof. This is more widely used in the southwestern United States and other hot, dry parts of the world, as it is naturally protected from the damage that the sun’s rays might cause. Furthermore, compared to wood tiles, it is protected against the rot and insect damage that often plagues other kinds of roofing. On the other hand, clay tiles are quite expensive and heavy, and while you may be able to afford the tile, your home may not have the strength to support a whole roof of clay tiles!

Cost/Benefit 

Ultimately, what you’re looking for is a roof that can last for decades in your particular environment. The kind of weather you can expect to face is a big part of your decision-making process here; some types of roof deal better with regular rain or extremely hot weather than others, and if you don’t want to have to replace your roof sooner rather than later, then it behooves you to plan for the environmental conditions that your roof will have to deal with. The same goes for local flora and fauna; if termites are an issue in your area, for example, then a wood roof may be a bad idea!

Then, of course, you also have to take into consideration how expensive the roof type is. After all, if you can’t afford it, you can’t get it! Decisions like these are often all about making a compromise between cost and benefit. Fortunately, you won’t have to make that choice alone!

A New Year and a New Roof

Spring is nearly here, and with that season comes a time of change – change in behavior and lifestyle, change in weather, and change for your home! That’s right: spring means making some changes around the old household. For many families, that means spring cleaning: that mythical time when floors are spotless, junk is carted off to charities, and the cupboards are cleared of all the canned soups and jars of olives that nobody has eaten for the last eight years.

Yet spring is often a time for more than mere spring-cleaning. The season brings with it some massive changes in weather, along with an increase in precipitation and fluctuations in temperature. These changes, and the naturally volatile nature of the season, can put quite a bit of stress on your roof – a roof that has already had to endure winter, fall, and summer of yesteryear. As such, the exterior of your home can end up experiencing some serious wear-and-tear, especially your roof, which receives the brunt of the weather’s treatment most of the time.

The State of the Roof 

 

Before calling in the professionals, you may want to take the time to evaluate your roof for yourself and see if it requires any work to be done in preparation for the coming year. A roof doesn’t necessarily need maintenance, or even replacement, every year, but without this kind of care and attention, serious damage could be done to your home were your roof to be of unsound quality, after all. It only takes one mistake. So get out that ladder, lean it against your home, and shimmy on up!

The first thing to keep an eye out for is curling shingles. These are pretty easy to spot; if the edges are starting to curl or even bubble, then high winds can potentially break the shingle off, leaving that section of your roof vulnerable. As spring is known to have some powerful gusts on occasion, it is quite likely that any curling shingles will be ripped away this season. If any shingles are already missing, then your roof is definitely indeed of repair or even replacement!

Deteriorating shingles are a little harder to spot. Look at your gutters and at the bottom of the downspouts to see if there is a substantial amount of granules from your shingles; if so, that means those shingles are just about worn out. More experienced eyes can tell a shingle is experiencing significant granule loss just by looking at them, of course.

If you notice these kinds of problems plaguing your roof, then it is time to call in a professional.

Spring is the Time to Act! 

by BuzzFeed.
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Fortunately, spring is the best time to get a good rate from roofing contractors. Spring is a slow time for contractors, which means you will have the pick of the litter as far as your contractor goes – and they’ll have plenty of time to attend to your roofing needs, rather than juggling man different projects. When fall and winter roll around, contractors are much more busy, and trying to get a roofing professional out to your home can be difficult.

Additionally, the materials used to repair your roof are considerably easier to use in spring temperatures. Shingles, plywood, adhesives, and other materials commonly used in roofing are no good in weather that is either too cold or too hot, which is why spring – that season of mild weather in between squalls and storms – is the best time to get quality roofing done.

Of course, independent contractors can be frustrating to work with at times; that’s why your best bet for timely, efficient, high quality roofing is with a roofing service like Diversified Roofing of Diversified Exteriors, Inc. The advantage here is that our time isn’t tied up by other projects and competing contracts; we only take on clients when we can get the job done and done right, as the quality of our craftsmanship is of paramount importance to us.

That doesn’t change that spring is the best time to get your roofing done! Your roof has been through a lot, and if you want it to continue to protect your home, the mild weather of spring – after all the damage done to your roof over the winter – is the perfect time to see your roof maintained, repaired, improved, and even replaced. With a solid roof over your head, you’ll have nothing to worry about for decades to come!