Have you looked in your gutters lately? Probably not. Gutters are not exactly in the line of sight.
Lucky for me, I was standing on the deck of a rental property we were pulling into service. Because the house was on built on a hillside, it stood one story above the garage. From the front porch, I was easily able to examine one gutter. Even though this home had a tile roof, rather than a gritty composition roof, there was about a quarter inch of hard packed dirt just sitting in that gutter.
You might wonder, so what? Well, if allowed to remain in the gutter year after year, this dirt, along with more dirt to come, could end up costing this investor a LOT of money.
When road dirt, shingle grit, fallen leaves, bugs, algae, moss, and other growing things clog the gutters year after year, unremedied, expensive costs incur. Gutters rust and crack at the seams from the water that sits in that dirt. They then leak, often causing damage to the siding of the house. Worse, if there is a lot of debris, more debris will pile and trap water, often causing damage to the roof and eaves.
Whether it’s your primary residence or an investment property, yearly maintenance is an essential part of home ownership. Even with gutter guards, gutter maintenance is imperative.