Clogged gutters are more than a simple inconvenience. When gutters are clogged, precipitation flowing down your roof and into the gutter system pools and fills the gutter troughs instead of being directed away out and away from your home. The result is standing water and overflowing gutters which can lead to all sorts of expensive damage and dangerous situations for your household.
Six Dangerous Consequences of Clogged Gutters
Clogged gutters present serious risks, and so the clogs should be dealt with right away. If left unchecked, you could end up with an expensive home or gutter repair bill or even personal injury to yourself or others in your home.
Here are six dangerous problems that can occur as a result of clogged gutters:
1. Roof Damage
Clogged gutters can cause water to pool along the roof line or even on top of your roof, resulting in costly water damage that may not be covered by your roof warranty or homeowner’s insurance. Not only can this standing water damage roof shingles, but it could also flood through your compromised roof and into your attic. Severe water damage may require a complete replacement of your roof!
2. Foundation Damage
When gutters overflow, all that water collects along the edge of your home instead of being directed away through the downspout. While landscape damage from pooling water is an issue, something worse may be going on under the surface: foundation damage. From cracks to foundation settlement, water damage to your foundation can affect the stability of your entire home over time.
3. Basement Flooding
As water flooding from clogged gutters saturates the soil around your home and seeps into your foundation, it can also pour into your basement or crawl space. If it’s primarily soaking inside the walls or floors, you may not notice the flooding at first. But mold grows quickly in water-damaged structures. By the time you notice signs of water damage or flooding, there may already be unhealthy levels of mold and mildew in your basement. At that point, both your home’s integrity and your family’s health will be at risk.
4. Pest Infestations
Water damage is extremely appealing to many household pests, including mosquitoes, cockroaches, ants, silverfish, and termites. Wood-destroying insects especially appreciate soggy, water-damaged wood. Why? It’s easier to chew through and gives them the humid environment they need to survive. Small animals may also be attracted to clogged gutters, as the leaves and debris can be useful for building nests.
5. Fire Hazard
Even though clogged gutters often mean the presence of excess water, they can also be a safety hazard in dry seasons! Dried-out leaves and debris in gutters are instant fuel for house fires, catching with the slightest spark and spreading the flames quickly. For this reason, it’s important to keep your gutters clean year-round, as even without precipitation, clogged gutters can present a danger to your health and safety.
6. Collapsing Gutters
Packed, soggy debris in gutters can get heavy alongside the water it causes to pool in your gutter troughs. With enough weight pulling the gutters down, they can eventually collapse. Not only will this make for more costly gutter maintenance than a simple clog removal and cleaning, but it can also be dangerous for anyone near the exterior of your home when the collapse occurs.
How K-Guard Prevents Clogged Gutters
Clogged gutters can be hard to catch right away, as the issue is happening up high and out of sight. Even if you check your gutters regularly, a clog may happen between inspections and cause extensive damage before any noticeable issue occurs. For this reason, the best way to deal with clogged gutters is to prevent them from occurring in the first place!
K-Guard gutter systems are built to resist clogging, giving your home the best possible defense against all the dangerous situations mentioned above. Here’s how we do it:
Leaf-free Gutter Protection
We provide your home with more than just gutters. K-Guard gutters are comprehensive systems with built-in gutter protection in the form of innovative hood-style gutter guards that guide water into the oversized gutter troughs while keeping leaves and debris out. Unlike other gutter guards that can get blocked up by debris piling on top of them, K-Guard hoods have a slick and sleek curved shape that diverts leaves and debris down to the ground, not letting anything stick around on your roof or gutters!
Clog-free Guarantee
K-Guard gutters are guaranteed to be maintenance-free for the lifetime of your home, and we back that up with a comprehensive warranty that covers all manner of clogging, damage, and other maintenance issues. If your K-Guard gutters somehow manage to clog (which they won’t!), we will come out and clean them at absolutely no cost to you.
Protect Your Household with K-Guard
The best way to keep your gutters safe is to start with the right gutters. K-Guard gutters are the top choice for Kansas City homeowners because they provide protection like no other paired with a zero-maintenance experience giving you complete peace of mind during the most intense storms the Heartland has to offer. Ready to experience the K-Guard difference? Contact us to request your estimate today!
