Gutter Maintenance – By Roof Restoration Brisbane

Roof Restoration - Gutter Maintenance

Gutter maintenance is essential and being a home (or potential home owner) you need to be aware that this is a maintenance task that you need to take care of at least once or twice a year.

If you are in an area that has a dense tree population, then you would be wise to carry out gutter maintenance more than twice a year. If you don’t have any trees around at all,  you maybe able to reduce the frequency in which you have your gutters cleaned.

If you are lucky enough to have a system such as gutter guard installed then you can virtually eliminate gutter maintenance. Just have your local roofing company inspect your gutters’ health as well as your roof when they come out to do your regular roof inspection.

Keep an eye out on how well secured your gutters are. Sometimes issues with gutters is that they become loose or dislodged over time. Make sure they are secured tightly  by checking retaining brackets and screws including the brackets on the downpipes.

However the biggest issue with gutters involves them filling up with debris. This poses two dangers. The first one is that the debris in the gutters will block or alter the designed path for the water runaway and most likely will result in water over flowing. Water over flowing will definitely not be good for your home – you may end up with serious flooding in periods of very heavy rain and water leaks inside your home.

Secondly, if you have debris build up in your gutters then this could pose a risk in the event of a bush fire. Rotten leaves and twigs are a great fuel for bush fires and having this fuel source actually on your home could result in disaster in a bushfire.

These two dangers make it well worth while the exercise of cleaning your gutters on a regular period.

If you have metal gutters (as opposed to aluminium gutters) then your gutters could be vulnerable to rust. When debris is allowed to sit in gutters for long periods of time, it will prevent the surface of the gutter from drying out. Metal sitting around wet for long periods of time will facilitate rust.

Now, your next decision will be to decide if you want to try and clean the gutters yourself, or employ the services of professionals to do them for you. If you are scared of heights, have a double storey home, not good on a ladder, or have a very high roof than I would suggest strongly that you get an expert roofing company (such as Roof Restoration Brisbane) to carry out the gutter cleaning for you.

If you are somewhat handy, and think you are capable of cleaning the gutters yourself, then absolutely make sure you are taking care of your personal safety first and foremost. Do not take any risks while on the roof or up a ladder. And absolutely do not attempt this task if it is raining.

A small scoop or shovel should help assist in cleaning the debris from your gutters. For some types of petrol leaf blowers, there are actually gutter attachments available which will allow you to blow out the gutters from the ground. It’s a very messy exercise but it’s the most safest (except for wayward spiders!).

If you are thinking about getting an expert roofing company to do the work for you, then think Roof Restoration Brisbane. They are expert roofers, great at cleaning gutters and service the Brisbane region.