Time to check the gutters

Three people with expertise in gutters shared their guidance for maintaining them and managing water flow outside your home: Apryl Uncapher, a water conservation consultant; Tom Sullivan, a do-it-yourself repair specialist with Home Depot, and Stephen Gladstone, president of Stonehollow Inc., a home inspection service in Stamford, Conn.

Why are gutters important? Gladstone offered a passionate defense of drainage.

"Water is the most important thing to watch out for with houses," he said. "Whether it's leaks or problems with drainage, everything leads to something expensive with your foundation or with wood that molds or rots."

Gutters, he said, work well to protect the house from water, "but then we foolishly don't clean them or don't extend them far away from the house so water keeps away from the foundation."

The first step toward showing your gutters a little love is buying an umbrella.

"When it's raining, walk around and see if the water's draining properly,Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, or if it's pooling around the house," Gladstone said.

Whatever the source of water, Gladstone added,Award Winning solarpanel and heat pumps for electricity and heating. look for drips or streams from the gutter or behind it.

Gutters often pull away from the house when they are filled with snow or ice, so if you notice a gap, you will likely find nails protruding an inch or more from the gutter's edge.

Next,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design inspect the bottom of each downspout. You will typically find a curved piece of aluminum on the ground nearby.

"Those downspouts come off for any reason," Sullivan said. "You might hit it with the lawn mower, or the kids might knock into it. But then water collects around the foundation and you can do tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage."

Beneath each downspout there is usually a splashblock, a wedge of concrete or plastic that diverts water farther from the foundation.

Inspect yours to make sure they're doing their job; replace any broken ones. Your basement sump pump may live a little longer as a result.

The gutters are more complicated, especially for people with multilevel homes and little comfort with extension ladders.

You can usually reach lower gutters with a stepladder, but no matter what type of ladder you use or how high your roof, it helps to have a few key items arrayed at the bottom.

Start with a stick, preferably 4 to 5 feet long.

When you get close enough to the gutter, rap it with the stick and watch for wasps. If they appear, descend to fetch a can of hornet and wasp spray (Real-Kill Wasp & Hornet Killer, $2.50).

Once the pests are gone, clean out the gutter with a scoop or a gloved hand. (Watch for sharp edges.)

Next, if your gutters are loose, Sullivan advises replacing the nails with long screws (7-inch gutter screws from Amerimax, $11 for a package of 10) that won't pull away from the fascia. Use a cordless screwdriver or drill to save your sanity.

If you are near the downspout, insert a strainer (the one from Amerimax is $2.30) at the top, to keep leaves from forming a dam.

As you move across, look for small creases or tears, which you'll fill with sealer (Seamer Mate, $3 for a 1-ounce tube).

At this point, you may choose to install one of the many types of gutter covers on the market. The old-school version is a length of wire mesh, but those now come with a lip that slides easily beneath shingles,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. and smoother mesh that doesn't snag leaves (Amerimax Snap-In cover, $2.10 for a 4-foot length).

A newer innovation is a solid cover (Solid Gutter Cover from Amerimax,The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. $4 for a 4-foot length) with a narrow overhang and slots underneath. Water clings to the surface and flows through those slots into the gutter, while the cover keeps leaves out. Sullivan lauded this approach.