We are all familiar with health checks and how they can help spot minor issues before they become more challenging to resolve. You may not think the same tactic could help support your guttering, but we’d like to convince you otherwise.

Of all the elements that comprise the exterior of a property, guttering certainly meets the criteria for the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’. We don’t tend to notice it or remember it is there unless something goes wrong. This holds true for single-storey properties along with houses and other buildings where the guttering is far higher.

Clean gutters are healthy gutters

No matter what type of property you have, cleaning the guttering is an important consideration. If your gutters aren’t cleaned, they’re gradually going to fill with debris. The amount of time this takes depends on where you live. For instance, if your home is surrounded by trees, you’ll get leaves dropping in there and blowing off your roof into the gutters. If it rains, they’re likely to get clogged up in the gutters and won’t disappear unless you clear them out.

If you have birds in your garden, they might also drop debris in your gutters. Anything that lands on your roof could end up there, and that includes berries, twigs, and other delights often sought out by birds. The more items end up in there, the worse it becomes, and you may not realise until something goes wrong.

What happens if your gutters aren’t regularly cleaned?

Your gutters only work properly if they’re not clogged with various materials. That means they could leak and send water into places that shouldn’t receive any. If there are any cracks or holes anywhere in the building, water could go into those instead of along the guttering to the drainpipes. If you ever get an unexpected leak like this, make sure you check your gutters to see if they may be at fault.

Regular cleaning is a sensible idea for another reason too. Not all guttering problems are quick to appear. Parts can weaken over time or develop cracks or come loose from their brackets. If you hire someone to regularly come out to clean your gutters, they can spot anything like this that has appeared since the last cleaning session.

It means they can complete any minor repairs when needed – long before they get a chance to develop into major issues.

Focus on regular cleaning to maintain your guttering

If you thought gutter cleaning was an optional event, you can see why it should be thought of as a regular one instead. It may not seem to be the most important item on your to-do list. However, if it isn’t on there, you could end up needing to put other items on that list instead – and they could be far more urgent. Think of gutter cleaning as an act of prevention. Not just in preventing debris build-up but preventing potential damage and gutter failure as well.