Did you know that for every inch of rain you get, your roof gets 1,900 gallons of water? That might seem like a lot, because it is. It’s really important that your roof is equipped to properly drain all this water. Your roof is the guardian of your home; if it cannot efficiently whisk the water away from your home, you’re looking at leaks, rotting, mildew and mold, and water damage. The structure of your home doesn’t fare well when the roof isn’t able to protect it from water.
To help ensure that your home stays free of the aforementioned issues, we’ve put together a list of tips for supporting your roof’s drainage system:
Three Tips for Supporting Your Roof’s Drainage
- Schedule a regular clean gutters service.
Your gutters are the highways in which the water is able to ride away from your roof and your home, and into the proper water sewage collectors. You need those rain gutters working like a well-oiled machine. If you have new gutters, you might think this isn’t an issue you need to deal with; however, even if you install gutters tomorrow, they need to be free of the leaves and debris that will inevitably collect by the next season. If you are due for a gutter replacement, this is even more critical.
You might be saying, “I have a hundred problems to cope with, this is the last thing I can think about right now.” You might be right. This is why we recommend using a clean gutters service. When you sign up for a clean gutters service, making sure your gutters are free of blockages and your downspout is cleared isn’t your problem. You work on your other 99 problems, and let the clean gutters service deal with your gutters. - While we’re on the subject of gutters…
While we’re talking about cleaning out those gutters, we may as well mention, that your gutters have to be installed properly and not broken in order to do their job. At least once a year (or twice if your climate is particularly precipitation-inclined), either perform a gutter inspection yourself, or bring in a professional gutter service to look it over. You want to make sure that:- The gutters are properly attached to the eaves of the house, so that water can run straight from the roof into the gutter system without leaking onto the ground next to your foundation.
- The downspout is installed properly and water can freely run from the gutters and away from your home. Running a hose through your downspout is a good way to ensure that it is flowing properly, and to clear it out. Once again, if climbing on the roof is a tall order, this is a thing that a gutter professional will do for a nominal fee.
- The gutter system is free of rust, that will spread throughout the aluminum gutters and cause holes and leaks. You should also ensure that the screws that attach the gutters to the house are not rusted.
- There is no other visible damage to the gutter system that needs to be repaired before your next big storm.
- Make sure the water can properly flow away from your home.
After ensuring that your gutter system is clean and functioning as it should, you need to pay attention to what happens after the water flows down the downspout from your roof. If the water just collects on the ground right by the foundation of your home, this is a very bad sign. The water can cause corrosion and decay in your foundation, as well as invite pests like termites and carpenter ants.
A properly functioning rain gutter system will deliver the water to an area that can drain it into the street, where it will go through the municipal rain collection system. If your rain pools up in your yard, it might be because:- You don’t have enough of a decline towards the road (your yard should decline at a rate of at least two inches per ten feet).
- You have leaves or debris in your yard that prevents it from draining as it should.
- You have dense plants and foliage that are blocking the flow of rain.
If this is the case for you, bringing in a gutter pro is a good idea.
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