The Benefits of Maintaining Eavestroughs All Around Your Home

It might seem a little odd. But those slim channels of metal or plastic that run along the edge of your roof have a crucial role in protecting your entire home. And that’s why it’s important to maintain eavestroughs all-around your home. 

Of course, your roof is the front line defence against water getting into your home. But if your eavestrough system, including gutters and downspouts, doesn’t properly remove the water that falls on the roof, well, you just won’t get any of the following benefits.

6 Benefits of Maintaining Eavestroughs

1. A Dry Basement – How does something that hangs off the edge of your roof keep your basement dry? Without a clean eavestrough channelling away rain, snow and ice runoff, they will overflow the eavestrough and fall right next to your house. If enough overflows, it can saturate the ground outside your foundation and basement. That increases the hydrostatic pressure against your basement walls, potentially leading to a flooded basement.
2. Keep Your Home Healthier – Especially in winter, a clogged eavestrough can make ice damming worse and cause water to back up into your attic. If your attic isn’t properly ventilated, or if enough water gets in to seep into other parts of your home, the moist conditions are ideal for mould and mildew spores to grow. That growth can contaminate the air in your home and cause a multitude of health problems for you and your family.
3. Protect the Structure of Your Home – That same moisture that gets in due to poorly-maintained eavestroughs can also cause wood rot and significant structural damage to most of the wooden parts of your home’s construction, including in the attic, walls, ceilings and floors. This can occur when the trough spikes come loose and a gap forms between the eavestrough and fascia.
4. Avoid Costly Repairs – In addition to preventing water damage to your home, by properly maintaining your eavestroughs, you will make them last longer and reduce the need for an eavestrough contractor to properly install a new eavestrough system.
5. Get Fewer Mosquito Bites – If the eavestrough is not sloped properly, water can sit and create a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
6. Keep Your Home Looking Its Best – If a downpipe splits in winter due to ice, water trying to drain from the trough above can cause damage to the exterior surface of your home. Mortar between bricks can fail or stucco and painted surfaces can become stained.

If you enjoyed this article, check out our recent post about how many roof vents you need.