Clean Gutters for a safe home
Cleaning your Gutters may be the single most important thing you can do for your home this year. Its a fact that dirty gutters are the cause of thousands of dollars worth of damage to Australian homes. Each year dirty gutters go unnoticed in most homes until its to late and the damage has already been done. Some home owners might get away with rotten gutters or a couple blocked downpipes and although these problems can cost a small fortune to fix its nothing compared to the other issues poorly maintained gutters can cause.
Dirty Gutters cause real damage
Dirty or clogged Gutters, left unaddressed, can cause major issues including roof leaks, cracks in foundation and even mold growing in the interior of your home. Gutters are designed to divert water away from areas it should not be, and problems arise when debris block the passage ways causing water to back up get absorbed by the debris and sometimes even flow back into the house. As debris absorbs the water it starts to build in weight and can actually pull the gutters off the fascia, this build up of stagnant water also causes gutter rust and rotting.
Rotten Gutters, fires and other nasty surprises
Other less common but very dangerous issues dirty Gutters can cause include roof fires, electrical fires and ceiling collapse. Having a large amount of dry leaves in your gutters is great for starting small fires during those Perth hot summer months, if you have trees falling heavily year round then it may pay to have your gutters cleaned around mid November before the summer starts. As mentioned earlier blocked gutters can force water back into the ceiling instead of the downpipes where it belongs. This is a big issue and may cause cracks in ceilings, ceiling floods and in some cases can even cause the ceilings to collapse onto the poor occupants underneath. This same backed up water can work its way to your electrical system where it can cause devastating electrical fires.
So this year please take the time to clean out your gutters or better still invest a little money and get your gutters cleaned out by a professional.
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