The arrival of fall signifies the return of chilly air and colorful, falling leaves. Children might be looking forward to jumping into big leaf piles, but many homeowners in Northern Virginia are dreading the upcoming hours of raking they'll have to do. It's important to keep your yard clear of excess leaves to ensure your yard can drain properly, but leaves also present another danger to your home: they can easily clog your gutters and lead to water damage.
Just like raking, cleaning out gutters may be a chore that you despise, but it's an incredibly important task for the fall season. If too many fallen leaves build up in your gutter, it makes it harder for water flow to the downspout and safely away from your home. Water that can't pass through clogged gutters will slosh over the side of your roof, land too close to the foundation, and leak into your basement. Or, if the roof near your gutter is damaged and has cracks or holes, water will drip down into your top floor. Water leaking into your home can lead to water damage, a musty smell, health complications, and a nasty repair bill.
You can't do anything to stop the leaves from falling, but you can prevent your gutters from getting clogged. Here are some suggestions for how you can stay one step ahead of the falling leaves:
1. Routinely Check (and Possibly Clean) Your Gutters
It's a great idea to do a thorough cleaning of your gutters at the end of summer to prepare for autumn, especially if you hadn't yet cleaned them this year. If you're running a little behind and fall already started without you cleaning your gutters, grab a ladder.
It also can't hurt to check up on your gutters during fall even after if you've already done your yearly or semi-annual cleaning. How often you take a peek at your gutters will depend on how many leaves typically fall in your yard or when you last thoroughly cleaned your gutters, but you can establish your own routine for inspecting your gutters. Maybe you already plan to go outside to rake leaves every weekend. You can easily just add checking your gutters to that task!
Keeping an eye on your gutters on a routine basis throughout fall will help prevent water damage in your home.
2. Trim Those Trees
Some of us in Northern Virginia are lucky to have beautiful wooded lots, especially those who live in McLean or Vienna. Unfortunately, all those trees means more yard work every time fall rolls around. If your yard has trees growing close to your roof, more falling leaves will likely end up in your gutters. It's a good idea to trim some of your branches before fall starts to help keep the number of falling leaves low. Or, trim your trees in the middle of fall if you've noticed an excess of leaves in your gutters to see if it helps.
3. Contact a Residential Waterproofing Professional for an Inspection
Finally, an excellent way to keep your gutters from clogging this fall is to contact an expert waterproofing company! NV Waterproofing is proud to serve Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland with expert wet yard solutions, wet basement solutions, and more. Clogged gutters can lead to serious water damage in your Northern Virginia home, so you should have your gutters and house inspected by a professional to keep water damage at bay.
If water damage does occur from clogged gutters, our experts provide top-of-the-line water damage restoration for your home. Contact us today for a free inspection!
