Tips For Winter Gutter Maintenance

The winter months in Monmouth County, NJ can be detrimental to your home. Everything from rain, snow, ice and strong winds can potentially cause damage. These forces of nature can affect your roof, siding and especially your gutters. Gutters are vulnerable and especially prone to harsh weather. They are exposed to the weather and their connections to your roof can weaken over time. 

Even worse is that gutters play a vital role in protecting your home from damage. Most importantly, they direct water away from your siding and foundation. Therefore, a damaged gutter can quickly cause serious issues with the integrity of your home. 

Fortunately, these four tips for winter gutter maintenance will help you protect your gutters from the worst winter weather New Jersey can throw at you. 

Keep Gutters Clear of Debris

This is probably the most obvious tip to protect your gutter. Or even anything in life, “keep it clean and it will work better”, self-explanatory right? However, this is surprisingly the most ignored part of DIY home maintenance. Your gutters should be cleaned EVERY YEAR, especially prior to the snowy, winter months. 

Check out this previous article covering everything you need to know about gutter cleaning; Gutter Cleaning 101.

Snow and ice will accumulate in a clogged gutter. This will cause excess weight on the gutter brackets and poor drainage. Take about a double edge sword. This excess weight can cause the gutter to rip off your house, damaging the roof and everything else on its way down. A clean gutter will allow the water to properly flow down and away from your foundation and prevent ice-dams from developing. 

Keep Surrounding Areas Trimmed and Clear

This goes hand in hand with the previous tip. In fact you could even argue that it’s more important. Ensuring any trees or tall bushes near your gutters are properly trimmed and maintained will prevent the need for constant gutter cleaning. Trimming the foliage will prevent leaves, branches and more from building up in your gutters. Likewise, snow or ice can accumulate on tree branches causing it to crash down and damage your gutters and house.

Check for Structural Damage

You should always be checking your home for damage and potential damage. Exterior wall arounds should be performed before every season change at a minimum. This will allow you to notice any damage including  staining, rotting, cracks and gaps around your gutters. If not immediately fixed, these issues can lead to water damage inside your home and/or foundation damage. 

Furthermore, I recommend walking around your home during a strong rain storm. Doing so will allow you to check the flow of water in your gutters and downspouts. Also, check the entire gutter line for any overflowing water. This can mean your gutter is clogged or not properly sloped, either one should be fixed as soon as possible. 

Invest in Gutter Guards

Also known as gutter covers, these items are used to prevent debris from clogging your gutters. Typically there are three styles of gutter guards; mesh, foam and brush. While they all have their pros and cons, mesh screens are considered the most helpful. These will block small and large debris while preventing the debris from getting stuck within itself. 

Check out this previous article covering The Most Common Gutter Guard Problems.

Foam guards are similar to styrofoam and do a good job of blocking large debris while struggling with small debris. Brush gusts struggle with the same issues. Both of which can also become clogged themselves. 

Either way, these guards do an “ok” job of preventing gutter clogging but are not a set-it-and-forget-it fix. Your gutter still needs to be inspected often and cleaned when applicable. 

Here is another article to help you decide if you Should I Buy Gutter Guards.

Monmouth County Gutter Maintenance 

If you don’t feel comfortable with working on your own gutter, you’re in luck. Our professional technicians here at All Clean Exteriors are trained to properly clean and repair your gutters. Please don’t wait for the damage to occur, reach out to us or another professional if needed prior to those nasty Monmouth County winter storms. Give us a call or message to ensure your home is protected from these upcoming winter conditions.