Are your gutters ready for winter?
Clogged gutters can wreak havoc on your home and roof in the winter. Spring isn’t the only time for thawing, snow actually melts and refreezes all winter long. As snow melts, it should be able to drain easily off your roof through the gutters and away from your home. When gutters and downspouts become clogged, the water becomes trapped and has no place to go. In the winter, this standing water is unlikely to quickly evaporate like it does in the summer months and will freeze.
Gutters are not meant to withstand the weight of accumulated debris and ice buildup. Too much weight can cause gutters to pull away from the house, distort, bend and in some cases, completely separate from the home.
Damage caused by winter ice dams
You also risk ice dams forming on your roof. Many of us have heard of ice dams, but it isn’t as common for people to know exactly what they are.
Ice dams form when the warm air from your house melts the bottom layer of snow build-up on the roof. The water will flow downwards, but in temperatures that are below freezing, it will re-freeze when it reaches the gutters or sooner. As ice builds-up along the roofline, it will eventually trap water and prevent it from properly flowing off the roof. When the water and ice have nowhere else to go, it will work it’s way up the roof and cause additional damage.
When water is working its way upward from an ice dam on a clogged gutter, most waterproofing practices will fail. Roof leaking in the winter is often caused by ice dams that have forced water under shingles and into the home.
Call Good to Go Gutters
Looking to avoid cleaning out your gutters every fall? Good to Go Gutters can install gutter guards to prevent leaves and debris from accumulating in your gutters.
Give us a call today to talk about how we can reduce the amount of fall maintenance you need to do every year.