Thursday, November 3, 2011

Seamless Gutters Will Save Your Siding, Time, and Money and Keep Your Home Exterior Looking New


Water and time are the most damaging forces that mother nature can throw at any home. If preventative measures are not taken to curb the damaging effects that rain, snow, and ice cause, a home owner's biggest investment will become the biggest liability and expense. Chances of wood rot, mold, fungus, and insect infestations are greatly increased each and every time the home's exterior siding, soffits, and fascia become saturated with moisture.

One of the least expensive and easiest upgrades to add to a home to prevent or greatly reduce the damaging effects of rain, snow, and ice build up are rain gutters. The whole purpose of gutters, that are properly sloped, are to channel excess amounts of water away from the roof edge and siding and into a downspout that delivers the water a sufficient distance away from the foundation and driveway. By channelling excess water away from the structure's foundation, a homeowner is eliminating the chance for standing water to collect at the base of the foundation. Should the ground slope permit the discharged water to flow back towards the foundation and collect at the base, then this is cause for serious concern and an entirely different problem.

Without gutters installed at the base of a sloped roof, there is no way to prevent rain, snow, and melting ice from dripping from the roof edge. When the water lands, it will create a mild trough like depression along the entire length of the roof edge. Even minimal amounts of rain and water will begin to collect in the trough-like depression. When this happens, splashing from continuous falling rain will hit the siding at the base of the exterior wall. Over a relatively short time of two or three years, wood rot and fungus will begin the rapid process of wood decay. Newer construction initially stands a much better chance of minimizing this process due to newer materials that are better resistant to rot and fungus, however, this issue left unaddressed will quickly degrade.

There are several different types of rain gutters available on the market. Metal gutters have been the most widely used in the past. Plastic gutters are also available. These two types are available at most big brick and mortar home improvement stores, but are labor intensive to install and require constant maintenance year after year. Installation is recommended by more than one person. Each 10 foot section of gutter needs to be adhered to the next gutter section with a connector piece and either resin or adhesive. Over a short time these connections can leak under the constant weathering of the elements. The most effective and most maintenance free gutters are seamless gutters.

The advantages of installing a seamless gutters are just that, seamless. These rain gutters are shaped and molded from a continuous rolled sheet of metal on-site in order to achieve a precise fit and because they are seamless, are not prone to leaks as the afore mentioned connector pieces. Properly mounted, seamless gutters will long outlast the do-it-yourself gutter assembly and require far less maintenance ensuring a hassle free drainage system for years to come.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2552452

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