Homeowners look upon blocked and clogged gutters as no big deal. To them, a clogged gutter is not unlike having mud on the tires. Instead of worrying about it, no harm done, simply wash the mud off when the spirit moves you.
That might work with tires, but it can be a costly attitude to have when dealing with gutters. Below is a photo of a bank owned property. It is not hard to imagine, in the hard rains we have had this year in the Pacific Northwest, that the gutter overflows on a regular basis.
When the gutter overflows, that leads to the water rolling out of the trough at the front and behind the trough. It then ends up being routed down below onto fascia and the roof sheathing. The photo below, probe in rotten wood, was taken right below the gutter that was shown up above. This becomes an expensive repair when the roof sheathing and fascia rots out as a result of gutters that have not been maintained.
At this point, cleaning up and solving the problem is way more complicated than simply hiring a handyman to remove the debris from the gutter. Negligent maintenance can come back to haunt the homeowner in surprising and unexpected ways.
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