Check your gutter installation
Check your gutter installation
Professional home inspector Fred Hernden advises home owners to check the gutter installation at their homes. Make sure the replacement or new gutters are properly installed.
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Happy New Year!
Well, I did my last Inspection of the year yesterday... yes, I am taking the next two days off!
I recommend having gutters installed every time I find a house that doesn't have them. Why? It's a good idea to get the water that runs off of the roof AWAY from the foundation. Especially here in Florida, most of our homes here are not built on virgin soil. Meaning that the foundations are built up. Some, 3 feet or more. The soil is not as compacted as virgin soil, and even though they are supposed to do testing to check the compaction, letting the rain water run off your roof and beat on the soil right next to your foundation is not a good idea.
This particular house had gutters, although the ones on either side of the front porch roof were not installed correctly. They were pitched back towards the house and exited on the roof. The problem is, that the water flow washed into the shingle tabs and could possibly run under them, (as illustrated by the yellow arrow in the picture). They should have pitched them the other way and installed downspouts to the ground, or put caps on the end, (as illustrated by the red arrows in the picture) and installed a small/short downspout to make the water flow down with the slope of the roof.
Whenever you have work done to your home, if you are not sure or knowledgeable enough to double check the completed work, have someone that is look at it before you pay them!
Also, go look at fellow Inspector Reuben Saltzman's post on the Top 20 Home Inspection Photo's From 2012. Very entertaining!
Happy New Year to all my friends here on Active Rain!
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