Tip Top Trough

The spring season has traditionally been a time for homeowners to deep clean their homes, but this shouldn’t just be restricted to your interior. The outside of your home needs a thorough cleaning as well, and that includes your gutters. But with all the home maintenance chores that pile up this season, it can be easy to gloss over your eavestroughs. And if you don’t clear out all the debris collected in your gutters over the past few months, you could see other issues pop up with your roof, siding, and foundation issues. Spring is a great time to take care of your gutters, so make sure you include this task in your list of spring cleaning chores. Here are a few tips to consider when cleaning them out this season. Use a Ladder Properly Climbing a ladder to reach your gutters can be dangerous if you aren’t careful. You need to reach your gutters to clean them out properly, so it’s important that you use a ladder safely in order to avoid any mishaps. Make sure that you position the ...

Cleaning out your gutters might not sound like a fun weekend endeavor, but it’s important. Clogged gutters can be trouble if not dealt with in a timely manner.  Your eavestrough system is tasked with collecting rainwater and diverting it away from your home. Even a little bit of water left in the gutters can be problematic. So, what kind of problems can you face if you don’t clean your gutters often enough? Foundation Issues Believe it or not, but hundreds of gallons of water are poured onto your roof with every rainfall. And the larger your roof, the more water it will meet. A properly-installed eavestrough system will carry all the water from rain or snow along the gutters, down through the downspout, and away from your home. However, if your gutters are clogged, the opposite will happen — all that water that would otherwise be transported away from your home will spill over the sides and down along your exterior walls. Ultimately, this will allow the water to pool around the...

Cleaning out your gutters is an important part of maintaining your eavestrough system. If your gutters are clogged with leaves and other debris, they won’t be able to perform their job like they’re meant to. The question is, how exactly do you go about cleaning your gutters? More specifically, is there a special tool you can use that would allow you to clean the gutters from the ground? Is There a Tool to Clean Your Gutters From the Ground? The typical way to clean out gutters is to climb a ladder so you can be close enough to reach into the gutters and scoop out any debris that may be in there. You can use your hands, or you can use a scooping apparatus to help you dig in there in case there is anything that’s stuck to the walls of the troughs.  That said, climbing a ladder is not without its hazards. As you might imagine, it can be dangerous to climb a ladder, especially during inclement weather or if the ladder isn’t properly stabilized. Plus, having to climb a ladder is a ...

Canadians are in the heart of the deep winter, and with that comes a ton of snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. These conditions are not really ideal for cleaning out eavestroughs , but does that necessarily mean that gutters can’t be cleaned in the winter? Is it still possible to clean out your eavestroughs during the colder months of the year? It may surprise you that winter eavestrough maintenance is just as important as any other season. Cleaning Your Eavestroughs in the Winter If you’ve ever tried cleaning your gutters yourself, you know how challenging it can be, not to mention dangerous. The job of cleaning out gutters on a nice day is hard enough, but cleaning them in the winter when you’re dealing with frigid temperatures and tons of snow and ice is another ordeal altogether. Nonetheless, cleaning out your gutters in the winter can certainly be warranted in the right conditions. When you clean out your eavestroughs during any other time of the year, you’re typically dea...

When you think of cleaning your eavestroughs, you may conjure up thoughts of digging out piles of leaves, twigs, and other debris that may be characteristic of the fall season. By the time winter rolls around, your eavestroughs should ideally already be cleared of such debris to make room for all the snow and precipitation that fall into them.  The question is, should your gutters be cleaned in the winter too?      Should You Clean Your Eavestroughs in the Winter? In areas where freezing doesn’t occur, cleaning eavestroughs in the winter isn’t usually an issue. But here in Canada, you’d be hard-pressed not to see temperatures dip below freezing throughout much of the winter season, and even into the spring.  As such, you’ll want to make sure that there is nothing in your gutters that could potentially block melted snow. If that happens, the snow and other precipitation will eventually freeze and turn to ice. And when ice blocks are allowed to sit in your g...

Your eavestroughs provide water drainage for your roof and home to prevent damage to the structure. All homes have eavestroughs systems installed, but they still need to be taken care of afterward. As a homeowner, it’s important for you to maintain some sort of regular gutter cleaning schedule in order to avoid any water damage. If your eavestroughs are not cleared out once in a while, they can quickly get clogged, leading to serious damage to the gutters and a potentially expensive repair job.  So, what happens if gutters are not cleaned? What specific things can occur if you don’t maintain your gutter system? Structural Damage If you don’t keep up with gutter cleaning, a number of aspects of the structure of your home can be compromised, including the foundation, roof, soffit, and fascia can become soft and damaged by pooling water. Eventually, these issues can creep into your home and cause damage to your walls, ceilings, and floors. Not only should your gutters be cleaned...