Clarksville basic maintainance-gutter cleaning

Keeping Your Clarksville Home Looking Great With Basic Maintenance

Written by tnwebtech on September 20, 2021. Posted in Gutter Cleaning, Roofing.

Home maintenance isn’t just about aesthetics: Regular cleaning can reduce unnecessary wear and help you cut back on unnecessary service calls. Whether you feel the urge to perform some Spring Cleaning, are trying to maintain a New Year’s resolution, or are simply in the mood to focus on your Clarksville home, it’s always a good time to check some maintenance elements off your checklist. Here are some simple home maintenance steps to perform on a regular basis.

Rain Gutters

Rain gutters are an essential part of your roof, and they need to be cleaned regularly. At least once a year, make sure to use your hose and wash away any leaves that have collected. Make sure your gutters properly drain, as blockage can damage your gutters and lead to early wear on your roof. Make sure to note if your water pools anywhere after it’s been drained, to look for signs of staining or wood rot.

Inspect Your Shingles

Similar to gutters, shingles provide important protection for your roof. Take a look at your shingles on occasion, especially if you’ve experienced heavy winds or snow. Even seemingly minor shingle damage can lead to rot and potential water incursions in your home, which can cause mold. Shingle replacements are far cheaper than the problems damaged or missing shingles can cause.

Clean Windows and Screens

Windows generally don’t need to be cleaned frequently, but the process is fairly simple and serves as an easy way to upgrade your home’s look. Screens, however, can become damaged due to neglect. Take out your screens, give them a thorough wash, and patch any damage that’s occurred. Before reinstalling them, clean your window frames while they’re easy to access.

Set Your HVAC Filter Schedule

Air conditioning and furnace filters need regular replacement. Look in your manuals to find out how frequently replacements are needed, and make sure to mark your calendar to ensure you have a replacement filter ready when it’s needed. If you’re overdue for a replacement, make sure to pick up a filter promptly to ensure your HVAC system is operating efficiently and isn’t wearing down prematurely.

Clean and Inspect Your Deck and Fences

Wooden decks and fences need to be cleaned on occasion to avoid staining and rot. In addition, proper sealing is often required for pressure-treated wood. Look out for signs of early rot so you can address the problem as soon as possible. In most cases, resealing is fairly easy to perform on your own, and it can lead to a much longer deck lifespan.

Flush Your Water Heater

Over time, sediment builds up at the bottom of your hot water heater, reducing its contact with the heating element and potentially causing water flow problems. Make sure to flush your water heater at least once a year, and be sure to follow safe guidelines to avoid scalding and other injuries.

Oil Your Garage Door Tracks

Most of us have experienced a squeaky garage door at some point. Fortunately, the solution is simple: Oil the tracks. Doing so helps you avoid annoying squeaking, but it also makes for easier operation and helps prevent further problems from developing.

Repair Your Weatherstripping

Weatherstripping tends to wear down over time, so make sure to inspect it regularly. Finding out your weatherstripping is compromised during a rainstorm can leave you scrambling to mitigate damage, and damaged weatherstripping can raise your heating and cooling bills significantly. Fortunately, it’s generally easy to replace.

Touch Up Your Walls

Chipped paint and minor scratches generally don’t cause damage, but they do diminish the look of your home. Check for signs of damage and perform touch-up work as needed. If necessary, set aside some time to repaint your walls.

Inspect Fireplace Dampers

Because fireplaces tend to go unused during warmer months, they become a popular place for animals. Birds, in particular, find fireplace dampers to be a great place to nest. Before using your fireplace, make sure to inspect the damper and remove any debris that’s accumulated.

Tree Trimming

Tree branches inevitably grow, and branches that contact your home or wires can cause a number of problems. Set a schedule to check out your tree branches on occasion, as they’re often easier to trim well before they reach your home. Note that tree trimming using a ladder is notoriously dangerous, so consider calling an expert and be extra cautious around power lines.

Scheduling home maintenance is important, but there’s plenty you can do on your own. Set your seasonal cleaning schedule and stick with it to enjoy an attractive home and to keep your Tennessee home in excellent condition.

Clarksville Tennessee gutter water stain removal company

What Causes The Water Drip Stains On The Gutter Exterior?

Written by Gutter Company on July 24, 2021. Posted in Gutter Cleaning.

Often we get asked by our customers, “why are there drip stain marks under my gutter?”

In many instances, water damage to your exterior is a serious problem that can be averted, but otherwise it’s just an inevitable part of general wear and tear. In this article we explain a few examples.

Most externally hung gutters will eventually have water run marks on the underside of the outer edge and also on the fascia. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a leak. This drip staining of the gutter exterior, can happen even if your gutters are perfectly hung, and even with correct downpipe placement and a gutter guard in place.

On aluminum and steel gutters that are powder coated, this will become a deep hardwater stain that often cannot be removed. But don’t be alarmed, it doesn’t mean there’s any real structural damage to the gutter, it’s just annoying to look at. Hardwater stains are the build up of waterborne minerals that are left behind after water dries. If you look at a flat surface under a microscope, you’ll see that most flat surfaces are not actually flat; they have tiny little crater like holes. The minerals and dirt in water are stuck inside the little craters when the water dries on the “flat” surface. This creates a hard water stain.

Unfortunately, water can get in to places where we don’t want it to be. Water can taper across horizontal surfaces, and even sheet upwards across upward sloping surfaces. A good example of the phenomenon of water tapering is an ordinary glass of water. We all know that when we are drinking from a glass of water, for some annoying reason, we end up with water underneath the glass and then on the table where we place the glass. This is why coffee tables have coasters. Water finds its way to the underside of the glass bottom. During rainfall some of the water hits the outer lip of your gutter and drips downwards.

Next time it rains, don’t be so worried if your gutters are a little bit moist on the underside, it happens. But with that said, there’s a fine line between normal moisture build-up and potential damage. If you are experiencing water sheeting or flooding due to blocked gutters, or blocked gutter guard, call us today on (931) 272-2108. We have many solutions for overflowing gutters, we can also conduct minor tweaks to existing gutter guards, in order to minimize the issue of water spill-over in guttering. Our gutter and fascia cleaning service will make the gutters look new again! Contact the Clarksville gutter cleaning company today.

Seamless Gutters Versus DIY Gutters Tennessee

Seamless Gutters vs. Sectional Gutters, Which Are Better?

Written by Gutter Company on June 24, 2021. Posted in Seamless Gutters.

To manufacture a seamless gutter, you need a professional grade gutter machine. Sectional gutters (DIY Gutters) differ from seamless because sectional gutters are installed in pieces and have seams. Whereas, seamless gutters are exactly what they sound like, seamless.

Sectional Gutters

Sectional gutters have been around for thousands of years. The earliest gutters were made from wood and often designed into a half-round trough shape, sectional gutters have evolved and now are made from different materials like vinyl, steel, aluminum and copper. Today’s sectional gutters come in 10ft – 20ft sections and connect to one another to form a larger roof drainage system. Since sectional gutter systems connects smaller sections to form larger gutter runs, its weakness lies in the material used and the points at which the gutters connect; the joints.

Seamless Gutters

Seamless gutters are a single continuous piece of gutter often cut from one single-coil piece of metal, typically aluminum but also copper. With longer runs of gutters, there is not an easy DIY installation which means you need a professional with a seamless gutter machine to install these gutters.

When comparing seamless gutters vs. DIY gutters, there are some big differences between the two in the following categories:

Gutter Installation
Gutter Security And Strength
Gutter Repair Ability
Gutter Cost

Gutter Installation

Some homeowners opt to install their own gutter system which can be done by purchasing sectional pieces and joining them together as needed. Seamless gutters can only be installed by using a professional gutter machine typically mounted to a service truck.

Gutter Security & Strength

Seamless gutters are by far superior to sectional gutters because they do not have weak points (joints).

Gutter Repair Ability

Repairing a seamless system is more difficult since the entire system will typically be in need of a replacement. Typically seamless gutters need far less repairs than sectional gutters due to their strength.

Gutter Cost

You might assume that sectional (DIY) gutters cost less than seamless but the cost ends up being almost identical when you consider all the pieces you must purchase.

Seamless gutters typically cost between $9 and $25 per foot, so depending on the size of your home you can expect to spend anywhere between $999 and $2500.

Gutters And Downspouts Need Routine Maintenance To Function Properly

Written by Gutter Company on June 22, 2021. Posted in Gutter Cleaning.

As much as we may want for things to last forever without needing to be cleaned up or repaired, this merely does not occur. You take your vehicle in for oil modifications and repairs. You fix things around your house when they break down or get used out. This is merely a part of life, and your gutters and downspouts are no different.

What Causes Gutters To Clog?

The main cause of rain gutter clogging is your home’s proximity to trees. All year, and then more intensely in autumn, trees shed leaves. Some leaves find their way onto roofs and from there, into the gutters and downspouts. The clogging is quicker and more troublesome for houses that have flat or near-flat roofs.

Other common issues that cause gutters and downspouts to clog:

Drainage Problems – Consider that a 30-foot section of standard five-inch gutter can hold up to about 36 gallons of water at one time. All of that water is flowing toward one (or sometimes two) two-by-three inch downspout openings, then down past one or two downspout elbows before exiting the gutter system. Even in a moderate rainstorm, the large quantity of flowing water is likely to back up to some degree, which allows time for solid debris to be deposited along gutters or in downspouts.
Not Enough Gutters and Downspouts – If there are not enough gutters on the sides of your home, the rainwater may overflow. This can overwork your gutters and downspouts, damaging them.
A Decaying Roof – More and more over time, shingle granules will come off of your roof and begin to clog your gutters.

Gutter Downspout Elbow Clogs

Did you know that gutter elbows are an important part of gutter downspouts and gutter leaders because elbows enable gutter installation to be “tight” to the house or building.

However, gutter elbows can sometimes create their own clogging issues. Gutter downspout elbows are designed to bend and curve and this can cause dirt, shingle granules and other debris to get caught up. When gutter elbows get clogged they must be cleaned to ensure proper water drainage and avoid costly repairs to your home. Cleaning downspouts at a multi-story level can be time consuming and dangerous.

What if this task of cleaning high downspout elbows could be severely limited or even stopped all together?

The most common gutter elbow used has a 75 degree slope. This is a pretty severe turn that can catch and hold debris. If your gutter downspout elbows are causing you routine problems then consider changing them out to 45 degree elbows. 45 degree elbows are a much smoother turn that is far less likely to catch and hold debris from your roof.

If you desire your gutters and downspouts to carry out the task that they were designed to do, then you must ensure that they get regular maintenance carried out on them. When you stop to believe about how little it really costs to have a Hopkinsville, KY gutter cleaning company come out to your home, it must be clear that disregarding your gutters and letting them fall under a state of disrepair is an expensive error. Don’t let your gutters and downspouts cause you worry. The Gutter Professionals can keep your gutters in top shape, quickly and affordable.

Clarksville TN storm, gutters overflowing with water

The Importance Of Gutter Maintenance

Written by Gutter Company on June 3, 2021. Posted in Gutter Cleaning.

One of the responsibilities of owning a house or any building is maintenance. Taking care of the gutters can be a dreaded (sometimes even forgotten) task that no one wants to take care of themselves. Thankfully there are professional cleaners and gutter technicians who deal with gutter repair, maintenance, and cleaning.

The Importance Of Gutters

Gutters may seem like a pain and a simple addition to your house, but in reality, they do a lot for you to prevent damage to your property. Their main purpose is to divert water away from your building that could otherwise cause expensive damage. Your siding, basement, foundation, and landscaping all benefit from the simple fact that you have gutters.

Erosion from water can be disastrous on any house. Siding that is exposed can start to rot through, and paint that was once pristine will start to fade. Homes located in rainy areas can even begin to grow mold and mildew without the protection of gutters. Your gardens and yard work are susceptible to heavy rain or washes too if you are not careful. Even your basement can be flooded, or worse—your foundation can shift because of improper water flow around the house.

In the long run, gutters can limit the effects that erosion has on important locations while improving water flow to prevent any flooding or foundational problems. That is why regular maintenance to prevent drooping or damage from occurring is important to the longevity of your home. They might not seem like much, but Clarksville gutters do a lot to protect property from damage.

Why Maintain Gutters

Maintaining gutters is fairly easy and doing so regularly can prevent home damage too. While the gutters themselves offer protection from erosion, they are susceptible to catching leaves and other debris that might get carried over during a heavy rain. The accumulated weight of this debris can cause significant damage not only to the gutters themselves but also to your Tennessee home.

Gutters are placed directly on the edge of your roof, meaning the overhanging sections must support all of the weight the gutters accumulate. It might not seem like much, but weight and erosion can cause a strain on your roof potentially resulting in serious damage. If a gutter has too much weight on it, or goes too long without maintenance, it could take part of your roof with it when it falls.

Another issue that plagues gutters is clogging. Although it is unsurprising, debris can easily clog gutter drains, forcing water to pool on the roof and in the gutter before pouring over the edge. When this happens, you might as well not have gutters in the first place, as the water is draining where it would have if they weren’t even there.

Step to Take Care of Gutters

When you are taking care of your gutters, it is important to recognize the point at which they need work. You shouldn’t let them go for long if you realize that something is wrong with them.

If left alone, a simple problem can turn into a major water leak or erosion issue. That is why servicing your gutters is important either on your own or by hiring a professional gutter company.

Making sure that your gutters are in proper working order should be a priority. Repair, maintenance, and cleaning is necessary to ensure that there will be no serious issue in the lifetime of your gutters.

Common Causes of Gutter Damage

Gutter damage typically happens because of a lack of care, but there are extreme cases where weather has played a key role in the damaging of gutters. Ice is particularly bad for gutters of any kind. Not only are the bolts that hold them in place exposed to the cold, but the heavy weight and forming ice can completely ruin gutters. Ice expands when it forms, forcing the gutters to expand with them. There are some covers that you can place on your gutters to avoid worst case scenarios in winter, but if you are caught unprepared, you can face catastrophic damage.

To spot potential issues before they arise here are 5 non-weather-related ways gutters get damaged:

Blockage in the gutters
Blockage in the pipes
Incorrect installation
Dislodged joints
Inadequate pipes

Most of these can easily be fixed, so long as you know what to look for before it happens. Blockages should be cleared as soon as possible and many joints can easily be tightened back into place.

Clarksville Gutter Professionals

If you are in need of gutter maintenance, repair, or cleaning, The Gutter Professionals is the perfect place to look. We have professionals who can service your Tennessee or Kentucky home quickly and without delay, protecting your property from the potential damages neglected gutters can bring. Contact us to receive a free estimate on your gutter servicing needs.