Your gutter system and the snow!
This beautiful white powder, that came way too early this year, can be very damaging for your gutters.
It can be light and fluffy, moist and heavy, as well as soft and melting, but despite its fairy beauty, it can also be harmful to your home.
This can be of great concern for homeowners in the cold regions like here in Quebec!
Don’t forget that ‘cold winters = stress for your gutter system’
Due to climate change, our beautiful province is likely to experience one of the longest and coldest winters in the last 20 years.
All this cold, snow and ice can wreak your gutters. Ideally, snow and ice should melt and flow through your system, but constant freezing temperatures tend to hinder this process.
As a result, the ice and snow can accumulate in the gutters, which increases the weight of certain sections and the fasteners that hold them. Over time, this added stress can cause deformation, bending or even separation of gutters from the roof of a house.
You must keep the gutters clean even during winter season!!
If leaves, twigs and other debris are allowed to accumulate in the gutters, it facilitates the formation of ice and snow blockages that delay the flow of runoff.
When this water has nowhere to go, it will do one of two things: either it drips onto the ground, causing erosion of your landscaping and patches of ice on the roadway.
Or it freezes in the gutters, creating even more stress on the entire system.
The solution? Either equip your gutters with a gutter guard to prevent debris from entering your gutters while allowing the runoff to penetrate and / or clean them even during the winter season.
So, if you live in an area prone to snow, ice and frost such as we are in Quebec, you should strongly consider installing a gutter protector on your home. It will be useful not only for the proper functioning of your gutters during winter, but also to avoid having to clean them as often.
Contact the experts at Modern Eavestroughing to guide you in the purchase of a gutter protection or to help you during the cleaning of your gutters.