Yes, I am all wet! As a licensed Home Inspector, one of the items I routinely make comments on is the debris build up in the gutters. Of course that is on other people's homes not mine! Not every house in Central Texas has gutters, but mine does. I also have three large Oak trees (the name of the street I live on is Oak) and they lose their leaves late in the winter season here, around January. It also doesn't rain much here but when it does it comes down in buckets! Like today. I am working from home, catching up on the blogs in Active Rain, when I hear what sounds like water pouring down outside my office window. I look and my gutters are overflowing!
I have noticed my cluttered gutters for a few weeks always thinking, "I'll get to it ....tomorrow." It was tomorrow, today. I donned my desert camouflaged wet weather gear left over from my all expenses paid trip to Afghanistan with the Navy Reserve and grabbed my ladder and ventured forth into the down pour. As I scraped the leaves and acorns out of the gutter I noticed the level of water and possibility it had got up under the bottom level of the shingles past the drip-edge and the felt paper to the sheathing. This is the problem I remark on during inspections. Gutters, eave troughs and down spouts which are not functioning properly because of debris can cause water to build up and possibly lead to moisture damage to the roof system. I am once again guilty of the old adage, "Do as I say, and not as I do." I routinely perform maintenance on my HVAC system, water heater and other ground level systems. I hate cleaning the gutters. Today is one of the times I wish I was better at not procrastinating. Today I will dry out a little bit and work on that procrastination thing, tomorrow....
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AuthorMatthew Lutz is a seasoned inspector with over 30 years in HVAC, construction and firefighting. a 29 year veteran of the Navy Reserve he retired in 2009 as a CWO3. Archives
October 2020
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