Are your gutters working for or against you?

Over the past few weeks the Ohio Valley has finally been blessed with some much needed rain. Along with that rain, the phone calls for faulty gutters have poured in to our office at Procraft Home Products. Many of the problems these homeowners experienced were due to clogged downspouts. Make certain when cleaning the gutters of your home that the downspouts are clear of debris as well. One way to clear clogged downspouts is to use a garden hose as a makeshift water snake. In many cases this will work; however, if this method proves unsuccessful, disassembling the downspout may be the only alternative. Another problem commonly associated with gutters is the not having the proper extension at the bottom of the downspout. This results in wet basements and foundation problems. The extension should be three to four feet long allowing the water to drain efficiently away from the foundation of the home. Over 43,000,000 cubic inches of rain flows off an average thirty square roof every year. To put this into perspective, this is enough water to fill sixteen Olympic size swimming pools. One cubic foot of water weighs 62.4 lbs; therefore, a clogged gutter filled with water can be very heavy. A four to five foot section of gutter weighs as much as 60 lbs. Left unattended, this is sure to create not only water problems, but total failure to the gutter system as well.