How to Easily Prepare Your Gutters for the Winter

It’s important to inspect your roof and gutters before winter comes. Strong winds and rain, snowfall, hail, and freezing temperatures can all do serious damage to your home if you’re not adequately prepared.

So how do you prepare your gutters for winter? Read on as Gutter Helmet® of Eastern NY, your number one provider of Gutter Helmet, offers a few ideas.

No Way Around Cleaning

Cleaning your gutters is a must. It’s not a chore that most people enjoy, but someone has to do it. You can do it yourself by standing on a platform or using a ladder, but if you’re not comfortable doing this you can hire professionals to get the job done instead.

Leaves, branches, and sometimes even animal nests are just a few of the things you’ll have to clear out of your gutters. The good news is if you’re willing to do this regularly, the task is much easier. Neglecting to clean your gutters and downspouts results in clogs that can cause overspills and serious damage to other areas of your house, including the foundation.

Consider Gutter Helmet

Not keen on the idea of cleaning your gutters on a regular basis? No problem. We can install Gutter Helmet, which will do the job for you. Gutter Helmet prevents gutter clogs without you ever having to lift a finger, keeping your gutters clean and clog-free at all times.

Watch Out for Ice Damming

You may not even have to climb onto your roof to check for ice dams. If ice damming has occurred, you are likely to spot icicles hanging from the eaves.

Ice dams occur when melting snow or ice from the upper part of your roof collects at the edge of the roof and freezes again there. With an ice dam, water cannot drain properly into your gutters, so it backs up against your shingles, causing damage. The water can seep into your roof, causing a leak that will worsen over time.

Gutter Helmet of Eastern NY’s Helmet Heat® system features heated gutters. Installing this system means you don’t have to worry about ice damming, as the self-regulating, energy-efficient, completely safe mechanism keeps water flowing by preventing it from freezing in your gutters.

Look for Rust or Corrosion

Over time, parts of your gutter may become rusted or corroded. This is especially true in coastal areas, or in regions where ice damming is common. If the rust or corrosion is serious, you may have to replace your gutters. We can install new gutters and instruct you on how to take better care of them so they’ll last longer. We can also install Helmet Heat to prevent ice dams from forming in the first place.

Gutter Helmet of Eastern NY has over 40 years of experience serving homeowners in the Schenectady and Middletown, NY, areas. Call us today at (855) 483-3678 and let’s talk about your replacement gutters.