Most people believe that the only thing that will be in the gutters are leaves, but this simply isn’t the case.
Sure, leafy debris makes up a lot of what we find and remove from gutters, but you might be surprised at what else we find!
The gutters can create quite the ecosystem that allows many things to grow. Leafy debris will break down into a muddy, sludge type of material that is high in nutrients. Add a few seeds that blow in, some bird droppings (that may also contain seeds), plus add some fresh rainwater and sunshine and there you have it, all the ingredients for a lovely garden to grow.
This might mean that just some small moss or lichen may grow, but then you can have grass growing and then we go to full on plant growth. We had a franchisee that was quite the gardener and they would often find lovely – and sometimes quite expensive plants – growing in gutters that if carefully removed, could be replanted in a place where they should be growing or in a pot, rather than growing in your gutters.
Because of the shape of gutters, we have removed many a plant and sometimes not really a plant but more like a small shrub or small tree (yes, some as high as 5 or 6 feet high), the root system of this growth will growth along the inside of the gutter and due to the confined space, can grow to be quite strong and branch like.
You only need to ponder on this for a moment to realise just how damaging this can be to your gutter system by growing within the gutter. Add to this that the gutters can then be blocked and have potentially damaging effects to your home with water damage, but that these plants will also attract pests with a ready-made food source PLUS this will also cause your gutters to rust.
The biggest challenge is that you often can’t see this gutter growth (that’s what we like to call your garden in a gutter) from the ground. Even some of the biggest plant growth is not visible from the ground so until your gutters start overflowing you may have no idea that you even have blocked gutters, let alone gutter growth.
This is why it is important to have your gutters cleaned at least once a year – perhaps more often if you are in a leafy area. At Gutter-Vac we can provide a preventative maintenance service whereby we can inspect and clean your gutters on a regular basis (at least once a year) so that you never need to look up at your gutters and wonder what is going on inside.
If you are not sure what is growing in your gutters, then it might be time to give us a call so that we can attend to that gutter growth and have your gutters doing their intended purpose of taking water off of and away from your property, not being the garden on the roof of your property.
