Many people are very considered about the upkeep and maintenance of their home, and for good reason. They want their home to look nice and they want their home to last them a long time so that they can pass it off onto their next of kin or simply sell it off for a high market value. Your gutters might often be passed over when you are upkeeping and maintaining your home.

However, not doing regular gutter cleaning can cause more damage to your home than just being an eyesore. If you do not clean your gutters, you can deal with a litany of home maintenance issues that you absolutely do not want to deal with.

Leaking Gutters

Oddly enough, one of the least of your worries is still a relatively major concern: leaking gutters. If you do not clean your gutters, the amount of debris in your gutters can cause a mighty strain on their integrity and cause your gutters to splinter and crack, which can cause a leak.

A leaky gutter can wind up causing damage to the gutter itself, but most importantly, it can cause damage to the very thing that your gutter was put in place to protect: the exterior of your home. Leaky water from gutters can drain and spill forth from the leak and pour down the walls of the exterior of your home, damaging vinyl and occasionally the integrity of the home itself.

Leaking Roof

An unclean gutter system can cause your leak to roof as well. By allowing debris such as leaves, twigs and other forms of tree debris and litter to accumulate in your gutter, you're not allowing water to properly drain from your roof. As such, the excess water will sit on your roof, back itself up, and not being allowed to drain, will seep into your roof. This can cause a whole host of damage to the roof itself, the shingles, your attic, your ceiling and any insulation that might be in your attic and top floor ceiling. This is not to mention all of the damage that this can cause to your personal belongings, as well.

Damaged Foundation

It's sometimes easy to forget about the easiest part of the gutters to clean: the area from which it drains out. Many people remember to hop up onto their ladder and clean out the gutters that surround their roof, but the area at which the gutter empties is often left neglected.

You need to clean out this area just as often as you clean out the portion of the gutters that surround your roof, as if you allow clutter to surround your gutter in this area, this can create a backup of the water's flow, which can wind up sitting at the base of your house. The build up of water can damage your foundation by seeping into the concrete, breaking it down and cracking it. The water can also collect in the soil, causing it to expand and shift, thus shifting your home's foundation.

Insect Infestations

So long as you do not clean your gutters, water will continuously back itself up, which will cause conditions that will allow insects to flourish. There is no area that insects like more than dark and dank areas. So long as debris clutters your gutters, you are creating conditions that will be quite dark, with all of the cluttered debris, and quite dank, with all of that added moisture in the area.

Keeping your gutters clean is absolutely essential so long as you wish to maintain a decent, well kept house. Hopefully, this article has given you some insight regarding what happens if you let your gutters decline.