How Important Are Rain Gutters With Gutter Protection?

Posted by Adrienne Reeves on September 4th, 2021

The history of when the first rain gutter was fitted to a building is unknown, but they go back a very long time. In England in the Middle Ages a very common lawsuit was for rainwater from a neighbor\'s gutters damaging a house. Materials for the average wattle-and-daub house, basically just mud and sticks, were very vulnerable to such damage. But it is interesting that even relatively simple houses routinely had gutters out of necessity, although they were simply boards to direct the water flow away from the walls. The alternative would be huge overhanging roofs to carry the rainwater well clear of the walls. However their history goes back much further and they are very evident on grand buildings from earlier times, with gargoyles or other waterspouts to throw the water well clear of the structure.

 

Even today, gutters are very important in protecting our houses and helping to control the flow of water from the roof so that it can be directed in a harmless direction to prevent erosion or other damage, with possible legal consequences. Good gutters and downpipes make good neighbors.

 

Despite this ancient history and many incremental improvements in material as well as the understanding of design requirements for an effective rain gutter system on buildings, the basic design hasn\'t advanced substantially for a long time. Today we take rain gutters for granted and seldom consider all the benefits these standard items confer on modern houses. Of course, construction types like log cabins don\'t usually have such refinements and may be damaged because of the lack of this basic protection.

 

However, anyone who has experienced the damage that can follow gutters being blocked by rain or ice with a consequent uncontrolled and harmful overflow of rain or melted snow and ice water. In some climates this is a frequent problem, and most homeowners are very aware of the need to keep gutters unblocked. Anything other than very basic gutters must have suffered from this problem. The early waterspouts could easily end up blocked and water could then dam up until it flooded through the roof and cause damage to the interior of those grand buildings.

 

So it seems strange that only recently has someone come up with a solution to the problem of blocked gutters. Perhaps it required suitable technology to become cheap enough or perhaps gutters were just taken for granted and inventors never considered the potential in developing a better gutter guard system.

 

Whatever the reason, the fact that effective protection is available for gutters to prevent them from getting blocked is an absolute blessing for all homeowners today. There are various systems available, so it is worth looking at the various types and considering their advantages and disadvantages before deciding on a particular type.

 

We confidently predict that rain gutter covers will become standard features in most new construction. At the moment very few buildings have this form of protection, although all concerned homeowners should have a system like this retrofitted to their homes. Gutter protectors greatly reduce the chances of damage and eliminate the tiresome chore of checking and clearing, so they pay for themselves with time and labor as well as repair bills. If you still don\'t have gutter guards you should have them fitted to your home or office building as soon as possible so that you can start enjoying the benefits right away, you won\'t be sorry.

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Adrienne Reeves

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Adrienne Reeves
Joined: April 22nd, 2021
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