How Winter Can Speed Up The Need For Gutter Repairs

Winter in North America can be quite harsh in many places. While houses are built to withstand this pressure, some external fittings will suffer through the brunt of the change from winter to spring. One of these is your gutters. Gutters play an important role in preventing the exterior of your house from taking too much water damage, so it is important you keep them in great shape. Here are some ways in which winter may have affected your gutters and why a bit of gutter repair may be necessary. 

Ice Can Crack Gutters

The problem with ice is that it expands a lot larger than the water it once was. That is why winter is so dangerous for internal plumbing because if the water in your pipes freezes, then it can cause the pipes to explode from the pressure due to the increase in size. The same is true in your gutters, especially over several years. Gutters can only handle so much pressure from the warping they go through due to the constant appearance and disappearance of ice throughout winter. If you live in a place where there has been a lot of ice and frozen temperatures, then make sure you get your gutters checked out.

More Chance Of Corrosion

Even if the ice or snow did not affect your gutters through warping, they can still cause them to rust prematurely. This is simply due to the fact that often snow and ice stick around on the surface of your gutters a lot longer than water will because water from rain simply drains away. Snow will sit on top of your gutters, sometimes for days, before melting. All of this time provides a greater risk of corrosion and it is something that can be hard to stop before it is too late. 

Weight

Not only can snow cause your gutters to corrode quicker, but it can also put a lot of weight on top of your brackets and supporting structures for your gutters. This is especially true if you have had a few heavy days of snowfall in a row. At the end of winter, it always pays to get an expert to have a look at whether you need gutter repair to prevent certain sections from falling in the near future due to the increased fragility caused by heavy snowfall. 

Reach out to a gutter repair company to learn more.