Reasons Why Your Home Needs Rain Gutters
1. Problems with your Home or Deck Foundation
One of the primary reasons your home needs gutters is because your foundation might crack and lead to costly repairs. Due to build up of saturated soil below your foundation from inefficient drainage, as the temperature becomes hotter and colder (seasonally) the soil contracts and expands beneath your foundation. Some of the soil will “washout” causing a shift in your home.
2. Stains to Siding and Natural Rock
The rainfall that is dripping off your roof has dirt, pollen, and chemicals from the atmosphere in it that can cause your stone/brick walls, siding, and various wooden structures to stain or discolor them. In addition, the rainfall that drips to the ground causes the soil, rock minerals, and vegetation to “back-splash” onto your home.
3. Damage to Wooden Fascia, Decks, and Other Outdoor Wooden Structure
Damage to your home or property from not having gutters can be very surprising and unnoticed until it is too late. When the rain fall has the corresponding elements in the previous paragraph that are in contact with wood, it will cause these wooden structures to age faster and decay, or “rot-out”. Wood is expensive as well as the inconvenience of pest infestations.
4. Washout of Landscape Beds, Topsoil/Aggregate-Base Foundation Materials, and Vegetation
Many Home Owners Associations (HOAs) require landscaping around your home for various reasons and the rainwater that runs off your roof can cause damage to your vegetation and even kill them due to the lack of proper drainage. The rainfall run-off can also washout the landscape soils, mulch, and aggregate rock. The Central Texas Region has a large portion of limestone, bedrock, or mixture thereof. Limestone naturally erodes faster and can leave behind sink-holes in your yard.