Are you also one of those thousands of homeowners who have always wondered about the necessity or the benefit of a house gutter? This is an important contemplation because let’s be real, gutters overflow after rain generating that unpleasant odour.
They can easily clog, provide habitat for cockroaches, and can drain only a limited volume of rainwater. Many times, gutter or no gutter, homeowners find the need of contacting emergency plumbing services after a severe flood due to pipes bursting or leaking.
All in all, rain gutters are a common debatable topic among homeowners and residential plumbing services.
If you have a roof that slopes at a particular angle, you do not even need a rain gutter, however, when you call a plumber for your home, he would usually look for a rain gutter to assess the flow of water.
So to help you assess the importance and need of a house rain gutter, let’s take a look at how good quality and well-designed rain gutter can help you stay safe during the extreme rainy or monsoon season.
What is a rain gutter?
The general purpose of any gutter is to offer systematic flow or channel for water redirection. They are constructed to prevent erosion by water by draining it to a safe place or area around.
However, a gutter has a specific capacity to hold a particular volume of water after which it can overflow and flood the area around. But they still effectively drain the water that they are designed to drain.
The rain gutters are, however, installed on your roof and are constructed either of plastic, aluminium, or copper.
How does a rain gutter work?
The rain gutters on your roof can hold rainwater as teh water gushes down the slope or the side of your roofing system. The direction that the water gets is towards gravity to the ground from where it is safely drained to the surrounding area of your house.
This redirection of water by the rain gutter is essential for the safety of your home. It prevents flooding in the basement or inside the house decreasing the strength of the construction or its foundation.
In multiple homes, the downward flow of water is drained into a specially designed tank or container. This stored water is used to water the grass or the plants around during the non-rainy season.
The Importance of Rain Gutters for your Home
A rain gutter system that is properly designed is crucial for the protection of your home’s construction and foundation under multiple circumstances. Here is how:
The clay-rich ground
The foundation around your house that is rich in clay can be hard to tackle. When the rainwater reaches this ground and seeps into the foundation, this clay will act as a pipeline for redirecting the water.
If you use rain gutters that have a drainpipe attached, the water can be safely redirected to a distant area from your house.
The slope around your house is in an upwards direction
If your home is constructed right at the edge of the slope or towards the lower extreme end, the water will accumulate beside the ground around your house.
However, installing gutters on this side where water gets accumulated will safely allow water to flow on the side of the slope that points downwards. Installing a small-sized gutter will help water flow in the right direction.
Roofs close to the foundation or the ground
In case the roofing of your house is close to the ground, then the water will seep deep into the foundation. This will create serious troubles.
And on top of that, if you live in a town that experiences frequent rainstorms, trenches are likely to form in close proximity to the foundation resulting in increased damages. You might have to go through inches of water before entering or leaving your house after heavy rainfall.
Can the rain gutters be optional?
Modern-day construction ideas and designs construct homes in a way that can perform the job of a rain gutter, eliminating the need for a rain gutter from the get-go.
Under such a scenario, you will be wasting money on installing a rain gutter with its additional costs on maintenance with hardly any benefits.
You do not need to invest in a rain gutter under the following circumstances; but pay attention to residential plumbing services:
- If the ground around your house is sloping downwards to effectively drain the rainwater to a safe place.
- If your house is built around concrete with sidewalks or pathways, or a concrete patio. The concrete offers safe drainage of rainwater without the threat of a flood or an overflow.
- If you reside in an arid climate where rainfall is minimal.
- If the roofing system of your house has extensions or overhangs providing a safe pathway for rainwater to flow downwards.
