What Damage Can Hail Do To Gutters?
There are months of the year in which we are more exposed to highly changing weather factors. More and more we can hear in the news that in the middle of summer a large hailstorm has fallen in very hot places. These hailstorms usually cause quite unexpected damage, such as the destruction of crops, the breaking of car windows, etc., and of course they can cause terrible damage to our gutters. What can we do about it?
Guttering companies such as All About Gutters Inc are used to our installations helping to evacuate rainwater, thus avoiding infiltration, but when the accumulated water is in the form of hail or snow, problems often arise that we are not used to.
Depending on the material of our gutter, we will find damage of a lesser or greater degree. Obstruction due to ice accumulation is one of the problems that we can find, but water overflows due to its accumulation is usually the one that causes the most work. In this post we are going to learn about the problems that a large hailstorm entails in our gutter system and the possible ways to prevent it from affecting us.
Hail damage to our gutters
It should be noted that prevention is the best advisor in this type of breakdown, so it is highly recommended that after a storm we check our stormwater evacuation system to verify that there has been no serious damage. In the event that there is any damage, we must repair our gutter immediately and thus avoid a greater evil in the future.
Normally the gutters that we find in homes are usually made of aluminum or some other metal resistant to this type of mishap. It is unusual for this type of material to be affected by a hailstorm, however, as we have said before, the best advice is prevention.
Today there has been a tendency to use PVC gutters instead of metal ones due to their low cost and lightweight, however, climatological factors are very devastating in this type of material. It is advisable to avoid, as far as possible, the use of PVC gutters to evacuate rainwater since they are not very resistant and over time this material loses hardness when constantly exposed to sunlight, causing injuries. such as cracks or holes.
If the installation of the gutters is not in your hands and the house already has PVC gutters that have been damaged by the passage of a hail storm, the most advisable thing is to carry out a new installation of aluminum gutters to avoid possible future damage. . This new installation may involve an economic outlay, but without a doubt, it will avoid greater evils in the future and therefore it will avoid a loss of money.
If the storm has been so severe that even the metal gutters have been affected, the first thing to do is check their condition after the storm has passed. We will repair the affected sections to prevent the appearance of cracks and thus ensure its effectiveness for longer. We will check that the gutters evacuate the water effectively and we will make sure that there is no type of leak.
Hail clogs in gutters
Keep in mind that hail not only causes dents, but is also responsible for flooding. Hail is nothing more than solidified water that accumulates at certain points, giving rise to much more serious damage. This last point is precisely the one most feared by gutter professionals since this type of water tank is very difficult to manage. Although the gutters are made to evacuate large amounts of water, there are many times when, although there is no previous damage to the gutter, it is not capable of evacuating the water for different reasons. One of them is the installation of gratings in the downspouts. This type of protection grilles are installed to prevent objects from falling through the gutters, but just as an object cannot fall,
We can try to solve this problem by installing leaf guard grilles that prevent hail from falling inside, thus avoiding the obstruction of the water outlet. When the hail is very strong and large, this measure may not be effective and may even be damaged.
In any case, the most important thing to keep in mind is the periodic review of our facilities, especially when there have been storms of this type that may have caused some damage to our gutters.
