DIY Gutter Repair

The rains are here and water is free flowing through your homes, down the gutters and off into the ground – assuming your gutters work of course. Here are a few handy maintenance tips for your home’s gutter system that you can do yourselves.

• Build a leaf and debris cover for your drains. It can be a pain to have to scoop dead leaves out of a gutter and if these go down the drain pipe, you’re looking at potentially major repairs. Note also that dead leaves can become the breeding ground for bacteria and certain creepy-crawlers including ants, centipedes and other bugs and help with the corrosion process of your gutter. It might be a good idea to cover your gutter with something akin to what you see below. A cheaper solution would be to cover the gutter with chicken wire if you cannot find the right cover.

• The humble Spatula is a wonderful took for cleaning gutters. You don’t have to dig your hand through the gunk, scoop it up with an old spatula. Being made of plastic, spatulas aren’t hard enough or abrasive enough to damage to the gutter, or exacerbate any existing structural damage to the gutter. It also doesn’t generate the ear shattering shriek of metal scraping against metal.

• Once all the gunk has been cleared out, scrub the interior of the gutter with a wet wire brush to get rid of any rust and any left-over grime. Wash the remaining gunk away and leave it the gutter to dry.

•  If you find any holes after the cleaning that are around the size of a nail or slightly larger, dab a small amount of roof sealant – like Bostik Roof and Gutter Sealant, currently on sale in any MC Home Depot outlet – over the hoe and smooth it out until you are satisfied that the hole and sealed and water can flow freely through the gutter.

•  Larger holes will require the use of Galvanized steel. Put on a pair of protective gloves and cut out a portion of galvanized steel roughly the size of the hold you need to patch up. Generously apply roof sealant to the portion you cut, spreading it evenly over the surface and patch the hole. Seal the edges of the patch with more sealant and smoothen the edges to ensure that water again flows freely through the gutter

Don’t forget to take opportunity of the 40% discount off of Bostik’s roof and gutter sealant! Hurry on over to ANY MC Home Depot branch before the 30th of September to enjoy this great rainy-day deal!