Gutters: Louisiana's Weather Can Take Its Toll

One of the most essential pieces of the exterior of your home, aside from your roof, is your gutter. Our beautiful Baton Rouge landscaping and yards are dependent on the sound guttering that channels water off of our homes through our lush yards. Well, just like everyone and everything else, even your gutters are vulnerable to our, at times, extreme south Louisiana weather and temperatures.

As we get into that time of the year when the mercury begins to settle, and still before it drops out of the thermometer, this is a great time to take inventory of not only your roof, but also your guttering system. Most materials, aluminum, copper, and so on, are subject to thermal expansion. The extreme heat of summer causes the material to expand. And the same goes for the freezes of winter, as these same materials contract. As your copper gutters or aluminum gutters ebb and flow in size and strength, that can mean trouble.

The wood material used on the fascia or soffit is also susceptible to expansion and contraction as temperatures vary, even more so than aluminum. With both of these materials changing, they can account for a nearly two inch impact from how each piece should align. With new gaps and kinks in your gutters, they obviously won’t work as intended.

When installing, repairing or replacing gutters, make sure not to do so during extreme temps when the materials are at their most reactive. Temps as high as 100 degrees and as low as 30 degrees or lower will drastically impact the condition of your gutters.

Now that the weather is nicer and the afternoon rain showers are easier to dodge, take the time to inspect and mend your gutters in the places where the summertime heat may have gotten the better of them. A dependable, quality Baton Rouge roofing and gutter supplier, like Cribbs Incorporated is a great resources for shoring up those gutters before winter settles in.