Cleaning out gutters is never a task people look forward to. Hours spent balanced on a ladder, digging dead leaves and dirt out of gutters is no one's favorite way to spend a Saturday. It might seem like a gutter's main job is just to get clogged. So, what's the point? Why have them at all? 

Residential gutter installation is important because it helps protect the home and its surrounding land. If you have a home that didn't undergo a residential gutter installation or your gutters are damaged beyond repair, read on to learn why you should get gutters installed ASAP. 

It's likely not big enough for you to notice it, but homes are built on a slight mounding of soil. The reason for this is so that rainwater can run down the incline and away from your home, rather than pooling next to your home's foundation. If your home doesn't have gutters and downspouts to direct the water or if the gutters and downspouts are too clogged with leaves and other debris to work properly, rainwater and melting snow will fall straight down off your roof, eroding that slight mounding of soil. Over time, that erosion can cause the real problems to start. 

Once that slight mounding of soil is gone, it can affect the foundation of your home as your home settles into the earth. You might notice cracks in the walls or floors that are uneven. It even can cause chimneys to tilt out of alignment. A strong foundation is important in a home!

In addition to foundation problems, erosion can allow rainwater to run toward your home rather than away from it. Water-saturated soil is very heavy and can press against the foundation of your home in a way it is not meant to withstand. This can lead to tiny cracks in basement walls that can allow water to enter your home. Even if the water coming into your home is a small trickle and not enough to leave a foot of water on your basement floor, these damp conditions can cause mold growth and create health hazards for you and your family members.

An aesthetic problem that erosion can cause is death of plants in your flower beds that are close to your house. Water running off the roof can pool in those beds situated against the side of your house, drowning plants' roots and killing them. Even evergreens aren't immune. In the winter, those pools of water from melting snow can freeze, killing the roots of your shrubs.