Gutter Downspout Extensions Protect Your Home from Water Damage
Not everyone knows what gutter extensions are or what they do. They are the final step in protecting your home from water damage due to rain. The first step in protecting your home from rain damage is obviously the roof itself. The pitch of your roof and what it is made of will determine what kind of gutter problems you will have and ultimately how your gutter extensions will work.
For example, an asphalt roof with a high pitch will give you more debris falling into your gutters. This debris will go down your downspout. Ultimately, it will affect how effectively your rain gutter extensions do their job of pulling water away from your foundation.
To prevent this from happening and causing damage to your foundation, you should talk to someone about professionally installed gutter guards. A product like MasterShield, that protects your gutters from getting clogged and prevent your gutter extensions from failing, can help.
Remember, your roof, gutters, downspouts, and rain gutter extensions all work together as a system to pull water away from your roof, your siding, and your foundation. Once your gutters and downspouts are working it’s time to look at how a gutter drain extension can protect your home from further water damage.
What Is a Gutter Downspout Extension?
As you probably know, gutters protect your home from accumulating moisture by directing it away from your house and into a downspout. A downspout is an enclosed vertical gutter that runs down the side of your house all the way to the ground where the water finally dumps out.
However, you don’t want a lot of rainwater saturating the ground around your house where it could flood your basement or damage your foundation. At the very least, rainwater that sits around your foundation can cause mold and mildew.
So a gutter drain extension is a trough that attaches to the bottom your downspout and directs the water away from your house to a specific location. Usually, a drainage area away from your home.
What Kind of Gutter Downspout Extension Should I Buy?
There are three types of gutter extensions: roll-out, flip-up, and flexible. Each one has its advantages, but they all work as that last critical step to preventing water damage to your home.
Roll-out gutter extensions are flexible rain extensions that stay rolled-up and out of the way until it rains. As soon as they start filling with rainwater, they will unroll and let the rainwater flow out. They will automatically retract when they are empty.
Flip-up gutter extensions are rigid conduits that attach to the downspout to channel the water away from the foundation. Flip them up when you want them out of the way, like when you mow the lawn.
Flexible extensions are bendable plastic conduits that attach to the downspout and can direct the water runoff more specifically. They come in longer lengths and also have features like perforations that you can use to channel water to the dry parts of your lawn.
