Controlling water runoff is critical to maintaining your home or business’s value and preventing drainage problems around your property
Gutters are important rain management systems that do both. They protect a structure and its foundation while preventing many damaging water-based issues. Ideally, they add a crisp, finished look that both complements and completes a home or building.
What are gutters?
A gutter system is basically a series of channels that are installed along the edges of a roof. The channels collect rainwater from the roof and direct its flow away from your home’s foundation, structural features and landscaping. These systems are designed with a slight drop or grade to encourage water to flow along desired pathways and are available in vinyl as well as metals like aluminum, galvanized steel and copper. Seamless gutter systems are noted for their strength, durability, customization and minimal joints.
Why are gutters important?
As a rule, each square foot of roof collects 0.6 gallon of water per one inch of rainfall. So, one inch of rainfall on a 1,000-square-foot roof, for example, will yield about 600 gallons of water.
If you don’t have a properly functioning gutter system in place, rainwater is left to sheet from your roof and strike the ground below—and it can do so with surprising force that rapidly erodes soil. Uncontrolled, water can strip away soil, cut pathways and seep back toward foundations
- This can lead to issues like leaks, poor drainage or even flooding, unsightly staining on exterior cladding, and persistent moisture and mold in basements as well as structural instability.
- It can also damage landscaping by exposing root systems that would otherwise help to control erosion.
- Unmanaged or improperly managed runoff to adjacent properties can even result in conflicts with neighbors.
Are all gutter systems the same?
To be effective, roof-edge rain management systems need to be tailored to a structure’s architectural design and landscape setting. Roofline complexity, story levels, structural features, and the surrounding terrain and footings all place demands upon the system.
Inadequately designed or improperly installed systems can create overflows, encourage blockages, leave critical areas vulnerable to water damage, or even lead to new runoff and drainage issues.
What is the best gutter system for my home or business?
The best gutter system for your home or business is the one that is specifically designed for it and professionally installed so that it can do what it was designed to do—collect water from the roof and divert it away from the structure in an appropriate manner.
That’s exactly what you’ll get from us here at MF Contracting. We do it all, offering the best gutter systems available custom designed for your application and professionally installed. Whether your project involves new residential construction, replacing or repairing an established gutter system, adding new spouting components for an addition or outbuilding, or commercial construction, MF Contracting will get the job done worry-free.
If you’re in southeastern Missouri, give us a call. We proudly serve homeowners and businesses in Potosi, Farmington, St. Louis, Festus, Fredericktown and surrounding areas.