Check your gutters before winter storms

29/07/08 Marianne Suhr at work on her house in the Oxfordshire village of Blewbury. Picture: John Lawrence 07850 429934

Published on 03/12/2012 17:47

Roll up your sleeves, pull on a pair of rubber gloves and dig that ladder out of the shed: it’s time to spend just a few minutes checking the condition of your gutters and drains. Something as simple as removing clots of leaves and other debris could actually save you from having to spend hundreds of pounds at a later date to put right any damage caused by blockages.

Crucially, after the snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures of recent winters those simple checks might be more vital then ever, as the legacy of freezing conditions could be serious damage including cracked pipes and fractured water courses.

Last Friday was National Gutters Day which was established 11 years ago by The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, (SPAB) Britain?s oldest heritage charity. This annual event marks the end of SPAB’s annual National Maintenance Week an awareness campaign designed to encourage everyone who owns or looks after a building to take a few simple steps at the beginning of winter to ensure that their property is ready for anything that the season can throw at it, especially in these increasingly wet, windy, chilly and unpredictable days.

Water damage is a particular concern when it comes to maintaining a building. The annual clearing of gutters and drains can be much cheaper and less inconvenient than having to cope with a serious outbreak of dry rot in timber roof trusses following years of neglect, or perhaps having to deal with a flooded basement or ground floor caused by a blocked drain.

Visit SPAB’s dedicated website: www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk which is packed with helpful information to help you give your house a top to toe (or gutter to drain) maintenance ‘MOT’ this winter.

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Check your gutters before winter storms

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