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Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits of maintaining the exterior of their homes, from updating the siding, to installing windows and doors that increase a home's energy efficiency, to replacing worn or damaged roofing shingles. However, there is another key feature on the exterior of your house, that is every bit as vital to the overall value of the home, but which unfortunately is sometimes overlooked: your gutters.
Everyone realizes that exterior doors, especially front doors, are a home's focal point. When you first see a house, one of the main features that grab your attention is the front door. Likewise the style and beauty, as well as energy efficiency of replacement windows, are widely recognized as crucial to having a house that stands out, not only in the neighborhood, but to potential buyers.
But how many of those buyers or neighbors look upward, at the gutters edging a home's roofing? However, just because gutters aren't a visual focal point, improving and maintaining them is as vital to the value of your house as replacing doors, windows and roofing shingles.
Gutters can, of course, enhance your home's visual appeal, by coordinating with or setting off the colors of your roofing shingles and siding. But the most important value of your gutters lies in the key job they perform for your house; they channel away hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from the foundation, preventing expensive water damage.
Such an important job should never be overlooked. It's of the highest importance to your home that your gutters perform their job consistently well, with no impediments from blockages caused by leaves, twigs, the occasional tennis ball or any other debris.
Fortunately, the past decade has seen the development of great innovations in gutter design that help keep gutters permanently clear. Nowadays, permanently covered gutters are widely available in a huge variety of finishes and colors. These innovative gutters block anything that might clog them, while still allowing a free flow of rainwater and snow melt off into the gutter and away from your house.
Most homeowners of older houses plan to invest in new windows and doors as soon as they can afford to, in order to improve the beauty of their home's exterior and reduce their home's heating and cooling expenses. All of those homeowners who also have the older, open-style gutters should consider adding replacement gutters to a plan for replacement windows, or new exterior doors. Even as replacement windows lower a home's heating and cooling costs, earning back their own cost over time, replacing the gutters can lower your maintenance costs. And the new, permanently covered gutters?that keep all clogs out?earn back their cost in a much shorter time. Another advantage to permanently covered gutters is that since they prevent clogs and eliminate water buildup, they also prevent mosquitoes from breeding there, which is an important advantage in this age of the West Nile Virus.
So remember, when planning improvements to your home's exterior, don't forget your gutters. They may not be as eye-catching as your windows and doors, or as obviously protective as your roofing shingles and siding, but they are nonetheless every bit as important to the value of your home.
Karen Lauer, Marketing Director of Air-Tite Home Products specializing in replacement windows, siding, roofing , and custom doors custom doors.
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