Downspouts: Why It’s So Important They Work Properly for Your Cincinnati Home

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How much thought have you given to the way rainwater is directed away from your house? If it’s done right, you shouldn’t have to give it much thought at all. If it’s not done right, you may find yourself preoccupied not only with concerns about rainwater, but about your home’s foundation.

Gutters are connected to your roof, and work to collect rainwater from it. Downspouts are connected to the gutters, and work to send that rainwater from the gutters, down the sides of your home, and away from the foundation. That way water isn’t just sheeting off your roof and spilling into walls or pooling on the ground in inappropriate places.

Most Cincinnati homes need downspouts. They should be strategically placed around your home to direct water away from the foundation. Without these funnels, water can saturate the ground surrounding your foundation and damage the concrete. It may actually permeate the basement wall, causing indoor leaking, flooding and property damage. It can also wash away the dirt that surrounds and supports your foundation, which means the foundation will be forced to resettle or drop. The walls can crack, causing structural damage that can be difficult and expensive to repair.

You can see why a well-designed, well-maintained gutter system is essential to your home’s physical integrity.

If you have downspouts, and you happen to notice the ground is washed away or divoted below one or more of them, this means you need to funnel the water a little further away, or perhaps relocate the downspout to an area where the ground slopes at a steeper angle away from your home. A popular fix is to add a downspout extension. The extension tubing can be buried, so you can take the water as far away from your home as you like without having a big metal tube in your yard. It’s also important to keep gutters and tubing clear of debris.

If you have concerns about your gutters or downspouts, please feel free to contact Apollo Home Heating, Cooling and Plumbing. We’ve been serving the Greater Cincinnati area since 1910, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

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