GUTTER PROTECTION: WHAT HOMEOWNERS SHOULD KNOW
Protecting the very foundation of the house is one of the most important things to stay on top of when you own a home, and having proper gutter protection plays a pivotal role in maintaining the home.
Gutters are the only means of diverting water away from the foundation, but when they’re blocked, water overflows, causing infiltration in a catastrophic chain of events. Water can seep in through the fascia, windows, roof, or through cracks in the bricks, making its way into the home’s foundation. In the winter, the water freezes, expands, and causes further cracks in the walls, allowing water to infiltrate the basement.
KEMF Life Simplified Inc. in Greenfield Park is a company that not only sells and installs gutters, they also created an innovative product called Tek-Mesh. This micro-mesh aluminium screen that can be installed on new or existing gutters to eliminate the build-up of leaves, branches and other typical substances that block gutters, and keep water moving through the downspout and away from the home.
“Gutter protection is essential for home maintenance and to keep the home in perfect shape and to protect it from the infiltration of water,” says KEMF president Mark J. Fryml. “Gutter protection, in itself, has to be done correctly, and Tek-Mesh provides this protection so that debris like spruce needles, leaves, maple seeds and branches, as well as things like birds’ nests, wasps’ nests, and even kids’ toys don’t block gutters.”
Water damage caused by blocked gutters means the headache of house insurance claims. If you don’t have clean gutters, you may even find yourself having to landscape them.
“What happens is that leaves and water turn into compost, or soil, and suddenly you can have little trees, flowers, and more that start to grow in your gutters, and that’s disastrous,” Fryml says. “This is why we keep telling our customers that gutter protection is crucial, because it’s a shield against potential blockage. It guarantees that rainwater will flow freely down the gutter, and away from your home.”
When water can’t flow through the gutters, it will result in stagnant water. This is the perfect home for pests like mosquitoes, which love to breed in these damp, undisturbed locations. Suddenly, homeowners will find themselves having to limit their time outdoors because they’re being bitten by an overpopulation of mosquitoes in their own backyards.
Products like Tek-Mesh mitigate that. Because Tek-Mesh is made of heavy 20-gauge aluminium with 0.032-inch thickness, so it’s strong and durable against Montreal’s severe winter conditions. The micro-mesh aluminium screen is designed to be raised above the level of the gutter, with a rounded edge so that the debris will fall over the edge of the gutters and onto the ground.
In the winter, Tek-Mesh also prevents ice and snow from accumulating in the gutter. Because it’s screwed onto the fascia or the edge of the roof and clipped to the front of the gutter, heavy snow or ice will not be able to enter the gutter and cause damage. During spring or other rainy seasons, the protector has strategically designed water vents that direct fast-flowing rainwater directly into the gutter.
Tek-Mesh can be screwed into either the fascia above the gutter or under the first row of shingles. It is then clipped into the lip of the gutter to make it solid during the winter season. It comes in 10 colours, which can match the gutters or the roof, and comes in fivefoot lengths.
“We manufacture this product as well as install it, but it’s made simply, for the adventurous doit-yourself homeowner,” Fryml says.
Tek-Mesh can be installed on top of all existing 5- or 6-inch aluminum gutters and it’s adaptable to all fasteners, including nails, brackets, and T-Rex systems. A heated gutter wire may be installed under the frontal section, so it prevents icicle formation during winter.
For Fryml, gutter protection is essential. It’s something every single house needs in order to avoid major problems down the road.
“Every home should have gutter protection,” he says. “It’s absolutely crucial in maintaining the structural integrity of a home, and it should never be something that homeowners take lightly.”
For more information, visit Tek-Mesh.com.