Affordable Gutters Guide – How To Choose And Clean Them

If you live in Florida, you’re more than familiar with how rainy it can get. And without gutters to control the rain that falls on your house and protect it, the structural integrity of your home can quickly become compromised. However, as long as you have the proper knowledge, choosing and cleaning the perfect gutters on a budget is simple.

As you’re choosing affordable gutters, you’ll need to find ones that balance the suitable materials and designs with your intended budget — spending too little on your new gutters can quickly result in a far more expensive issue. Once your gutters are installed, you can also consider options like DIY cleaning or affordable and local gutter cleaning services to keep your gutters running as intended.

Why Is Finding Affordable Gutters Important?

Finding affordable gutters is essential for a lot of reasons. Let’s face it, most of us aren’t made of money. And in a rainy state like Florida, having gutters that efficiently and reliably drain water away from your house protects your home and saves you money in the long run. While it’s generally advised to avoid going for the cheapest materials and services, there are ways to balance budget and quality when it comes to your home’s gutter system.

How to Choose the Best Affordable Gutters

If you’re new to shopping for gutters, it’s not unusual to feel overwhelmed by the sheer variety of gutters. Whether you’re being sold wooden troughs or seamless aluminum gutters, hundreds of materials and styles are available, and figuring out what type of gutter is best for your home can be daunting. Luckily, there are a few rules of thumb you can use to find the best affordable gutters.

Generally, you can expect the prices of gutters to range anywhere from $1 per linear foot for cheap materials like vinyl to $18 for premium materials like copper. You’ll also have to factor in gutter installation, maintenance, and repair costs when deciding what gutter type best suits your budget. While the low price of vinyl might initially seem appealing, the flimsy material tends to cost more to maintain in the long run.

Are Expensive Gutter Materials and Types Worth the Cost?

While certain rain gutter materials are expensive for a luxury aesthetic rather than improved qualities, you can generally assume that expensive gutter materials and types are worth the cost. The cheapest material, vinyl, is excellent for DIY gutter installation and does well enough in moderate weather. Still, the vinyl gutters will quickly bend and break once exposed to one of Florida’s tropical storms or hurricanes.

On average, mid-range materials like aluminum and steel only cost a few dollars per foot but can last two to three decades. Zinc can last up to 50 years if it isn’t exposed to heavy acidic runoff or saltwater, and copper can easily last for a century!

Hiring a professional to install them will be worth the cost of seamless gutters. While the DIY sectional gutters sold in home supply stores function well once installed, they’re prone to becoming damaged along the seams and quickly falling apart. Seamless gutters don’t have this weak point, so it won’t be long before the gutter installation pays for itself.

How to Affordably Clean and Maintain Gutters

Whether you find an affordable and local Clearwater gutter maintenance company to clean your gutters or prefer to learn how to do the cleaning yourself, you’ll need to address cleaning and maintenance sooner or later. You can save time and money while keeping your gutters pristine if you go into the process with the proper knowledge.

Is Learning DIY Gutter Maintenance Worth It?

When hiring gutter cleaning professionals, you can generally expect to pay anywhere from $1 to $3 per linear foot of gutter, depending on which floor the gutter is located on. In other words, you can pay one to several hundred dollars for a professional gutter cleaning service for most typical houses.

Unfortunately, with how quickly debris builds up in rainy weather, the cost of cleaning services can soon add up. If you cannot afford conventional gutter services, learning how to do the process yourself is essential. Water can quickly cause catastrophic damage to your home’s roof and rafters, and if your gutters aren’t effectively able to draw rain away from your home, water damage is bound to happen.

To clean your gutters, you’ll need a few essential tools on hand, including a ladder, thick and sturdy gloves, a screwdriver, a trash can, and, if desired, cleaning tools like drain snakes and leaf scoopers. You can expect to spend anywhere from one hour to several hours cleaning your house’s gutters, depending on the size of your home.

While you’ll save a lot of money cleaning your gutters, the process can be exhausting, slightly risky, and a considerable time commitment. When you trust the right experts to clean your gutters, however, you’ll be amazed by how simple and easy the process is.

Why Investing in Your Gutters Is the Cheaper Option

While DIY maintenance and cheap vinyl gutters might seem tempting compared to the pricy alternatives, these choices often become much more expensive in the long run. DIY cleaning takes away your precious time and energy, while cheap gutters will quickly break down in the harsh Florida weather and require constant fixes and repairs.

For this reason, it’s safe to say that the most affordable gutter option you can choose is trusting the professionals. Starting with a high-quality seamless metal gutter will ultimately mean you need significantly less repair and intensive maintenance in the future. When you trust the professionals that are cleaning your gutters, you won’t need to worry about water damage or decay — your gutters will remain effective and pristine for decades.

Call the Best Affordable Gutter Service Company in Clearwater

If you’re ready to see how the experts can help you keep your gutter system functioning at its best, it’s time to call the trusted, affordable gutter service experts of Clearwater. Here at Smart Gutters FL, we have a reputation for quality and reliability that spans the entire Tampa Bay area. You can become one of our thousands of satisfied customers — and all it takes is calling one of our friendly staff members today for a free consultation.