This is going to be a boring post. Chances are that you have heard this a zillion times. But it’s so important that I will preach it a zillion-and-first time: Clean out your gutters!

If yours look like the one on my garage here in the picture, you should actually clean them out NOW! (That the annual leaf collection and cutter trucks finally arrived in our street this morning was a sure sign that the trees and shrubs have done most of their shedding.)

If there was only one thing I have learned from the many home inspections I have attended, it would be the fact that packed, broken, loose or blocked gutters and down spouts are a major reason for water collecting around house foundations and, as a result, wet basements. They’re also often responsible for water intrusion around windows; they cause wet and moldy walls and rotten woodwork.

If you are a home owner, chances are that you know all this, but you might still forget. Don’t! Go outside right now and think about what your gutters are going to do (or not) in the next heavy rain.  It’s no fun, and it can even be expensive if you live in a larger house, but it’s really that important!