Most homeown­ers don’t spend a lot of time think­ing about their gut­ters, but under­stand­ing their impor­tance may pre­vent costly home repair bills in the future. Gut­ters fun­nel water off of the roof and away from your home, which pro­tects your sid­ing, win­dows, doors, and foun­da­tion from water dam­age. While that sounds impor­tant, many homeown­ers don’t real­ize how much dam­age can occur when their gut­ters are clogged, leak­ing, or bro­ken. When gut­ters aren’t func­tion­ing prop­erly, rain­wa­ter runs off the roof of the build­ing and col­lects on the ground near the foun­da­tion. Heavy rains can result in stand­ing pools of water, which can cause a mul­ti­tude of problems. Gutters protect your home from flooding, potential cracking/damage to the foundation, infestations of insects, mold, topsoil erosion, and staining or paint damage on the exterior of your home.