Are Mosquitoes Breeding In Your Gutters?

Gutters should be cleaned twice a year, at the beginning of fall and at the beginning of spring.

Mosquitoes love gutters clogged with water, wet leaves and other debris. In fact, a significant percentage of mosquitoes in your neighborhood are bred right at home, in your own wet gutters. Experts say all it takes is one tablespoon of standing water to breed hundreds of mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are known to carry many infectious diseases including malaria and West Nile virus, making them a public health menace.   And you may be inadvertently giving them a place to reproduce and attack your family with your gutters.

Reduce the mosquito population:

• Clean your gutters completely. Get rid of absolutely anything in there that could block up your downspouts or otherwise cause problems.
• Leave your gutter covers and gutter guards spick and span, so that you leave mosquitos no place to breed.
• After that, check the slope of your gutters.  They should be running one to two inches in slope for every forty feet of gutters.  You may need to make it a two inch slope to get the best possible results.
• Check after every rainstorm to make sure there’s no standing water in your gutters.

All this will guarantee a much quieter time on your deck…and give those blood-sucking annoyances one less place to pester.