If you have an older home with a brick, stone, or block foundation, you likely have a layer of cement coating the exterior walls. This is called "parging," and it acts as a smooth, protective skin to shield the masonry. However, many homeowners notice this coating cracking, flaking, and falling off in chunks, leaving unsightly bare patches. B. A. Harris Seamless Gutter identifies the primary cause of this damage as "splashback" from clogged gutters, a problem that accelerates the deterioration of your home's base.

Parging is durable, but it is porous. When gutters overflow, water falls two or three stories and hits the ground with significant force. It splashes back up against the foundation wall, soaking the cement skin. This saturates the parging. In the warmer months, this constant wet-dry cycle weakens the chemical bond between the coating and the stone. But in the winter, it becomes destructive.

The water soaks into the microscopic pores of the cement parging. When the temperature drops below freezing, that water expands by approximately 9%. This internal pressure pushes the coating outward, separating it from the wall. This process is called "spalling." Once the parging is gone, the soft mortar and stones underneath are exposed to the elements. This leads to deeper structural issues, mortar erosion, and eventually, water entry into the basement. You end up with piles of gray chips at the base of your wall and a foundation that looks like a ruin.

The only way to stop spalling is to keep the wall dry. You must stop the waterfall. By cleaning the gutters, you ensure the water exits through the downspout system, which should direct the flow away from the foundation wall. This eliminates the splash zone and preserves the integrity of the coating.

If you are seeing piles of gray chips at the base of your wall, you need Gutter Cleaning Medfield. It is the necessary step to stop the exfoliation of your foundation and protect the structural masonry beneath from expensive freeze-thaw damage.

Conclusion Overflowing gutters create splashback that saturates the parging (cement coating) on foundations. In winter, this trapped moisture freezes and expands, causing the coating to spall and flake off, exposing the structural masonry to erosion. Routine gutter cleaning eliminates this splash zone, keeping the foundation dry and preserving the protective parging layer from freeze-thaw failure.

Call to Action Stop your foundation from peeling. Contact B. A. Harris Seamless Gutter to control the water. Visit https://www.guttahs.com/ today.