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A reason for dirt in the gutters?


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As the last snow was melting we noticed that the gutters were more clogged than we thought. So, dh climbed up there today and found that at least 1/2 of the length of the house on each side is over half full of potting soil. Very few leaves on top. I thought he was joking but after looking at it, I think it is potting soil too, complete with those little white styrofoam ball things that is in cheap potting soil.

 

We just bought the house in October. Yes, the previous owner had some issues, IMO. But is there any good reason why someone would want to put dirt in the gutters?

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I would guess that it is decomposed leaves. But I don't know about the little stryofoaming things, are you sure they aren't egg casings or bird poop or something?

 

No matter how strange the pervious owner, I can't imagine going to the effort of putting potting soil in your gutters.

 

Has there been any tornadoes that could have blown soil up there?

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Well, she did have kids, or at least 1 teen dd. Yes, I am sure that it is styrofoam balls. Those tiny ones. Thousands of them. If it was just a couple I could say a bird or something. I even opened a bag of cheap stuff to compare. Bizarre. Of course every time we saw the previous owner I could smell alcohol. And then there was the time she drove by after we moved in and yelled, "Give me my house back! I want my house back now!" :001_huh::confused:

 

Since we have never lived in a house with gutters before I just wanted to make sure that dirt in the gutters was not something sane that some people did for a legitimate purpose.

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Are you absolutely, positively sure it is styrofoam? I have seen material in our gutters that I think came from our shingles as they slowly degrade over time. It is white and crumbly and looks like the plant food specs in potting soil.

 

I would suspect that might be what you have. The leaves begin to decompose quite quickly and also I think some of the dark material is also from the shingles.

 

Check a handful of the stuff and see if the "styrofoam" floats. You never know. Are there any windows at a higher level than those gutters? Perhaps they had window boxes at one time?:confused:

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Are you absolutely, positively sure it is styrofoam? I have seen material in our gutters that I think came from our shingles as they slowly degrade over time. It is white and crumbly and looks like the plant food specs in potting soil.

 

That was my first thought as well. After we got a new roof we also found "dirt" with "sand". It was from the new shingles. Also those leaves compost nicely up in the gutters if they haven't been cleaned out every year or so.

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Are you absolutely, positively sure it is styrofoam? I have seen material in our gutters that I think came from our shingles as they slowly degrade over time. It is white and crumbly and looks like the plant food specs in potting soil.

 

I would suspect that might be what you have. The leaves begin to decompose quite quickly and also I think some of the dark material is also from the shingles.

 

Check a handful of the stuff and see if the "styrofoam" floats. You never know. Are there any windows at a higher level than those gutters? Perhaps they had window boxes at one time?:confused:

 

:iagree: At least, that is what it is in our gutters all the time.

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