It accumulates in your gutters when fine organic material moves from your roof into the gutter.
I found mud like debrei omn my gutters.
Twigs sticks pine cones shingle grit and mud all easily form into a horribly disgusting concoction that is a pain to clean out of your gutters.
It seems to be most prevalent early and later in the shingles life.
Essentially silt is dirt and other tiny particles that build up a sort of soil layer on the bottom of your gutters.
As the dirt gets compacted and saturated with water it can turn to tough and almost cement like mud.
Keep all foliage from touching or leaning against your house.
No gutter sludge doesn t come from the depths of outer space.
This fine debris can slip into your gutters unnoticed and can accumulate there causing water to back up or gutters to warp and sag.
If you allow debris to accumulate here the resulting buildup can block the free flow of water and allow it to collect forming a prime breeding.
This includes debris such as needles or partially decomposed leaves.
You won t be able to see it unless you climb up and look at your gutters from above but it s actually one of the most harmful build ups if left for too long.
Shingle sediment is made up primarily of sand like granules or grit that separate from asphalt shingles and other small matter that sticks to the roof surface and washes into gutters.
This sludge is also made up of algae small pieces of moss and even roofing material that moves off the roof.
Fortunately a drain snake is effective tool for unclogging a drain blocked with mud or dirt.
A layer of needles at the bottom of your gutter is one of the toughest items to get rid of when you re cleaning your gutters.
Nonetheless each cause tends to have its own tell tale signs making it all that much easier to identify the culprit.
As you can see gutter leaks can be caused by a range of different problems some of them quite minor and some not so much.
Dirt or mud accumulation can be the most frustrating as common household drain cleaners can t chemically react to dissolve dirt and flush it away.
Not all gutter problems can be fixed on your own.
Some of the worst debris for your gutters is the debris that s nearly invisible.
Even if bees wasps or hornets haven t found a home there are a few things you can do to prevent a nest from forming this summer.
The mud mixture will easily clog the gutters and stop the proper flow of water which can lead to costly and irreversible damage to your roof your landscaping and even your foundation.
This is especially true of gutters that have any low hanging trees around them or gutters that are full of debris.