We’re taking questions today on the topic “Getting your house ready for winter.”

Question: I’m getting too old to clean gutters, and it seems they are always filled with leaves and debris that cause problems with ice and snow in the winter. What do you think about gutter-protection systems?

Answer: They are all about the same and only as good as the installation and the warranty. My gutters are 12 feet above the ground and easily accessible with my foldaway ladder, but last year I bought some gutter protectors at the home center and installed them on the garage and in other troublesome places.

They seem to work well.

Most basement water-penetration problems are caused by misdirected water from the roof.

Check to see if the gutters have pulled away from the edge of the house or if they are out of alignment. Clean leaves and other debris out of the gutters, and repair any holes that have developed in the trough.

If there are any broken gutter brackets, replace them, too. Make sure downspouts are secure and have no leaks along the way to the ground. Once they are cleaned, fill the gutters with water and check the drainage.

If the water drains toward the house, adjust the downspouts so it will drain away from the house. Use splash guards to ensure that it does.

Q: I have lots of shrubbery growing up against the house. The intention was to make the house look more attractive, but now the shrubs seem to be growing wildly, taking over and looking sort of ugly. My spouse likes the wild, overgrown look, so I need a cogent argument to get him off the couch for a few hours and tackle that trimming job.

A: In football season, only dynamite would blast him off the couch, and then the reconstruction of the TV room—and your husband, of course—would be a problem.

If you have plants growing against the foundation of your house, you might want to cut them back. When you have an opportunity to move them—check to see whether you can transplant them in the fall—do so, because root systems too close to the foundation can dig into the masonry and direct water into the basement.

Lots of mildew can build up on the exterior of the house in the shade of such shrubbery, so once you cut the plants back, clean the surface thoroughly and repaint it with primer and a finish coat containing a mildewcide.

While you’re at it, make sure the soil on the side of your house pitches away from the foundation, not toward it. The solution might involve regrading, and you might need the services of a landscaper to do it properly.

One job invariably leads to another, so make sure your spouse doesn’t decide to try to do it all at halftime. A couple of weeks back, I was washing a basement window and screen in a spot heavily shaded by a couple of huge shrubs.

I decided to trim back the shrubs, and then put back the screen. When I did, I discovered the overgrowth had hidden some minor damage to the foundation, which was easily repaired with concrete caulk, some mortar that I had prepared for re-pointing on the chimney. Behind one shrub, the paint on the cedar siding had bubbled, so I needed to scrape, prime, paint and then apply a second coat.

Have questions for Alan J. Heavens? E-mail him at

aheavens@phillynews.com

or write him at The Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia PA 19101.