7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your rain gutters are not something you often worry about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you realize just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most homes in Troy. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … materials that are definitely designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they are in good condition, your gutters will route runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaking water, and the gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When gutters are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your home and property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to fix to be the cause of major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is simple and safe. If you notice any of the following signs, it’s a pretty good indication that your gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you identify a gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather hire a gutter service to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the water runoff away from your house the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas surrounding your house consistently soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Either one of these is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is a lot of moisture around that area – a possible problem with the gutters could be the cause. Remember that mold and mildew are likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it may just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a time where the advice and knowledge of a professional in Troy would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s actually raining to notice this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It could just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned. In either case, you want to have it looked at ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the construction of your home’s basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The standing water issue we discussed before could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls will only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so necessary to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this water flow to help it disperse into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This water can kill plants by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed building materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You usually see water marks under the gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication that water is running down the outside of the gutters and not staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The final sign of gutter damage is by far the easiest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they definitely have damage. After a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to assess any possible damage to the roof, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some easy tips True Clean Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least one time each year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.
The best time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are many local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with the mess or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. Just a fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the signs we discussed above.
We’d recommend that you do an exterior home inspection following each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning the right way.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Fixing a problem before it becomes too bad can save you a lot of time and money. A small crack, for example, can be sealed, or the section of gutter with the crack can be replaced very affordably.
But, if you let the problem go on too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.