7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most people, your rain gutters are not something you often worry about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality is very simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you realize how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most roofs in Portage. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … building materials that are meant to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to create a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they are in good condition, your gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaking water, and the rain 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 easy to repair to be the reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is simple and safe. If you notice any of the following signs, it’s a pretty strong clue that your gutters have some type of damage.
Once you identify a possible gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you should trust a gutter service to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water near your home is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the water runoff away from your home the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. And, it will leave the areas around your house perpetually wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Either one of these is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the sides of your home. Mold and mildew mean that there is excessive moisture around that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mildew and mold are likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a situation where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Portage would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s actually raining to discover this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and needs to be cleaned. In either case, you need to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking could be caused by any number of things. The pooling problem we discussed earlier could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be designed to work with this water flow to help it submerge into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling water can kill plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is a lot of moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually find water marks under the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign that rain water is streaming down the outside of the gutters rather than staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The last sign of gutter damage is by far the simplest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your home to identify any damage to the roof, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple ways Pristine Gutters recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once each year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you care for your rain gutters, the fewer problems you’ll have with them.
The best time to clean gutters is during the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. A lot of homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to handle the mess or the risk.
Inspect your gutters often. Signs of damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. A quick inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the problems we discussed above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection after each season to be sure that your gutters are working correctly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of 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 easily be replaced very affordably and quickly.
However, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.