7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like many people, your rain gutters aren’t something you really worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most homes in Lawrence. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … building materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they’re in good shape, your rain gutters will route runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the rain gutters themselves from rust.
When they are damaged, it can lead to 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 cause of any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you notice any of the following issues, it’s a strong indication that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you find a possible gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you’d rather trust a gutter service to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the rain runoff away from your house the way they should be. Standing water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas surrounding your house consistently wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or on the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew indicate there is too much moisture in that area – a potential problem with the gutters could be to blame. Remember that mildew and mold are likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it might just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight. This is a scenario where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Lawrence would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s actually raining to discover this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned. Either way, you need to have it looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking could be due to any number of things. The pooling issue we discussed earlier could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so important to keep your gutters in good shape!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters pour 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 leaking gutter or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling water can destroy plants by force or by overwatering. It might also displace flower bed materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated. You usually see water marks under the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that 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 spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they definitely have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to assess any possible damage to the roof, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a couple of simple ways Lawrence Gutter Cleaning recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time a year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you maintain your rain gutters, the fewer issues you’ll have with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are many local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the work or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of damage can 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 at the end of each season to ensure that your gutters are working 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 and quickly.
However, if you let the issue go on for too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.