7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like most homeowners, your rain gutters aren’t something you often worry about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in Elyria. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of gutters is to create a route of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they are in good condition, your gutters will route runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from rust.
When gutters are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too easy to fix to be the cause of any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is simple and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good clue that your gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you notice a gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you should call a gutter company 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 house the way they should be. Standing water can lead to 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
Either one of these is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the exterior of your home. Mold and mildew mean there is too much moisture around that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it might be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a scenario when the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Elyria would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s actually raining to notice this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned. In either case, you want to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, your leak could be caused by any number of things. The pooling problem we mentioned earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so important to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be designed to work with this flow of water 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 by force or by overwatering. It will also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually find water marks right under the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication that rain water is pouring down the outside of the gutters and not 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 in the middle, they have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your house to identify any possible damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few easy tips Elyria Gutter Experts recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once a year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less problems you’ll have with them.
The best 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 local 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 fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the problems we discussed above.
We’d recommend that you do 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 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.
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 section of landscaping.