7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like many homeowners, your gutters are not something you really worry about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until 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 virtually unnoticed on most houses in Middletown. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a path of least resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof quickly. When they are in good shape, your gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the rain gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When they 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 reason for major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a pretty strong clue that your gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you notice a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather hire a gutter specialist to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water near your home is a sure 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 lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas surrounding your house consistently wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew 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 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 growing, it may be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight. This is a time where the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Middletown would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s actually raining to discover 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 needs to be cleaned out. In either case, you want to have it looked at ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The standing water issue we discussed earlier 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 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 shouldn’t. This pooling rain water can kill plants either by force or by overwatering. It will 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 sometimes left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually see water marks beneath the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually 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 easiest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to identify 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 few simple tips Swift Gutters Inc. recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once a year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the less issues you’ll have with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, 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.
Inspect your gutters often. Signs of gutter damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. A fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – will reveal any of the signs we wrote about above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to be sure that your gutters are working correctly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Fixing an issue 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.
But, if you let the problem go on for too long, you might end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.