7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like most people, your rain gutters aren’t something you really think about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until your rain gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you understand how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in Romeoville. They blend into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to create a route of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they’re in good shape, your rain gutters will direct runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When they are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to fix to be the reason for any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a pretty good clue that your gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you find a gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather hire a gutter service for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the rain runoff away from your house the way they should be. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will leave the areas around your house perpetually soggy 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 sides of your home. Mold and mildew indicate that there is a lot of moisture in that area – a possible issue with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are appearing, it may be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a scenario when the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Romeoville would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll 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 out. In either case, you need to have it looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the construction of your home’s basement, the leaking could 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 block out so much water. That’s why it is so important 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 disperse into the ground. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it shouldn’t. This pooling water can kill plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is too much 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 right under the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign that water is streaming 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 simplest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good 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 Action Gutter Cleaning recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time a year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, but there are many professional gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with the work or the risk.
Inspect your gutters often. Signs of gutter 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 wrote about 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. Fixing 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 be replaced very affordably and quickly.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.