7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like a lot of people, your rain gutters aren’t something you really worry about. They need biannual 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!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most homes in Greenwood. They blend into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … materials that are meant to stand out! Most are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to create a path of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof quickly. When they’re 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 rust.
When they are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and 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 easy and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a good indication that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you notice a possible gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you’d rather trust a gutter company for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water is a sure 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 provides 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 sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or on the exterior of your home. Mold and mildew mean there is too much moisture around that area – a potential issue with the rain gutters could be to blame. Remember that mildew and mold 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 situation where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Greenwood would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s raining to find this type of gutter issue. 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 looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the construction of your basement, the leaking could be caused by any number of things. The pooling issue we mentioned before could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is so necessary to keep your gutters in good shape!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters empty directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be designed to work with this flow of water to help it submerge into the ground. But, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling rain water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed building 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 left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually find water marks under the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign 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 find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they definitely have damage. After a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your house to identify any possible damage to the roof shingles, outer walls, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some simple tips Greenwood Gutters recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once a 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 less problems 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 on their own, but there are many professional gutter cleaning companies that provide 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 fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – will reveal any of the issues we mentioned above.
We’d recommend that you complete an exterior home inspection following each season to be sure that your gutters are working the right way.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of an issue 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.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.