7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most people, your gutters aren’t something you really worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their functionality is very simple.
It’s not until gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most roofs in Everett. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … building 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 least resistance for rain to get off your roof. 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 foundation and basement from leaking water, and the gutters themselves from rust.
When gutters are damaged, it can cause 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 major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you identify any of the following issues, it’s a strong indication that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you identify a gutter issue, you can decide whether it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you should hire a gutter service to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water near your home is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the water runoff away from your home the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your home 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 the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is excessive moisture around that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it might be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a situation when the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Everett would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s actually raining to notice this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned. Either way, you need to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking could be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we discussed earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in good shape!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
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. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling rain water can kill plants by force or by overwatering. It will also displace flower bed materials like mulch or rock.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually find water marks beneath the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically a sign that water is pouring 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 definitely have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your house to assess any damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to your standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some simple tips Everett Gutter Experts recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once a year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the fewer problems you’ll experience with them.
The recommended time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. A lot of homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are 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 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 problems we mentioned above.
We’d recommend that you complete an exterior home inspection after each season to ensure 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 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.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.