7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your gutters aren’t something you really think about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most houses in Suffolk. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … building materials that are designed to stand out! Most are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of 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 rain gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, 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 home and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to repair to be the reason for major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is easy and safe. If you notice any of the following signs, it’s a strong indication that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you notice a gutter issue, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you should call a gutter service to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the rain runoff away from your home the way they are supposed to. Standing water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas surrounding your home perpetually 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 house. Mold and mildew mean there is excessive moisture around that area – a possible problem with the gutters could be to blame. Remember that mold and mildew are likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a time when the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Suffolk would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s actually raining to notice this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned. In either case, you want 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 problem we mentioned before could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters pour directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this water flow to help it disperse into the ground. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This rain water can kill plants by force or by overwatering. It might also displace flower bed materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually see water marks right beneath the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication that rain water is running down the outside of the gutters rather than 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 definitely have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your house to assess any possible damage to the roof, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few easy tips Suffolk Gutter Service recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once a year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the fewer issues you’ll have with them.
The recommended time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners clean their gutters on their own, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the mess or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of gutter damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. Just 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 after each season to be sure that your gutters are functioning properly.
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.
However, if you let the problem go on for too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.