7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most people, your rain gutters aren’t something you really think about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you understand just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most homes in Rockville. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … materials that are meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of gutters is to create a route of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof. When they’re in good condition, your rain gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaking water, and the gutters themselves from rust.
When gutters 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 easy to fix to be the cause of any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is simple and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good indication that your gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you notice a gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you’d rather call a gutter specialist to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the water runoff away from your home the way they are designed to. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your home perpetually soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew indicate that there is a lot of moisture in that area – a potential problem with the gutters could be to blame. Remember that mold and mildew are more likely to grow on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a situation where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Rockville would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s raining to find this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and should be cleaned. Either way, you need to have it checked right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, your leak might be caused by any number of things. The pooling problem we discussed before could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in good condition!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this water flow to help it submerge into the ground. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it shouldn’t. This pooling water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It will also displace flower bed building materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually find water marks right beneath the rain gutters or 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 the simplest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, 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 gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a couple of easy tips Rockville Gutter Cleaning recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once a year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you care for your rain 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 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 offer this service so you don’t have to deal with 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 – should reveal any of the issues we wrote about above.
We’d recommend that you complete an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning properly.
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 easily be replaced very affordably.
However, if you let the problem go on for too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.