7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your gutters are not something you really worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your 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 Decatur. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are definitely designed to stand out! Most home exteriors are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of gutters is to provide a route of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they’re in good condition, your rain gutters will lead runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When gutters are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to repair to be the cause of any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty strong indication that your gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you find a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you’d rather call a gutter specialist to handle.
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 home the way they should be. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your home perpetually wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is excessive moisture in that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mildew and mold are likely to grow on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where these substances are appearing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a situation where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Decatur would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s raining to notice this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned. Either way, you need to have it looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking might be due to any number of things. The pooling issue we mentioned earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is so important 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 designed to work with this flow of water to help it disperse into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It will also displace flower bed materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is a lot of moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You usually find water marks right beneath the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign that 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 simplest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they have damage. After a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to assess any possible damage to the roof shingles, outer walls, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few easy ways Decatur 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 keeping them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you maintain your rain gutters, the fewer issues you’ll have with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. A lot of homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are professional 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 be visible from the outside of the gutters. A quick inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the issues we discussed above.
We’d suggest 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. 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 be replaced very affordably.
However, if you let the issue go on too long, you might end up making repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.