7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your gutters are not something you often worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their functionality is very simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you understand just how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most homes in Lakewood. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of gutters is to provide a route of least resistance for rain to get off your roof. When they’re in good condition, your gutters will route runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaking water, and the gutters themselves from rust.
When they 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 fix to be the reason for 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 good clue that your gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you find a gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you’d rather trust a gutter service for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the water runoff away from your home the way they should be. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas surrounding your house constantly 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 the sides of your house. Mold and mildew indicate that there is excessive moisture in that area – a potential issue with the rain gutters could be to blame. Remember that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it might be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a scenario where the advice and expertise of a professional in Lakewood would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s raining to look for this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and should be cleaned out. Either way, you want to have it looked at ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the construction of your home’s basement, your leak could be due to any number of things. The pooling issue we discussed before could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is important to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters empty directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this flow of water to help it disperse into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This standing rain 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 excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually see water marks under the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication that rain 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 by far the simplest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to identify 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 a few easy tips Lakewood Gutter Cleaning recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least one time each year. You can lengthen 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 issues you’ll experience with them.
The best time to clean 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 themselves, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that provide 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. A quick inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the problems we discussed 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 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 and quickly.
But, if you let the problem go on too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.