7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like most homeowners, your rain gutters aren’t something you often worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you understand how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most roofs in Amherst. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … building materials that are designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of gutters is to provide a route of least resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they are in good shape, your rain gutters will direct runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaking water, and the gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When they are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your home and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too easy to repair to be the reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you notice any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good indication that your gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you notice a possible gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you’d rather call a gutter repairman for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the rain runoff away from your home the way they should be. Pooling water can lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will leave the areas surrounding your home constantly soggy 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 home. Mold and mildew mean that there is a lot of moisture around that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are more likely to grow on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it might just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a scenario where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Amherst would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s actually raining to look for this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It could just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned out. In either case, you want to have it checked right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the construction of your basement, the leaking could be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned earlier could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so important to keep your gutters in good shape!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain 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 submerge into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This rain water can destroy plants by force or by overwatering. It might 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 sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated. You usually see water marks right beneath the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a typically a sign that water is pouring down the outside of the gutters rather than staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The final sign of gutter damage is by far the easiest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to assess any possible damage to the roof shingles, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple ways Amherst Gutters, Inc. recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once a year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the fewer problems you’ll experience 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 clean their gutters on their own, but there are many professional 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 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 signs we mentioned above.
We’d recommend that you do an exterior home inspection after each season to confirm that your gutters are functioning the right way.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of 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 and quickly.
But, if you let the problem go on too long, you might end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.