7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like a lot of people, your rain gutters are not something you really worry about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their functionality is incredibly simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most roofs in Evansville. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of gutters is to provide a path of least resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they’re in good shape, your rain gutters will direct runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaking water, and the rain 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 reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following signs, it’s a good indication that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you find a gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you’d rather call a gutter repairman for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water near your home is a good 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 lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas around your house 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 sides of your home. Mold and mildew indicate there is a lot of moisture around that area – a possible problem with the rain gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mildew and mold are likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it might just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight. This is a scenario when the advice and expertise of a professional in Evansville would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s actually raining to discover this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned. In either case, you need to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the design of your home’s basement, your leak could be due to any number of things. The pooling issue we discussed earlier could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so 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 water flow to help it submerge into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling rain water can destroy plants by force or by overwatering. It might also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
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 will usually find water marks right beneath the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a typically a sign that rain 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 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 home to identify any possible damage to the roof, outer walls, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some simple ways Express Evansville Gutters recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once a year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you care for your rain gutters, the fewer problems you’ll experience with them.
The best time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners clean their gutters themselves, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to handle the mess or the risk.
Inspect 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 – will 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 be sure that your gutters are working correctly.
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 be replaced very affordably and quickly.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.