7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like a lot of people, your gutters are not something you often worry about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their functionality is very simple.
It’s not until gutters aren’t doing their job that you realize how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most homes in Minnetonka. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … building materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to provide a route of minimal 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, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaking water, and the rain gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When they are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too easy to repair to be the cause of any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a strong clue that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you notice a gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you’d rather trust a gutter company for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the water runoff away from your house the way they should be. Standing water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas surrounding your house consistently wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or on the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is excessive moisture around that area – a possible issue 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 house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it might be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a time where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Minnetonka would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s raining to discover this type of gutter issue. 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 want to have it looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking could be due to any number of things. The pooling problem we mentioned earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is important 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 disperse into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it shouldn’t. This pooling water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It might 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 left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually see water marks right under the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication that water is streaming down the outside of the gutters rather than 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 in the middle, they have damage. Following 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 couple of easy ways Clean Home Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least one time 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 problems you’ll experience with them.
The best time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to deal with the mess or the risk.
Inspect 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 mentioned above.
We’d recommend that you complete an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to confirm that your gutters are functioning properly.
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 easily be replaced very affordably and quickly.
But, if you let the issue go on for too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.