7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like a lot of people, your rain gutters are not something you really think about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize just how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in Rock Hill. They blend into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a route of least resistance for rain to get off your roof quickly. When they are 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 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 easy to fix to be the reason for major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following signs, it’s a pretty good clue that your gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you find a possible gutter issue, you can decide whether it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather call a gutter specialist for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the rain runoff away from your house the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your house perpetually 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 sides of your house. Mold and mildew indicate there is excessive moisture in that area – a possible problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mildew and mold are more likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it may be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a scenario where the advice and expertise of a professional in Rock Hill would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will have to wait until it’s actually raining to discover this type of gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and should be cleaned. Either way, you want to have it looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your basement, your leak could be caused by any number of things. The standing water issue we discussed earlier could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is 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 laid out to work with this water flow to help it submerge into the ground. But, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will cause 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 might also displace flower bed materials like mulch or rock.
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 into the ground. You will usually find water marks 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 and not 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 in the middle, they have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to identify any possible damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple tips Rock Hill Gutter Service recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once a year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.
The optimal time to clean gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners clean their gutters on their own, but there are many local 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 damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. A fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – will reveal any of the issues we wrote about above.
We’d recommend that you do an exterior home inspection following each season to confirm that your gutters are functioning correctly.
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.
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 section of landscaping.