7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your rain gutters are not something you really think about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly 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 roofs in Medford. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are made of 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 quickly. When they’re in good condition, 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 rain gutters themselves from rust.
When gutters 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 simple and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good clue that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
Once you notice a gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you should trust a gutter company to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the water runoff away from your house the way they are designed to. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your house constantly wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or the sides of your home. Mold and mildew mean there is a lot of moisture around that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mildew and mold are more likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a situation when the advice and knowledge of a professional in Medford would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s actually raining to find this type of gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and needs to be cleaned out. Either way, you want to have it checked right away.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the construction of your home’s basement, your leak could be due to any number of things. The standing water problem we discussed before could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and 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 flow of water to help it submerge into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it shouldn’t. This rain water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed building materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is excessive 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 right beneath the gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that rain water is running down the outside of the gutters rather than staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The final sign of gutter damage is the easiest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. After a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your home to identify any possible damage to the roof, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple ways Medford Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time each year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the less problems you’ll experience with them.
The best time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. A lot of homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are many local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with the mess or the risk.
Inspect your gutters often. Signs of damage can be visible from the outside of the gutters. A fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the issues we mentioned above.
We’d suggest that you do an exterior home inspection after each season to be sure that your gutters are working correctly.
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.
However, if you let the problem go on too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.