7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like a lot of homeowners, your gutters are not something you really think about. They need biannual 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!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most roofs in Boston. They blend into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most are made of durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to create a route of least resistance for rain to get off your roof. 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 leaks, and the gutters themselves from wear and 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 simple to fix to be the cause of major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you notice any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good clue that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
Once you find a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you should trust a gutter specialist to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting 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 designed to. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas surrounding your home constantly soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or on the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is too much moisture in that area – a possible issue with the gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it may just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a situation when the advice and expertise of a professional in Boston would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s raining to notice this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean 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 looked at ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, your leak might be caused by any number of things. The pooling issue 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 important to keep your gutters in good condition!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters pour directly onto the ground in most cases, 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 shouldn’t. This pooling water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It will 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 sometimes left behind even if standing 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 usually a sign that rain water is running down the outside of the gutters rather than staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The last sign of gutter damage is by far the easiest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to identify any possible damage to the roof, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple tips Better Boston Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least one time each year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.
The optimal time to clean gutters is during the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. A lot of homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are many professional 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. Just a quick inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – will reveal any of the problems we discussed above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection following each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning properly.
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.
However, if you let the issue go on for too long, you might end up making repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.