7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your gutters aren’t something you really worry about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but besides that, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most homes in Olympia. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … building materials that are designed to stand out! Most are made of durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof quickly. When they’re in good shape, your gutters will direct runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from rust.
When they are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to repair to be the cause of major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is easy and safe. If you notice any of the following issues, it’s a pretty strong indication that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
Once you find a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you’d rather call a gutter service for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water near your home is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the water runoff away from your house the way they are designed to. Standing water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas around your house constantly wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Either one of these is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or the sides of your house. Mold and mildew indicate there is excessive moisture in that area – a potential issue with the gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are likely to grow on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it may just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a situation when the advice and knowledge of a professional in Olympia 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 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
Based on the construction of your home’s basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The pooling issue we mentioned earlier could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this flow of water to help it disperse into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This standing rain water can kill plants either by force or by overwatering. It might also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually see water marks beneath the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that rain water is running 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 definitely have damage. After a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your home to identify any damage to the roof, outer walls, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a couple of easy tips Olympia Gutters & More! recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once each year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the fewer problems you’ll have with them.
The optimal time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners clean their gutters on their own, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to handle the work 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 mentioned above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection after each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning the right way.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of an issue before it becomes too bad can save you 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 could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.