7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like most people, your rain gutters are not something you really 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 understand how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in White Plains. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to create a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they are in good shape, your rain gutters will lead runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the foundation and basement from leaking water, and the rain 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 see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty strong clue that your gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you identify a possible gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable repairing 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 is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the rain runoff away from your house the way they should be. Pooling water can lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas around your house consistently wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Either one of these is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or on the sides of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is a lot of moisture in that area – a possible issue with the gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are appearing, it may just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a situation where the advice and expertise of a professional in White Plains would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will need to wait until it’s actually raining to discover this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and needs to be cleaned out. 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 might be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned earlier could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so necessary to keep your gutters in good shape!
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 disperse into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This rain water can kill plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually find water marks right beneath the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that water is pouring down the outside of the gutters and not staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The last sign of gutter damage is the simplest 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 assess any damage to the roof, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some simple tips White Plains Gutters recommends to 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. As with anything else, the better you care for your rain gutters, the less problems you’ll experience with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners clean their gutters on their own, but there are many professional 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 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 wrote about above.
We’d recommend that you do 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 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.
But, if you let the problem go on for too long, you might end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.