7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like many people, your rain gutters aren’t something you often worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you understand how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most homes in Dearborn Heights. They blend 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 but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to create a path of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they are 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 rain gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When they are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too easy to repair to be the reason for any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good clue that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you identify a gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you should hire a gutter service for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the water runoff away from your house the way they are supposed to. Standing water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas around your house perpetually wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the sides of your home. Mold and mildew indicate there is excessive moisture in that area – a potential issue with the gutters could be to blame. Remember that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it might just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight. This is a time when the advice and knowledge of a professional in Dearborn Heights would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s raining to discover this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned out. In either case, you want to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, your leak could be due to any number of things. The standing water problem we discussed earlier could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters pour 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 gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It might 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 sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated. You usually find water marks under the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that water is pouring down the outside of the gutters rather than staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The last sign of gutter damage is the simplest 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 house to assess any damage to the roof, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple tips Dearborn Heights Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once each year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your rain gutters, the less issues you’ll have with them.
The optimal time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners clean their gutters on their own, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the mess or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of damage can 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 wrote about above.
We’d recommend that you complete an exterior home inspection after each season to confirm that your gutters are working properly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of 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.
However, if you let the issue go on too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.