7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your rain gutters are not something you really worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in Olathe. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … building materials that are definitely designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they’re in good shape, your rain gutters will route runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaking water, and the gutters themselves from wear and 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 easy to fix 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 strong clue that your gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you identify a gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather call a gutter specialist to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the water runoff away from your home 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 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 the exterior of your home. Mold and mildew indicate that there is excessive moisture around that area – a possible issue with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mildew and mold are likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it may just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a scenario when the advice and knowledge of a professional in Olathe would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s raining to discover this type of gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It could just be that the gutter is full of debris and should be cleaned out. In either case, you need to have it looked at ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The pooling issue we discussed earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is so important to keep your gutters in good condition!
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. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This standing rain water can destroy 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 too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually find water marks under the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign that rain 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 spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they obviously have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to identify any damage to the roof, outer walls, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to your standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some simple ways Olathe Gutters & More! recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time a year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the fewer issues you’ll experience with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners clean their gutters themselves, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the work or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of 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 issues we wrote about above.
We’d suggest that you do an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to confirm that your gutters are working the right way.
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 be replaced very affordably.
But, if you let the problem go on too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.