7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like many people, your rain gutters are not something you often 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 realize how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most houses in Youngstown. They blend into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most home exteriors are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of rain gutters is to provide a route of least resistance for rain to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they’re in good condition, your gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaks, and the rain gutters themselves from rust.
When they are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to repair to be the cause of any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a good indication that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
Once you notice a possible gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you’d rather hire a gutter specialist to handle.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the rain runoff away from your house the way they should be. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas around your home perpetually wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew indicate that there is a lot of moisture around that area – a possible issue with the gutters could be to blame. Remember that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where these substances are appearing, it might just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a time when the advice and expertise of a professional in Youngstown would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will have to wait until it’s actually raining to find this type of 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 looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your basement, your leak could be due to any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned before could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is important to keep your gutters in good shape!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters pour directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this water flow to help it disperse into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This water can destroy 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 too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually find water marks right under 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 the easiest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your home to assess any possible damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple ways ACE Gutters Inc. recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once a year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your rain gutters, the fewer issues you’ll have with them.
The best time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, but there are local 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 – should reveal any of the problems we discussed above.
We’d suggest that you do an exterior home inspection following each season to confirm that your gutters are functioning correctly.
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.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you might end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.