7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like many people, your rain gutters are not something you often think about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until your rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you realize how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most homes in Dearborn. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … materials that are definitely designed to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of gutters is to provide a path of least resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. 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 mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaking water, and the rain gutters themselves from rust.
When they are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your home and property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too easy to repair to be the reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is simple and safe. If you notice any of the following issues, it’s a good indication that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you find a possible gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you’d rather call a gutter company 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 house the way they are designed to. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will leave the areas surrounding your home constantly soggy 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 home. Mold and mildew indicate there is a lot of moisture around that area – a potential issue with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mildew and mold are more likely to grow on the north side of a house 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 scenario where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Dearborn would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s actually raining to look for this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that your gutters are damaged. It could just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned. Either way, you want to have it looked at ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Depending on the design of your basement, your leak could be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned before could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is so necessary to keep your gutters in good condition!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain gutters empty directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this flow of water to help it disperse into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This standing water can destroy plants by force or by overwatering. It might 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 left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually find water marks beneath the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication 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 easiest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. After a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to identify any possible damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a couple of simple ways Dearborn Gutter Solutions recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out at least once a year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the work or the risk.
Inspect 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 discussed above.
We’d recommend that you do an exterior home inspection following each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning correctly.
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 expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.