7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like many homeowners, your rain gutters are not something you often think about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality 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 unnoticed on most houses in Richmond. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … building materials that are designed to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a path of least resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they are in good shape, your gutters will route runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaking water, and the 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 reason for any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good clue that your rain gutters have some type of damage.
As soon as you find a gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you should hire 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 rain runoff away from your house the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas around your house constantly soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or on the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew indicate that there is excessive moisture in that area – a possible issue with the gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mildew and mold are more likely to grow on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it might just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a scenario where the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Richmond would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s actually raining to look for this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned. In either case, you need to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your basement, your leak might be due to any number of things. The pooling problem we discussed earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be designed to work with this water flow to help it disperse into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it shouldn’t. This pooling water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It will also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
Water Marks
Water marks are a visible sign that there is a lot of moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually find water marks right beneath the gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically 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 easiest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they definitely have damage. After a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your house to identify any possible damage to the roof shingles, outer walls, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few simple tips Richmond Gutter Service recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once a year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the fewer problems you’ll experience with them.
The optimal time to clean gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are many local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the mess or the risk.
Inspect your gutters often. Signs of gutter damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. A fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – will reveal any of the signs we mentioned above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection after each season to be sure that your gutters are working correctly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of a problem before it becomes too bad can save you a lot of 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 for too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.