7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home

If you are like many people, your gutters aren’t something you often worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their functionality is very simple.

It’s not until your rain gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize just how important they are!

WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?

Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in Rochester. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are made of durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.

The purpose of rain gutters is to create a route of least resistance for rain to get off your roof quickly. When they are in good condition, your gutters will direct runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from wear and rust.

When gutters are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your home and surrounding property.

ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?

Gutter damage is too easy to fix to be the reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you identify any of the following issues, it’s a good clue that your rain gutters have some type of damage.

Once you identify a gutter problem, you can decide whether it’s something you feel comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you should call a gutter service to handle.

Sitting Water Near Your Home

Sitting water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the water runoff away from your house the way they are designed to. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas around your house constantly soggy 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 on the sides of your house. Mold and mildew indicate that there is a lot of 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 they’re growing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight. This is a situation where the advice and knowledge of a professional in Rochester would be helpful.

Rain Pouring Over the Gutter

You will need to wait until it’s raining to find 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 need to have it checked right away.

Basement Leaks

Depending on the construction of your basement, your leak might be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned earlier 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 working order!

Landscaping or Lawn Damage

Rain 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 disperse into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It might also displace flower bed 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 standing water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually find water marks right under the gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically an indication 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 spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they have damage. After a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to assess any damage to the roof, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?

Here are a couple of simple ways Rochester Gutter Service recommends to prevent gutter damage:

Clean your gutters out at least one time each year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.

The best time to clean gutters is during the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners clean their gutters on their own, but there are many professional gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with the work or the risk.

Inspect your gutters often. Signs of gutter 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 signs we discussed above.

We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to be sure that your gutters are working 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 easily be replaced very affordably.

But, if you let the issue go on for too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.