7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like a lot of homeowners, your gutters aren’t something you really worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but besides that, their purpose is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most houses in Des Plaines. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … building materials that are meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof quickly. When they are in good condition, your rain gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the rain 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 simple to fix to be the cause of major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good indication that your gutters have some type of damage.
Once you identify a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you’d rather hire a gutter repairman for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the rain runoff away from your home the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your home perpetually soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the sides of your house. Mold and mildew indicate that there is a lot of moisture around that area – a possible problem with the rain gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mildew and mold are likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are appearing, it may just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a time when the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Des Plaines would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s raining to discover 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. In either case, you need to have it looked at right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the construction of your basement, your leak might be caused by any number of things. The pooling issue we discussed earlier could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in good condition!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters empty directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be designed to work with this water flow to help it submerge into the ground. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling water can kill plants by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed materials like rock or mulch.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is excessive 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 under the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually 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 spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they definitely have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your home to identify any possible damage to the roof, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a few easy ways Des Plaines Gutters Plus recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time a year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. Like with anything else, the better you care for your rain gutters, the fewer problems you’ll experience with them.
The optimal time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Many homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with 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 confirm that your gutters are working correctly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Fixing 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 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 expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.