7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like many homeowners, your gutters aren’t something you really think about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their functionality is very 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 homes in Cranston. They fade into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … materials that are meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of gutters is to create a route of least resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof quickly. When they are in good shape, your rain gutters will lead 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 wear and rust.
When gutters are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your home and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to repair to be the reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following signs, it’s a good clue that your gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you notice a gutter issue, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s something you’d rather call a gutter repairman for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water near your home is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the rain runoff away from your house the way they are designed to. Standing water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your house perpetually soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Either one of these is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean that there is excessive moisture around that area – a possible issue with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mildew and mold are more likely to appear 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 on it. This is a time when the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Cranston would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You will have to wait until it’s raining to find this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It could just be that the gutter is full of debris and needs to be cleaned. Either way, you want to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your basement, your leak could be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned 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 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 submerge into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
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. You will usually see water marks beneath the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that water is pouring down the outside of the gutters and not staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The final sign of gutter damage is by far 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, exterior, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some simple tips Cranston Gutters recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time a year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you care for your rain gutters, the less problems you’ll have with them.
The best time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters themselves, but there are many local 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 often be visible from the outside of the gutters. A fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the issues we mentioned above.
We’d suggest that you do an exterior home inspection following each season to be sure that your gutters are functioning properly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of 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 and quickly.
However, 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.