7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like a lot of homeowners, your rain gutters aren’t something you often worry about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is very simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most roofs in Norfolk. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are meant to stand out! Most home exteriors are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a route of least resistance for rain to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they’re in good shape, your gutters will lead runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, will protect your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the rain gutters themselves from wear and rust.
When they 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 repair to be the cause of 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 gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you’d rather trust a gutter company for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the rain runoff away from your house the way they should be. Pooling water can result in mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas surrounding your home constantly wet and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, 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 possible problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Remember that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where they’re appearing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a situation where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Norfolk would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s raining to discover this type of gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean you have gutter damage. It could just be that the gutter is full of debris and needs to be cleaned out. Either way, you need to have it checked right away.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your home’s basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The pooling problem we discussed earlier could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in good condition!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
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. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This pooling rain water can kill 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 a lot of moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually see water marks right under the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually 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 simplest 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 house 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 Norfolk Gutters Plus recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time each year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by keeping them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the fewer issues you’ll have 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. A lot of homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with the mess or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of gutter damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. Just a quick inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the problems we discussed above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection after each season to be sure that your gutters are functioning properly.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of an issue 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 problem go on too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.