7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home

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

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

WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?

Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most houses in Everett. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … building materials that are designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.

The point of gutters is to provide a route of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof quickly. When they are in good condition, your gutters will lead runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from wear and rust.

When they are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.

ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?

Gutter damage is too easy to repair to be the cause of major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is easy and safe. If you notice any of the following signs, it’s a pretty strong clue that your gutters have some type of damage.

As soon as you find a possible gutter issue, you can decide whether it’s something you are comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you should trust a gutter service to handle.

Sitting Water Near Your Home

Sitting water near your home is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the water runoff away from your home the way they are supposed to. Pooling water can lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas around your house consistently wet 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 on the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew indicate there is excessive moisture around that area – a possible issue with the gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are more likely to grow on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where these substances are appearing, it may be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight. This is a time where the advice and knowledge of a professional in Everett would be a great help.

Rain Pouring Over the Gutter

You will have to wait until it’s actually raining to look for this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is full of debris and should be cleaned. Either way, you need to have it looked at ASAP.

Basement Leaks

Based on the construction of your basement, your leak might be caused by any number of things. The pooling problem 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 so necessary to keep your gutters in good condition!

Landscaping or Lawn Damage

Gutters pour directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this water flow to help it submerge into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This water can kill plants 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 standing water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually find water marks beneath the rain 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 by far the simplest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they definitely have damage. After a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to identify any possible damage to the roof, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any standard home inspections.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?

Here are a few simple ways EZ Everett Gutters recommends to prevent gutter damage:

Clean your gutters out at least once each year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you maintain your rain gutters, the fewer issues you’ll have 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. A lot of 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 handle the work or the risk.

Check your gutters often. Signs of 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 wrote about above.

We’d recommend that you do an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to confirm 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 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 for too long, you might end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.