7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like most homeowners, your rain gutters are not something you really think about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality is incredibly simple.
It’s not until gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most roofs in Arlington. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … building materials that are meant to stand out! Most are made of durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of gutters is to create a path of minimal 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, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the concrete and pavement and basement from leaks, and the gutters themselves from rust.
When they are damaged, it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to repair to be the reason for major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a pretty good indication that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you identify a gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable repairing or remedying on your own or if it’s a project you’d rather call a gutter specialist for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Standing water near your home is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the rain runoff away from your house the way they should be. 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 home consistently wet 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 exterior of your home. Mold and mildew mean that there is too much moisture around that area – a possible problem with the rain gutters could be the cause. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it may just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight. This is a situation when the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Arlington would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s raining to find this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It could just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and should be cleaned. In either case, you want to have it checked ASAP.
Visible Pests
Insects and rodents gather to sitting water. If rainwater stays inside of gutters for too long, the gutter will likely become home to rats, mosquitos, termites and other bugs near your home. The infestation might even get worse if the insects and rodents locate a way into your home through the gutter system. In this case, you’re going to want to give Pest Control Pros a call to handle the infestation.
Basement Leaks
Based on the design of your basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The pooling issue we discussed before could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is important to keep your gutters in good shape!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain gutters empty directly onto the ground in most cases, and landscaping should be designed to work with this flow of water to help it disperse into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This rain water can kill plants by force or by overwatering. It will also displace flower bed building materials like rock or mulch.
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 usually find water marks under the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a typically a sign that rain water is pouring down the outside of the gutters rather than staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The final sign of gutter damage is by far the simplest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. Following a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to identify any damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a couple of simple tips AllClean Arlington Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time each year. You can lengthen the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you maintain your rain gutters, the less problems you’ll have with them.
The best time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to handle the work or the risk.
Inspect your gutters often. Signs of damage can often be visible from the outside of the gutters. Just a fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – will reveal any of the problems we mentioned above.
We’d recommend that you do an exterior home inspection after each season to be sure that your gutters are functioning the right way.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Fixing 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 issue go on too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire section of landscaping.