7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like most people, your rain gutters aren’t something you often worry about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most houses in Tacoma. They fade into the home’s exterior unless the homeowner has opted for copper or wood … materials that are meant to stand out! Most are crafted from durable yet lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof quickly. When they’re in good shape, your rain gutters will route runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, will protect 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 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 easy to fix to be the reason for any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a good indication that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
As soon as you identify a gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you should hire a gutter company for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water is a sure sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the rain 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. Plus, it will leave the areas surrounding your home perpetually soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Either one of these is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or on the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is excessive moisture in that area – a possible issue with the gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are likely to grow 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 scenario where the advice and expertise of a professional in Tacoma would be a great help.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll have to wait until it’s actually raining to notice this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that your gutters are damaged. 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
Depending on the construction of your basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The pooling problem we mentioned earlier could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls will only keep out so much water. That’s why it is important to keep your gutters in working order!
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 submerge into the ground. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will allow 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 building 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 pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually see water marks beneath the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign 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 by far the easiest to find. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. After a storm, it’s a good idea to walk around your home to assess 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 some simple tips TruClean Tacoma Gutters recommends to prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters out 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 fewer issues you’ll have with them.
The optimal time to clean out gutters is in the spring, but to be cautious, give them a cleaning in the fall, too. A lot of homeowners clean their gutters themselves, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to deal with the mess or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of gutter damage can be visible from the outside of the gutters. Just a quick inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the issues we discussed above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning properly.
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 be replaced very affordably and quickly.
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 section of landscaping.