7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you are like a lot of people, your rain gutters aren’t something you really think about. They need routine gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality is incredibly simple.
It’s not until your rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you realize just how important they are for your home!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go unnoticed on most roofs in Jacksonville. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner preferred copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The purpose of rain gutters is to provide a route of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof as fast as possible. When they are in good shape, your gutters will direct runoff away from the foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mildew and mold, the foundation 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 easy to repair to be the reason for any major home repairs! Inspecting your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a pretty good clue that your 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 on your own or if it’s something you should call a gutter specialist for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Sitting water near your home is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not sending the water runoff away from your house the way they should be. Standing water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will make 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 that there is a lot of moisture in that area – a potential issue 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 gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a time where the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Jacksonville would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s raining to notice this type of gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. 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
Depending on the design of your basement, the leaking could be caused by any number of things. The standing water issue we mentioned earlier could definitely lead to a basement leak. Egress windows and even cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is important to keep your gutters in good condition!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Rain gutters empty directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this water flow to help it submerge into the ground. But, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will allow rainfall to overflow or pool where it shouldn’t. This standing rain water can destroy 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 excessive moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually see water marks under the rain gutters or behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that rain water is streaming 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, they obviously have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to identify any damage to the roof shingles, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your standard home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are some easy tips Jacksonville Gutter Service recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least one time a year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. As with anything else, the better you care for your rain gutters, the less problems you’ll have with them.
The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners choose to clean their gutters on their own, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to deal with the mess or the risk.
Inspect 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 problems we discussed above.
We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection following each season to ensure 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 be replaced very affordably and quickly.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.