7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home

If you’re like a lot of people, your gutters aren’t something you often think about. They need biannual gutter cleaning, but otherwise, their purpose is incredibly simple.

It’s not until 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 virtually unnoticed on most roofs in Edina. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner chose copper or wood … building materials that are definitely designed to stand out! Most are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.

The point of gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they are in good condition, 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 rain gutters themselves from wear and rust.

When gutters are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your home and property.

ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?

Gutter damage is too easy to fix to be the cause of 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 pretty good indication that your gutters have some kind of damage.

Once you notice a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather hire a gutter service for.

Sitting Water Near Your Home

Pooling water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the rain runoff away from your home the way they should be. Pooling water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Plus, it will make the areas surrounding your house constantly 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 the exterior of your home. Mold and mildew indicate there is too much moisture around that area – a potential problem with the gutters could be to blame. Remember that mildew and mold are more likely to grow on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it may just be because that area doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight on it. This is a time where the advice and knowledge of a professional in Edina would be helpful.

Rain Pouring Over the Gutter

You will need to wait until it’s raining to look for this gutter issue. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to 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 due to any number of things. The standing water problem we mentioned earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only keep out so much water. That’s why it is important 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 water flow to help it submerge into the ground. But, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it shouldn’t. This rain water can destroy plants either by force or by overwatering. It can also displace flower bed materials like mulch or rock.

Water Marks

Water marks are a visible sign that there is too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You will usually see water marks right beneath the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually a sign that 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 easiest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked in the middle, they definitely have damage. Following a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your home to identify any damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?

Here are a couple of simple ways Just Gutters Inc. recommends to prevent gutter damage:

Clean your gutters out at least one time a year. You can lengthen the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less problems you’ll have with them.

The optimal time to clean 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 themselves, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that offer this service so you don’t have to deal with the work 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 – will reveal any of the problems we discussed above.

We’d suggest that you complete an exterior home inspection following each season to confirm that your gutters are working properly.

When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of 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 problem go on for too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.