7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home

If you are like many homeowners, your rain gutters are not something you often think about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but besides that, their purpose is very simple.

It’s not until your rain gutters aren’t doing their job that you understand how important they are for your home!

WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?

Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most houses in Bloomington. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … building materials that are definitely meant to stand out! Most are crafted from durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.

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

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

ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?

Gutter damage is too simple to fix to be the cause of any major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is easy and safe. If you see any of the following issues, it’s a good indication that your gutters have some type of damage.

Once you identify a possible gutter problem, you can decide if it’s something you are comfortable fixing or remedying on your own or if it’s something you’d rather call a gutter service for.

Sitting Water Near Your Home

Pooling water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not routing the water runoff away from your house the way they should be. Standing water can lead to mold, weakening of your foundation, and creates the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas around your home consistently soggy and muddy.

Mold or Mildew

Mold or mildew is a bad sign, whether you see mold or mildew on the rain gutters or the exterior of your house. Mold and mildew mean there is excessive moisture around that area – a possible problem with the gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mildew and mold are likely to appear on the north side of a house anyway, so if that’s where they’re growing, it may be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a time where the advice and knowledge of a gutter specialist in Bloomington would be helpful.

Rain Pouring Over the Gutter

You’ll have to wait until it’s raining to discover this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that you have gutter damage. It might just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned out. Either way, you want to have it checked ASAP.

Basement Leaks

Depending on the construction of your basement, your leak might be due to any number of things. The standing water issue we discussed before could definitely result in a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls will only block out so much water. That’s why it is necessary to keep your gutters in working order!

Landscaping or Lawn Damage

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. However, a gutter leak or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool in areas where it isn’t supposed to. This standing rain water can destroy 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 sometimes left behind even if pooling water has evaporated or dissipated into the ground. You usually find water marks under the gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a typically a sign that 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 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 damage to the roof, outer walls, and gutters. These inspections are in addition to your routine home inspections.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?

Here are a few easy ways Better Bloomington Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:

Clean your gutters out at least one time each year. You can extend the amount of time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out regularly. Like with anything else, the better you maintain your gutters, the less issues you’ll experience with them.

The recommended time to clean out gutters is during the spring, but to be cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners clean their gutters themselves, but there are local gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to handle the work or the risk.

Inspect your gutters often. Signs of damage can be visible from the outside of the gutters. A quick 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 following each season to be sure that your gutters are functioning the right way.

When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Fixing 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.

However, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up needing repairs in your basement, replacing vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.