A lot may go wrong with your residential gutters. Naturally, the most common problem is clogging. It takes persistent gutter cleaning and frequent inspection to keep the water flowing without obstructions. But there’s more that can happen to your rain gutters and the headache is that one problem leads to another, while no problem is good news.
Why rain gutters become damaged?
• Most gutters consist of several sections, which are joined together with fasteners. Overtime, the joints make get loose. The fasteners may get damaged or rusty. And when such problems happen, the rain water slips through.
• Gutter damage is likely to happen in a windy day. Now, if the gutters are old or in bad shape and there’s a heavy rainfall, they may warp. They may also become damaged due to impact, a highly likely phenomenon during a storm.
• If the gutter installation is not done right, there might be damage due to a heavy storm. This might include installing the gutters in the wrong angle, too.
• Gutters may become damaged if you try to clean them but don’t know how or press the ladder with force against them.
• Failure to clean the gutters often may also lead to damage. The weight of the debris accumulated in the gutters is heavy and will add extra strain on them.
Possible problems due to gutter damage
So, what happens when the gutters are damaged? Let’s start from a different angle. All rain gutters have one particular job to do, that of channeling the rain water away from the home. The water lands in the gutters, flows through them and ends up in the downspouts and as far away from the structure as possible. When the water cannot do that due to gutter damage or escapes before it reaches the downspout, the first effect is on your building. The possibility for leaks is high.
When the water runs on the siding, fascia, or building, such sections will be eventually damaged. It’s not a matter of if but when. And this depends on how often it rains, how serious the gutter problem is, and how heavy the rainfall is. The water may destroy such parts of your home or even invade indoors, causing leaks, or penetrate and damage the foundations.
The gutter damage may occur due to gutter clogging. And in this case, the water may remain on the roof longer affecting its condition and threatening with a leak.
When gutters are damaged, some sections may sag or dangle in the air. This might be a serious threat to people if there’s a walking path underneath or close by. And don’t forget that dangling gutters may easily fly away during a storm and hence, they may cause accidents to passers-by.
What you can do to avoid serious gutters damage?
In short, you may have the following problems when gutters are damaged:
• Home leaks
• Home damage
• Foundations saturation
• Accidents
The expense for a new rain gutter installation is much lower than facing the sudden expense for the repair of all the above. And who wants to deal with such problems? Or ever get hurt by the gutters?
Although they are not made of the same material, rain gutters are still made of metal that may warp. The best thing you can do to avoid major problems with the gutters is to choose a strong material to start with. Then, prefer seamless gutters to avoid problems that happen when the joints get damaged.
Make sure the gutters are installed correctly. Flawlessly. For that, you will need a professional gutter service company.
Also, it won’t hurt if you invested in rain gutter guards – a product that can really keep most flying objects and debris from landing in the gutters.
And don’t forget about the importance of keeping the gutters clean. Clogged gutters cause as many problems as damaged gutters. It’d be nice if you could avoid both gutter clogging and damage.
