Blocked gutters cause structural damage and seriously devalue your home, but it can be hard to know when your gutters are actually blocked. Here are a few handy signs your gutters need a good clean.
- Bad odours around your home’s exterior
One key sign your gutters need cleaning is a bad odour around the perimeter of your house. When gutters are clogged and stagnant water accumulates, the water becomes mouldy and emanates a foul smell. If walking around the outside of your home is ruined by bad smells, head up onto a ladder and inspect your gutters. It’s likely they’ll be in dire need of a clean out.
- Rainwater spillover and wet earth around your house
If your gutters spout dramatic bucket loads of water during times of rain, they’re probably clogged and have lost their ability to function. If you notice huge amounts of water pouring from your roof during a rainstorm, wait for the weather to clear then investigate your gutters.
- Animals nesting in your gutters
From possums to rats, squirrels and birds, if your hear animals scratching in your gutters or can see critters scurrying around your gutters it’s time to clean them out. It takes a huge accumulation of leaves, sticks and plant residue to entice animals, so it’s a definite sign it’s time to do a big-scale clean of your gutters and drainage systems.
- Staining down the side of your house
As you know, gutters are designed to move water from your roof towards your drainage system without leaks and deficits. If you notice water stains and mould growing on either the inside or outside walls of your home, your gutters aren’t doing their job and it’s most likely because they’re clogged.
- Sagging gutters
A visible sag throughout the gutter system is a clear sign your gutters are clogged. From afar, if you can see an obvious bowing of your gutters, the level of blockage is significant. Not only does sagging gutters mean they’re not functioning, but it also means they’re buckling against load and set to break. Not only will broken gutters take time and money to fix, the mess and damage overflowing gutters will cause when they break is significant.
Leaky gutters can cause foundation damage to your home
Most importantly, blocked gutters can cause damage to the foundations of your home. When gutters are blocked and large amounts of water overflows onto the ground around your house, after time, the water seeps into the walls of the foundation of your home. The wet foundation structures then expand and contract with the seasons, eventually cracking. These cracks allow water to penetrate the crawl space of your home, causing mould to form and weakening the structures stabilising your home.
Leaky gutters cause damage to walls and ceilings
Foundation damage isn?t the only consequence of blocked gutters. When gutters overflow causing water damage to the wooden structures, beams, window frames and walls of your home they can become rotten and weak. Often you don’t notice the rotting of these structures until it’s too late, and you’ll foot a significant bill to repair them.
Internal plastering can be damaged when water overflows from blocked gutters. Paying for a plasterer to redo damaged walls is a huge expense and is certainly an avoidable cost.
Damage to electrical wiring can occur if water constantly flows over it. Imagine having to pay to get your home rewired because of old leaves clogging your gutters, it’s definitely not worth it.
Overflowing water from blocked gutters can also cause structural damage to your ceiling planks and plastering, causing your ceiling to buckle, and eventually fall down.
Now you know the serious consequences of blocked gutters, look out for the telltale signs and add gutter maintenance to your biannual home maintenance calendar.
Article provided by Bax Gutter Solutions