Home Protection Through Vigilance: Signs You May Be in Need of Gutter Protection

When you buy a home, you might suddenly find yourself needing to be an expert on a wide variety of home care and improvement projects that you have no experience with at all. Rather than allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by those responsibilities, you need to dive in and educate yourself as much as you can.

Your gutters, for example, play a much more central role in keeping your home dry and secure than you may ever have realized. Gutters don’t come with a lot of backup, so it’s important that you stay aware of the signs that may indicate you’re in need of repairs or support.

Below, you’ll find a guide to some signs that you may be in need of a gutter-protection system. Keeping an eye out for these issues can allow you to avoid a sudden and serious blockage and can help your home stay safe and dry for as long as you own it.

Lawn Erosion

One of the first signs of trouble in your gutters may not be on your roof at all, but rather closer to the ground. The dirt around your home’s foundation can only absorb so much rainfall and water content, and if the soil starts to reach a critical point of saturation, you might notice ruts or currents developing from where the water has started to run off.

A properly functioning gutter should direct rainfall into your downspouts and then safely away from your home into a drain or a retaining area. Water that appears to be deviating from that design is likely doing so because it’s spilling over your gutters, and if that’s occurring, your system is likely insufficient. Problems with water spilling over gutters are often the result of clogs that would be unlikely to occur with a protection system.

Sagging Gutters

A properly designed gutter system should quickly and efficiently divert water away from your roof, thus eliminating any possibility that the roof will have to hold a lot of weight for a long period of time. If you notice that your gutters are beginning to sag or pull away from the surface of your roof, you home likely has an issue that could turn into a serious structural problem.

Wet leaves, sticks, and other debris can enter a gutter that isn’t properly protected, and when the debris solidifies into firm clumps, it can pose a serious impediment to any water flow. The extra weight might only compound the weight problem with backed-up water. Since your gutter isn’t designed to support that much weight, you could be faced with a sudden collapse that may do serious damage to your home.

Water in Your Home

Fundamentally, the central goal of your gutters is to keep your home dry and secure. If they begin to fail at that task, you need to act quickly to secure your system and reevaluate whether it’s being used properly.

The most obvious sign of poor gutter performance is water infiltrating through either your walls or your foundation and seeping into the interior of your home. Wet walls and flooring are not only uncomfortable but also encourage mold and mildew to grow. Mold and mildew are dangerous because they can compound structural issues and pose a legitimate challenge to your health.

Gutter Magician NKY has the ability and experience necessary to install an effective gutter protection system that will allow your gutters to function at peak efficiency. Pursuing the options available to you is an important step in being a responsible home owner, and you’re likely to be pleasantly surprised by the possibilities that await you.