Gutters channel water away from your home to prevent costly moisture damage. If they are in disrepair, over time the situation can negatively impact your home exterior and your foundation.
Without adequately functioning gutters, your foundation is not safeguarded from pooling water during heavy rain or snowstorms. Pooling water weakens your foundation, leads to settling, uneven floors, and causes cracks in your walls. These major problems can be avoided by simply caring for your gutters.
Read on to uncover the importance of taking care of your gutters, and you’ll likely become motivated to resolve current issues.
What Could Go Wrong if Gutter Concerns Are Left Unaddressed?
When gutter problems are left without solutions, they can create major and minor issues for your home. They may:
1. Damage your foundation
When gutters fail, water pools around your home’s perimeter rather than being channeled away from it. Over time the water can seep into your basement, cause the structure of your house to shift, crack your foundation, and more. This costly scenario can be avoided by ensuring your gutters stay in good repair.
2. Create an unsightly look to your exterior
When you ignore your gutters, skip cleaning them, and allow dirt and debris to clog them, seeds can start sprouting in the dirt inside them and start growing. The result is unattractive vegetation growing where it doesn’t belong: in your gutters. This unpleasant growth will ruin your home’s curb appeal and get worse over time until you address it.
3. Invite pests to make your home theirs
When water pools in your gutters or at the perimeter of your home due to unattended gutter issues, it opens the door to pest infestation that can eventually bleed over into your walls and home interior. Rodents will also pick up on the wet, welcoming environment and be drawn to your house. Additionally, mosquitoes breed in water and may infiltrate the area surrounding your home as a result of the standing water. Pest problems can become a serious health threat for you and your loved ones, so address gutter troubles promptly.
4. Cause your roof to age faster
When your gutters work properly, they channel water away from your roofing components. If you let gutters accumulate debris, the water they collect has nowhere to go and seeps into your roof decking. This problem can cause your roofing system’s components to rot. It can also contribute to unwanted ice dams forming on your roof during winter. This wears down your home’s protective covering and causes it to age faster. As snow melts, leaks may occur which lead to costly moisture damage in your attic or home. What started as a clogged gutter can cascade into roof issues and moisture damage.
5. Negatively impact your siding
When your gutters fail, or if they simply aren’t cleaned regularly, the dirt and debris pile up and clog the very channel that should usher water away from your home. As a result, water may travel through small crevices in your siding and get absorbed. The moisture then deteriorates your siding over time and causes it to need replacement sooner than it normally would. If left unattended, water may seep into your ceiling and walls, causing unsightly stains and unhealthy mold growth.
6. Damage your fascia
When gutters are left unattended, over time they hold water that they weren’t intended to hold. This extra weight can cause your gutters to break away from your fascia and damage it. Gutters that break loose from your fascia may dangle and wreck your curb appeal.
7. Ruin your landscaping
As a homeowner, the landscaping you place around your home’s perimeter is done intentionally and with care. You invest in the plants, shrubs, and flowers you love to brighten your home exterior’s appearance. When landscaping gets inundated with water due to poorly functioning gutters, it can kill your plants and undo all the hard work and investment you put into creating the look you love around your exterior.
LeafCo’s Guide to Common Gutter Problems
Learn more about all the issues you may face with your gutters in our handy guide.
Read the GuideDon’t Let Gutter Problems Fester!
Don’t allow gutter problems to go unnoticed and cascade into major issues like foundation damage and roof leaks. Check out our Homeowners Guide to Common Gutter Problems and discover solutions you can implement today to ensure your home is fortified against unwanted damage.
Address your gutter issues promptly and enjoy a home free from unnecessary maintenance and repair issues with the pros at LeafCo Gutters!
