5 Signs That You Need New Gutters
Gutter maintenance is a perpetual chore. Each season, you haul out the ladder, a bucket, and slip on some work gloves to clean out the gutter system for this messy, time-consuming job. The payoff is that the gutters will work beautifully when maintained, allowing rain runoff to channel away from your home and its foundation which prevents serious water damage from occurring. But even if you spend a fair amount of time keeping your gutter system clean, how do you know if you should fully replace them?
Signs of Water Damage
The biggest sign telling you that you need to replace your gutters is water damage. It can be a little difficult to understand what you’re looking for in terms of water damage but once you spot discoloration, pools of water, or mildew, you’ll know it’s time to replace your gutters system.
Discoloration can also be an indication of water damage. Look for discoloration beneath the gutters, near the fascia board or soffit. Water could be overflowing out of the gutter lengths, which if not addressed, could leave these markings and discoloration as a sign of damage over time. You’ll want to take care of this quickly to avoid damaging your roofing system.
Gutters are designed to keep water moving away from your foundation. If you begin to notice water collecting by your downspouts or anywhere near your home’s foundation, that could mean that the gutters are no longer doing their job. If you’re certain that the reason isn’t a clog (and you’ve double checked), then it’s time to consider an upgrade. Lingering water can seriously damage your home’s foundation, leading to costly repairs.
Rust and Peeling Paint
If your gutters are showing visible signs of their age and deterioration, then it’s about time that you replace them. There’s only so much you can replace in a gutter system, and while you can update the hardware, it doesn’t make much sense to replace only a few sections of gutter when you really need to replace the system in its entirety.
Some signs you should watch out for are peeling paint and rust. These visible indications occur when there’s standing water in your gutter system, an issue that imposes a major problem. Standing water is the opposite purpose of a functioning gutter system and means that it’s no longer doing its job of directing water away from the home to prevent damage. While rust and peeling paint can happen due to other reasons, it’s more than likely that you’ll see this occurring if the gutters are old and that means they probably need to be replaced regardless.
Sagging Gutters
Sagging gutters are another visible sign of your home needing new gutters. It’s a hard sign to miss, too. You don’t need to climb up on your roof or get up on a ladder to check to see if the gutters are sagging. If they are, it’s entirely noticeable from the ground.
Gutters should never sag or pull away from the house, so why does this happen? It could mean that the gutter system is full of water and isn’t draining properly. The extra weight of standing water could tug at the system, forcing it to sag and separate from the house. This could also indicate that your gutters are blocked, causing this drainage problem to occur. Fixing sagging gutters is a pain and can cost a lot to repair, and so it’s best to just upgrade the system instead.
Breaking at the Seams
A proper gutter system should always be secured together at the seams with an airtight seal. Leaks and other damage can occur if the gutter lengths are broken at the seam, making them essentially useless for draining water away from your house. Of course, you can repair the occasional small crack or break at the gutter seam, but once it overwhelms the system and impairs the functionality, you’ll definitely need to replace them. At that point, the cost of repairs outweighs cost of replacing the gutters.
Constant Hardware Repairs
The nice thing about gutters is that if there is a problem, you can most likely stop by your local home improvement store and pick up the hardware to fix it. Nails and fasteners need to be replaced occasionally thanks to aggressive weather and exposure to the outside elements, but if you find yourself constantly running out to get hardware for your gutters to work, then it’s time to replace the system.
Should I Replace My Gutters?
If you’re spotting all five of these telltale signs, then you should replace your gutters. By the time you repair the trouble areas of your gutters, you’ll be spending just as much—if not more—money fixing the gutters than you would be by replacing them. A working gutter system can save you on damage and costly repairs by doing its job of channeling water away from your home.
Your gutters will not hold up for too long. Old gutters undergo cracks, splits, rust stains and mold. Living in the Midwest, your gutters need to be replaced often since they go through extreme weather and snow storms. At Feldco, we take care of your home from windows to aluminum gutters. Now’s the time to speak to a product specialist about gutter replacement. Get a free quote online today!
