Are your gutters sagging and warped? If your gutters have seen better days, you need to take action. After all, they’re an essential part of your home’s exterior drainage system.

Don’t Let Your Gutters Retire 

If your gutters are old and worse for wear, you can’t let them retire quietly. You’ll need to pursue gutter cleaning, gutter repair, or gutter replacement.

Without gutters, the water that lands on your roof flows onto the ground, where it sinks into the soil. This can cause damage to your home’s foundation. Leaking, dripping gutters cause water to move down your siding, leading to problems with mold and rot. From puddles in the yard to serious structural issues, you will experience many problems if you let your gutters retire. You need to maintain your gutters, assess them for damage, and replace them if they get damaged.

Why Gutters Get Damaged 

Why do gutters get damaged? Your gutters are a thin trough of metal, and they can experience damage fairly easily. Here are three of the most common ways your gutters can get damaged:

• Gutter damage can be dramatic. You walk out one morning to discover that a fall storm has sent a branch down on your roof, and it’s hit one of your gutters. Your gutter could be dangling or crushed under the weight of the branch.
• If you forget to clean your gutters, they can also get damaged. As leaves, sticks, and other debris build up, your gutters start to warp and sag from the weight. If they’re held up by brackets, the brackets come loose and the gutters continue to twist. Over time, the pressure of gutter debris acts as a weight that damages your gutters.
• People also damage gutters when they clean. Leaning a ladder up against your gutters can help you clean those gutters, but the pressure of the ladder and your weight together can gradually shift and warp the gutters. If you’re less than careful when you lean the ladder against the building, you can cause dents.

What to Do If Your Gutters Are Damaged 

What happens if your gutters are damaged? Is it time for an SOS to the gutter company? You can tell whether or not you need to act now by asking the following questions:

• Is the gutter damage hampering the gutter’s ability to move water? If so, you need to address the damage immediately.
• Are the gutters clogged? Try cleaning them and see if that fixes the problem.
• What’s holding the gutters to your home? Are those brackets or other structures working well, or do they need replacement or adjustment?
• Are your gutters tipping inward or outward? Do they have noticeable bulges where the water pools?
• Is there damage to the interior or exterior of the gutter due to branches?

In some cases, your gutters may need cleaning or they may need to have their brackets adjusted. However, if they have structural damage such as warping and sagging or have been crushed by a branch, your best option is likely gutter replacement.

Preventing Gutter Damage 

You can’t stop the wind from blowing, but you can monitor the trees around your home for safety. Prevent roof and gutter damage through regular inspections and pruning of the trees that overhang your home. This will keep your home safer and keep your gutters working well.

Once you have your new gutters, regular gutter maintenance is the key to keeping a clean and undamaged gutter system. Call a gutter cleaning company if you forget to clean your gutters, or better yet, install gutter covers that prevent debris from accumulating in the first place. This proactive step will help you avoid chronic gutter damage.

Do you need gutter covers or gutter replacement? That’s our job. At Lednor Home Solutions, we specialize in roofing and gutter products. Learn more about gutter guards and discover how we can help you keep your home clean and safe.

Written by Del Thebaud