Old Gutters? 5 Ways Old Gutters Can Damage Your Home

Cleaning and maintaining the gutters are likely never at the top of your to-do list. After all, who really want to drag out the ladder and inspect the state of their gutters? Not keeping up with routine gutter maintenance can spell disaster for your home, though. According to Angie’s List, a foundation repair – one of the most common issues caused by old and clogged gutters – can cost upwards of $12,000! And that’s not including all the other issues that could go wrong both inside and outside of your home!

Here at Berg Home Improvements, we want to help save the $12,000 you’d spend on repairs! That’s why we’re sharing with you five ways your old gutters could damage your home and one major way you can prevent a costly repair bill!

1. Flooding

As mentioned, foundation issues are one of the leading issues caused by gutter problems. When you have old, damaged, or clogged gutters, they cannot properly perform their job of carrying rainwater and snow runoff around and away from your home. This causes the water that would be carried away to pool around the foundation of your home, eventually leading to cracks, weakness, and other issues. When your foundation is in jeopardy, the state of your entire home is in jeopardy. You often won’t notice foundation issues until it’s too late – often in the form of flooding.

2. Roof Issues

Your roof is an important and valuable part of your home. If there are issues with your roof, you’ll likely start to notice issues in other places in your home. When your gutters can’t properly perform their duties, the water they would normally carry away will stay right where it lands – on and around your roof! This obviously leads to water damage, which can cause further issues inside the home. Mold growth, compromised ceiling structure, and leaks can all result from old gutters.

3. Window, Siding, and Door Damage

While they may not seem connected, your gutters can actually cause issues and costly damage to your windows, siding, and doors! Overflow from your old or clogged gutters interacts with and eventually tears down the integrity of your home’s most important features. Wood rot, insulation issues, and mold and algae growth are all serious issues that are not only unsightly but can rack up bills, repair costs, and even replacement costs.

4. Landscape Washout

You spend a lot of money to keep the outside of your home looking beautiful; why let an issue like old gutters ruin all of your hard work? Due to not being carried away from the home, water will collect in your landscape and flower beds, leading to unhealthy plants, unsightly puddles, and mulch washout.

5. Ice Danger

When water collects in your gutters, it has nowhere to go but over the sides. While not necessarily an issue in the warmer months, when temperatures begin to drop below freezing, you can have a serious issue. One of the biggest signs that your gutters are bad is when icicles begin to form. While pretty to look at, these formations are dangerous and potentially deadly.

What Can You Do About Old Gutters?

The simplest and most cost-effective way to handle old gutters is by replacing them with a new aluminum gutter system. At Berg Home Improvements, we offer oversized gutters and downspouts to help prevent all of the issues we listed above. Plus, we offer the Leaf Relief gutter system that helps prevent debris like leaves and sticks from entering your gutters in the first place. To get an estimate on your custom-fitted gutter system, call our office or send the Berg Home Improvements team an online message. We’re here to help you ditch the old and bring in the new!