Gutters are a very important, often overlooked part of your home. Their purpose? They direct water away from your home’s exterior walls, windows, doors, and foundation. This prevents any water from wreaking havoc on the interior of your home. Each gallon of rainwater weighs eight pounds. A home with clogged and overflowing gutters will likely be holding weights in the thousands of pounds. Yikes! Can you imagine how much potential for disaster that leaves? While it is necessary to clean gutters several times a year because it will enhance the longevity of your system, sometimes it is just time to replace the gutters in order to keep your home safe from costly water damage. If you are seeing these five signs, it is probably safe to say that it is time to replace your home’s gutter systems.

1. Cracks

So a small crack here or there probably doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Wrong! Small cracks eventually turn into big ones and it typically happens a lot sooner than you think. If you allow cracks to remain, water will not only damage your gutters further, but it exposes your home to damage of the fascia boards which sit behind the gutters, your shingles above the gutters as well as the foundation.

2. Peeling Paint/ Orange Specs

When talking about residential gutter replacement, it is important to pay attention to the paint. The paint on your gutters is meant to withstand the typical wear and tear throughout the seasons. Unless, however, your gutters are super old, peeling paint or orange specks (which would indicate the beginnings of rust) are an indication that water is present continuously. This indicates that water is not being properly removed, your gutters, and therefore your home is at risk, and it is time to call one of your local commercial gutter services.

3. Sitting Water

Gutter systems for a home are designed with the purpose of keeping water flowing away from your home’s foundation, keyword- flowing. If you are starting to notice pools of sitting water or mildew near your foundation, it can indicate that the gutters are, of course, not working properly. This cause might be something as simple as a clog or something a complex defect within the actual gutter system itself. Water, as any homeowner knows can easily cause foundation damage which results in costly, time-consuming repairs, or a residential gutter replacement.

4. Existing Damage

New gutters can be an unplanned expense that most of the time is a result of not properly maintaining them. Keeping gutters clean is a relatively simple chore, but it is just that; a chore. With that being said, you should be checking your gutters at the very minimum once a year on a day that’s relatively sunny and of course, rain-free. If, when you inspect your gutters, you find any sort of water damage or water marks underneath the gutter. It is time to replace. This kind of visible damage indicates that leaking or overflowing water is escaping your gutter.

5. Sagging

Age forces all things to succumb to gravity, and your gutters are no exception. This is one of the easiest ways to tell if you need a gutter repair or a residential gutter replacement because you don’t need a ladder to notice this. Gutters should never ever be saggy or pull away from the house. This indicates that the gutters are so full of water and so heavy that they are pulling away due to the weight. Saggy gutters will most likely require a costly repair. If your gutter is absolutely full and backed up, it means that the gutter system may not be the right one for your humble abode. At the end of the day if you have any questions, reach out to your local residential gutter replacement service provider and get all of your questions answered. It is better to make the call than to pay for all that water damage.