The most convenient moment to check your gutters is when it’s raining cats and dogs, and you are standing in the rain. You will know everything you need to know in about a minute and a half, and no ladders are required.
The main signs gutters need cleaning can be easily spotted without climbing a ladder. The difference lies in their ordering: two out of the five types of signs mean that you have already passed the window for gutter cleaning and need to resort to repair work.
The Signs Your Gutters Need Cleaning Show Up From the Ground
#1 Water Sheeting Over the Front Lip During Rain
Gutter overflow is the earliest honest signal, and it is the cheapest one to act on. Water pouring over the front edge in a curtain means the trough filled and had nowhere to go. Notice where it happens, because the spot tells you something: overflow at a corner usually means a packed outlet, while overflow along a whole run points to compacted debris across the length.
One caution. Water spilling over the back edge, between the gutter and the fascia, is worse than front overflow. That water runs behind the board and into the soffit where you cannot see it.
#2 A Downspout That Stays Silent in a Downpour
A downspout making no sound during heavy rain has already failed, and this is the sign most homeowners never check. Walk to each one during a storm and listen. Water should be audible inside the pipe and visible at the discharge.
Clogged downspouts usually pack at the top elbow where the outlet narrows, so the trough above can look reasonably clear from the driveway. Knock on the pipe at waist height. A clear downspout rings hollow and a blocked one thuds.
If nothing comes out at the bottom and the pipe sounds solid, that section is doing nothing at all for your house.
#3 Dark Streaks Down the Gutter Face and Stains on the Siding
Vertical dirt streaks on the outside of the gutter, called tiger striping, mean water has been running over the lip long enough to leave a record. Water stains spreading down the siding below tell you the same thing about a longer stretch of time.
These stains sit in the top two or three feet of wall where a hose will not reach, and they hold the same algae that grows on shaded roofs and siding. Cleaning the gutters stops the cause, and house washing removes what is already there. Doing one without the other means the marks come back.
#4 Sagging Gutters and Gaps Opening at the Fascia
Sagging gutters mean the fasteners have already yielded, and this is where a cleaning stops being enough. Water weighs about 8.3 pounds per gallon, and a long run holding water plus wet leaf sludge puts hundreds of pounds on spikes or hangers driven into a fascia board that is often soft from the same water.
Look along the run from one end, sighting down it like a board. You want a consistent slope toward the downspout. What you will see instead is a dip in the middle, or a section pulled away from the fascia leaving a visible gap at the top.
Cleaning removes the load, and the deformed hangers stay deformed. Those sections need re-hanging or new fasteners, and the pitch needs resetting so the run drains again.
#5 Standing Water and Trenched Mulch Beside the Foundation
Standing water sitting against the house after rain is the most expensive item on this list, because the problem moved from the roofline to the foundation. Look for a trench cut into the mulch under the roof edge, splash marks a foot up the siding, and soil that stays dark for a day after everything else dried.
Residential code calls for the grade to fall at least 6 inches within the first 10 feet from the foundation, and for hard surfaces within that 10 feet to slope at least 2 percent away from the building. Signs of poor drainage around a house usually start upstream with problems caused by overflowing gutters, so check the gutters before you regrade anything.
Extend the downspouts while you are at it. A downspout that discharges at the base of the wall is putting the entire roof’s runoff into the soil right where you least want it.
The One to Deal With Before Winter
Of these five, the silent downspout is the one to fix this week. A blocked outlet holds water at the coldest point on the house, and in a Northeast Ohio January, that frozen mass at the roof edge is what an ice dam builds on. Water then backs up under the shingle courses instead of running off the roof. Every other item on this list gets worse in the same way once the temperature drops.
If you saw two or more of these warning signs of blocked gutter systems on your last walk around the house, book before the leaves finish falling. We handle gutter cleaning in Akron, Canton, Columbus, Cleveland suburbs including South Euclid and North Ridgeville, and Cranberry Township. Request a fast quote from Exact Prowash or call (330) 639-5249.
Frequently Asked Questions
▶ How can I tell if my gutters need cleaning without getting on a ladder?
Keep an eye on the house when the rain is falling hard. Observers can see the water overflowing from the front edge of the roof, the downspout with no water coming out of it, and a variety of gunk visible on the inside of the gutter. Those three checks can detect most of the blockages before any of them cause any damage to the fascia or foundation.
▶ What happens if I ignore clogged gutters?
The damage appears in predictable stages: overflowing occurs first, followed by damage to the fascia and soffit, after which ice dams appear in the winter, and eventually water accumulates at the foundation level and seeps into the basement. The loss incurred at each of the stages is greater than that incurred at the previous stage, with the cost of the initial stage corresponding to the cost of a single service visit.
▶ Will cleaning fix my sagging gutters?
No. The cleaning eliminates the burden that causes the sagging, but the existing spikes or hangers remain in the same bent status. To restore the sagging sections, they should have their fastening mechanisms changed, and the pitch of the roof should be restored towards the downspout after making the repair.
▶ How often should gutters be cleaned in Ohio?
Twice a year for most homes, once in late spring after the maple seeds drop and once in late fall after leaf drop finishes. Houses under mature trees need a third visit. The fall cleaning is the one that prevents winter ice damage, so skip the spring one before you skip that.
