They don’t sparkle like new kitchen countertops or make your curb appeal pop like flowers or fresh paint do, but gutters might be one of the most important - and overlooked - features of your property when it comes to protecting your home or business. Those long narrow troughs fixed along the edge of your roof aren’t there just for show. Gutters are designed to catch rainwater and guide it safely away from your building.
When they work properly, gutters help prevent water from seeping into your roof, walls, or basement. When they’re clogged or damaged, however, they can lead to expensive and long-lasting damage that’s much harder to fix. This article brought to you by Mr. Handyman gets into what gutters really do, what happens when they fail, and how to prevent major problems.
What Gutters Actually Do
It’s simple: when it rains, water hits your roof and flows downward. Gutters collect that water and send it down a series of downspouts which carry the water safely away from the base of your home. Without this system in place, water would pour straight off the edge of your roof and fall directly to the ground below.
That might not sound so bad - after all, isn’t that what the ground is for? But here’s the problem: over time, all that water starts to pool and soak into the soil around your home’s foundation. That can lead to soil erosion, basement leaks, mold growth, and even cracks in the foundation itself.
When Gutters Go Bad
Unfortunately, gutters don’t take care of themselves. Leaves, twigs, dirt, and even the occasional tennis ball or bird’s nest can clog up your gutters and stop them from doing their job. When that happens, rainwater has nowhere to go - and it starts finding the wrong paths. That's when you might start experiencing:
- Water damage to siding and roofing as overflowing gutters spill water down the side of your home.
- Flood basements as water pools near the foundation and seeps into basements or crawlspaces.
- Cracked foundation. Yes, expect foundation issues as too much water around the base of your home can cause soil to shift, freeze, or expand.
- That flower bed you worked so hard on? It won’t stand a chance against a constant waterfall from a clogged gutter.
- Root issues. Why? Trees and shrubs near your foundation may develop shallow and weak roots if gutters are overflowing.
Protecting Your Foundation: What You Can Do
The good news is that preventing gutter-related foundation problems is absolutely doable. A few simple steps can make a huge difference in how well your gutters perform and how long your foundation lasts.
