Clogged Gutters Cause Water Damage

10/3/2018 (Permalink)

Clogged gutters cause water damage above-ground and below. Falling leaves in autumn may look poetic, however once they accumulate and obstruct roof runoff into your gutters and downspouts, a chain of events begins that could end with water infiltration into your home. Your roof sheds an enormous volume of water. A clogged, overflowing gutter in a rainstorm or during heavy snow-melt resembles a mini-Niagara Falls. The exterior walls or siding of your home are constructed to resist raindrops, not a continuous cascade from a blocked gutter overhead. Heavy runoff penetrates siding and infiltrates internal wall spaces. This may result in visible water damage to the interior of the house or covert damage inside the wall such as structural wood rot and mold growth. The deluge from an overflowing gutter also pounds the ground around the immediate perimeter of the house, saturating the soil and forming pools of water that soak deep into the earth, penetrating basement walls or seeping under the foundation.

Before clogged gutters cause water damage to your living, here are a few preventive measures:

• Check and clean your gutters at regular intervals throughout the year, but especially during autumn when leaves are falling.
• Consider installing gutter guards that screen out leaves and other debris while still admitting roof runoff.
• To ensure adequate drainage and avoid overflows during heavy rains, you should have one downspout for every 40 feet of gutter length.
• Make sure your gutters aren’t sagging. For optimum drainage into downspouts, gutters are installed with a slight pitch. Sagging disrupts proper gravity flow of water and triggers overflow.
• Install downspout extensions that divert runoff far enough from the house to prevent penetration into the foundation or basement walls. Ideally, each downspout should discharge water at least three feet from the house. Downspouts can also be connected to an underground pipe to convey water even further away.

Water Damage as a result of clogged gutters? Contact the professionals here at SERVPRO of Oldham/Shelby County. 502.241.6861

SERVPRO of Oldham/Shelby County also proudly serves Spencer, Henry and Trimble Counties.