How to Inspect Your Gutters for Damage: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you own a home, then you need to handle the maintenance for it. That is one of the drawbacks of home ownership versus renting. If you rent, then you can just ask the super or owner to handle anything wrong with the property that comes up.

Assuming you own your home, one of the things you must do to it is to take good care of the gutters. Having damaged gutters is certainly something that will lower the property’s value if you ever decide to sell it.

Primo Siding and Roofing is there for you if you are in need of professional gutter repair. Before contacting them, though, you should know how to inspect your gutters to figure out whether they’re functioning correctly. We will talk about how to do that right now.

Go Outside and Inspect Them Visually

The first and most obvious thing you can do to check your home’s gutters is to do a visual inspection of them. You will probably want to do this once per year, at a minimum.

You can go outside and walk around the home’s exterior, looking up at the gutters. Are there any spots where the gutter has swung loose from the house?

Do you see any holes in the gutters? Are there any other spots where you see that they are clogged with leaves or other debris?

Often, you can tell a lot about the state of your gutters just by walking by below and noticing if there is anything obviously wrong. However, that is not the end of this process.

Get a Ladder and Climb Up On the Roof

Next, you will want to get yourself a ladder and to climb up onto the roof. Only do this, though, if you feel spry enough to tackle the job on your own.

If you don’t feel up to it, then hire a professional instead. You don’t want to get up on the top of a ladder or onto a steep roof if you have issues with your balance or vertigo-related problems.

Once you’re up there, take a closer look at the gutters. You are looking for any rends, holes, or other damage that was not as obvious from down below.

Often, if there is anything wrong with the gutters, you can spot it this way. You may want to take pictures with your smartphone’s camera to show them to a professional gutter repair company.

Pour Water Down the Gutter’s Channel

If you are not entirely satisfied with what you are seeing, then the final step should be for you to take a small bucket or some other container of water and to dump it into the gutter. Watch the gutter’s operation from the roof while someone else watches from below.

Is the water being obstructed anywhere? That means there’s a clog. If it’s falling through any holes in the gutter, you know those spots will need to be patched. Now, report what you’ve found to a gutter repair company.