It’s never a good thing to look out one of your windows and see water cascading out of your gutters and down the side of your house. As we hit the rainy season, overflowing gutters unfortunately become more common.
If you are experiencing flooding due to a rainstorm that is well beyond what your area normally gets, you can chalk your overflowing gutters up to a one-time act of God, but it shouldn’t be a normal occurrence during a rainy day.
Overflowing gutters can lead to damage to your windows, siding, foundation and landscaping. They can also cause flooding to occur within your home. If you notice that your gutters are constantly overflowing, you should check for these common causes:
Your Gutters Are Clogged
The first thing you should do is check to see if your gutters or downspouts have anything blocking the flow of water. Even if you cleaned your gutters out recently, something may have fallen in or gotten stuck in the middle. If you haven’t cleaned your gutters in quite a while, they are probably due for a cleaning.
If you aren’t able to get up on a ladder and clean off your gutters, you can have a professional company come out and clean them for you. Gutter cleaning is fairly inexpensive and definitely worth the price.
If you gutters are perfectly clean, there may still be a few causes that have to do with how your gutters were installed.
You Don’t Have Enough Downspouts
Depending on how your house is shaped, you may not have enough downspouts, which can cause your gutters to overflow due to inefficiency. If you have a long stretch of roof that goes all the way across your home but only has a single downspout on one side, there’s a good chance that you need to add one at the other end.
Your Gutters Aren’t Tilted Enough (Or Too Much)
Although they look fairly level, your gutters are actually tilted slightly so that water can properly drain from them. Gutter installation is a bit of a precise science. If you pitch the gutters too little, water will not drain from them fast enough. If you pitch them too much, water will splash out as it heads towards the nearest downspout.
Your Gutters are Too Small
If your gutters are clear, have enough downspouts and pitched to perfection, your only option is to invest in a larger gutter size that can handle the amount of rainfall that you get in your area. If you are uncertain as to why your gutters are overflowing, contact our team here at Schmidt Roofing. We will send out one of our specialists to assess your gutter system free of charge.
