Rain Gutter Repair

Rain gutter repair isn’t anybody’s idea of a good time, but it’s an important thing you have to do if you want to protect your home from the damaging effects of water. When water gets into a home in places that are not waterproof, you end up with a nasty combination of structural damage and black mold. Obviously if you care about your home, and your health since black mold is toxic, you want to avoid having this happen.

That means you need to ensure that your rain gutters are in good working order. That entails regular cleaning of your rain gutter, as long as rain gutter repair when you find a problem. It’s important that you move quickly when you discover a problem, because over time it’s only going to get worse. While there are certain types of rain gutter repair that are best left to the professionals, there are several relatively minor fixes that you can usually handle just fine on your own.

This will not only get the problem fixed quickly, it will also save you some cash. The following are common rain gutter repair problems that the average person can usually fix on their own.

1. Clogged Or Blocked Gutters

While this falls more under the umbrella of maintenance than it does actual repair work, it’s still important to mention because clogged gutters are usually the driving force behind most types of rain gutter damage. Even if the current problem isn’t related to blocked gutters you are generally much better off cleaning your gutters before you start to initiate any other types of repairs. Not only do your gutters need to be kept clean, you are also much more likely to not notice additional gutter problems unless you have a clean gutter to inspect as you are doing your repairs.

Cleaning out clogged gutters is a fairly straightforward endeavor. You just get a ladder, some gloves, and a container to hold the debris in. Assuming your gutters are not leaking you can also use a water hose or pressure washer once the main debris is gone. Just make sure that your rain gutters are anchored properly and are in good overall condition before you subject them to the added stress of a water hose or pressure washer.

2. Bent Or Deformed Gutters

Another common rain gutter repair problem that you may run into are rain gutters that become warped or distorted over time. It’s natural for them to start to warp over time since they are exposed to quite a bit of abuse. Now if your rain gutters are distorted to a major degree then you are going to have to replace them. At that point you are likely better off calling a professional that can remove the damaged portions of your rain gutter and replace them.

But if your rain gutters are not badly warped you can often bend them back into shape and use extra gutter hangers to get them to stay in place. This is an easy an inexpensive fix that sure beats paying a professional to come out and replace part or all of your rain gutters.

3. Rain Gutters That Are Leaking At The Seams

Rain gutters are not composed of one solid piece, they are constructed using several segments. At the segment they are bonded together using a sealer. If you notice that you have a small leak at the seams then it’s likely that the sealer that was used has begun to erode away. That’s the bad news. The good news is that this is an easy fix that you can do yourself without much effort, and without spending much money.

All you have to do is go to your local hardware store and pick up a can of sealer. Then separate the gutter pieces and clean the area where the sealer will be applied. Next apply the sealer, and put a few rivets in just to further anchor that joint.

4. Clogged Downspouts

Unfortunately for any do it yourself people out there clogged downspouts are another part of rain gutter repair that you will have to deal with. When you think about it there should be no surprise that clogged downspouts are a common problem. After all they are where the water from the rain gutters flows to, so they end up getting some debris trapped in them as well.

The good news is that clogged downspouts are less common than clogged gutters, largely because you have gravity on your side. Rain water flows slowly along a gutter on the way to a downspout, but once it gets there gravity kicks into gear and it flows much faster. As a result there is less debris that ends up being logged in there, although it does happen.

The good news here is that actually cleaning out your downspouts really is one of the easier rain gutter repair issues that you will have to deal with. In many cases you can actually just use a water hose to flush out the downspout. If that doesn’t do the trick you can move the process up a level and use a pressure washer. If that still doesn’t do it then you are going to have to use a snake to force the debris out. In all likelihood you won’t have to resort to this since in most cases the debris is easily flushed out with a water hose.

You Can Save Money On Rain Gutter Repairs If You Make Sure You Can Handle The Job You Are Taking On

The key to saving yourself money when it comes to gutter repair problems is to know your limitations. If you take on a job that is more than you can handle then chances are you will end up making mistakes or causing damage that will cost you more money down the road. But as long as it is a relatively simple job then there really is no reason you can’t handle it on your own. You will save some money, and then you will also have the satisfaction of knowing you handled the job on your own.

If you find out you can’t handle it yourself, then get a quote and we will take care of it for you.