Last winter, after finding big puddles in our New Jersey home’s cellar for the third time, my wife and I called a local plumber. He gave the cellar a once-overadbackhome or ad casino, confirmed that our sump pump was in working order, and then surprised us by suggesting we take a look outside the house.
“I could put in French drains for you,” said Ray Wilding, the plumber, when we got aboveground, “but you don’t need them.” He pointed to a gutter dangling loose from one eave. Whenever it rained, he explained, water was pouring directly onto the ground around the cellar walls instead of being channeled away. “Get that fixed and 99 percent of your problem is going to be solved,” he said.
Gutters may well be, as Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota avers, the most neglected part of homeownership. Though gutters are part of the roof, their primary job is to protect the foundation of your home from water damage, which can worsen unseen for years and cost thousands of dollars to repair. Keeping them maintained is an easy — but easily ignored — way to protect your investment.
Step one is to do an inspection. From the ground, look for loose or sagging gutters, which won’t properly catch and redirect rainwater. Also look for signs of erosion on the ground directly beneath the eaves. A line of bare soil can indicate that the gutter above is clogged, leading to rainwater overflowing instead of coursing its way to the downspouts. If you can do the inspection while it’s raining, any problems will be more obvious.
If possible, inspect the gutters from above as well, by using a ladder, leaning carefully out windows, or — no longer terribly exotic — flying a camera drone. You’re looking for blockages. Leaves begin to fall and pile up in gutters this time of year; pine needles, seeds, and, in the spring, petals and pollen can also cause problems.
“It’s kind of like getting mulch in your gutters,” said Henry Cruz, office manager of Spotless Gutter Cleaning and Repair, which serves the New York metro area. In addition to preventing rainwater from draining away from your foundation, he explained, the accumulated material can become a nursery for living plants, “and then you have like a whole lawn in your gutters.” Left too long, major blockages can lead to chronic damp and rot in the roof structure, another expensive repair.
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