Yuck! The water that should be rushing out your downspouts and away from your home is falling like a muddy curtain across the front of your home. Why do gutters overflow?

Nasty Big Clogs

The main cause of overflowing gutters is a clog, or several clogs. Just about everything can clog a gutter:

  • A stray toy or play ball
  • Pine needles
  • Leaves
  • Small twigs

Clogged gutters are signs of poor maintenance. Regularly gutter cleaning by trained professionals can prevent clogs. Most roofing and gutter services recommend cleaning two times a year:

  1. In the spring, gutters are emerging from winter’s toll; clean gutters prepare you for the spring and summer thunderstorms
  2. In the fall, gutters are full of autumn leaves and debris; they need to be clean to prepare for the snow and ice to come

Lie Like Logs

Gutters are attached to fascia, the decorative strip behind them. Gutters are not meant to lie perfectly flat like logs against your home’s fascia. They have to pitch, or tilt slightly, so the water can run to the downspouts.

Gutters are typically attached to the fascia using gutter nails or screws, or large brackets which are mostly hidden inside the gutter. Two problems with attachment can be answers to your question, “Why do gutters overflow?”

  1. Gutters get pulled away from the fascia by ice dams or water weight from clogs, ruining the pitch of the gutter and leading to more standing water
  2. Gutters may be improperly installed, so the installers failed to build in the correct pitch — a quarter inch per 10 running feet — and matters have only gotten worse over time

Neither problem can be ignored without risking permanent damage to your home.

Hanging Low

Even perfectly pitched gutters can still be installed incorrectly. The fascia on most homes is wide, so poorly trained gutter technicians might place the gutters too low. Water running off the roof overshoots the low gutter entirely, soaking your lawn.

Foundations are not designed to be exposed to constant water against their outsides. Water from overflowing gutters saturates your lawn, weakens foundations, and invites mold and mildew to develop on siding.

Cure the Overflow

Engage the services of a trusted and expert gutter contractor to repair or replace your home’s gutters. Contact us at VanWeelden Company today to let us help you preserve your home’s value, safeguard your foundations, and get those gutters working flowing correctly.