Why My Gutters Are Not Draining?

Most people have this one question, “Why my Gutters are not draining properly?” Rain gutters and downspouts do a lot for our homes. Without them, you would have torrents of running water coming down on your head any time you wanted to enter or exit your home. The areas of lawn immediately surrounding your house would become a muddy boggy mess every time it rained that could potentially seep down to your foundation and cause some flooding in your basement.

Thankfully, we have that relatively simple but ingenious invention to redirect running water away from your home. That way, you’re not inconvenienced and your home is protected from leaking.

Common Causes Of Gutter Clogging

Unfortunately, though, gutters are prevented from doing their job because of clogging, which causes the water to pool and either flood outwards, leak inwards to your home, or crack the gutters altogether.

Don’t worry, though. A clogged gutter is easy to diagnose, fix, and prevent altogether. Here we have listed three common reasons why gutters will stop draining:

Leaves
Ice
Improperly installed or damaged gutters

We’ll go into more detail of what makes these happen.

Trees Might Just Be The Culprit

The most common cause for rain gutter clogging is from leaves that fall onto roofs and are then carried into downspouts. While it can (and does) occur with any kind of roof, it happens more often in houses with flat or near-flat rooftops because that pesky foliage isn’t so easily carried off by water or wind. More often than not, they find their way right inside our gutters.

The closer your proximity to trees, the higher the probability that sooner or later, your gutters are going to start trapping leaves. Follow this up with fall rains or winter snows and it’s no wonder that some clogging is going to occur.

Leaves aren’t the only cause of clogging, though. Pine needles, sticks, and twigs can also easily get trapped. Since gutters can’t logistically be set steep enough to just flush everything out, it is easy to this green debris to start piling up, and in turn create blockages.

Winter Time Clogging? Your Problem Might Be Ice Damming

When an attic is poorly ventilated, it traps heat much more easily. Now, while retaining warmth is often a positive, when it comes to a roof, it can be more of a headache than its worth.

The warmth of a poorly ventilated attic causes the snow on the roof to thaw, but that warmth does not extend to the gutters. With the sudden change in temperature, the snow refreezes once it reaches the gutters and forms “dams” which causes water to clog up.

The weight from the clogged water can in turn lead to even more problems, including cracking and leaking which can cause gutter damage and easily get inside your home.

Badly Installed Gutters And Downspouts

Gutter downspouts are important for water flow management. They allow rainwater to pass through them without blocking any part of the system, but they also need proper installation and design so as to not cause problems later on, or simply get overwhelmed with debris buildup in certain areas. This in turn will lead you straight back into needing cleanings much more frequently than you have time or patience for.

Cleaning Out Your Gutters

Thankfully, clearing the clogs from your gutters is not overly difficult yet it comes with a plethora of benefits. You can prevent flooding, clogging, and leaking, all of which can cause costly damage to your home. It can be time consuming, though, so be prepared to spend anywhere from 2-4 hours working.

If you’re going to be working on your roof, then it is best that the ladder matches. A sturdy one will make all of these tasks much easier for yourself. If your ladder constantly wobbles, then you’re putting your safety on the line. Please stay safe!
Cleaning your gutters can get messy, so dress for the job. Your best bet will be a long sleeve shirt, jeans, and rubber gloves.
Use a gutter scoop or a small sandbox shovel to clean the debris from your gutter. (Some places even sell gutter cleaning robots that can do the job for you!)
After you’ve done an initial clean, use a garden hose to spray the inside of the gutters and wash out any remaining debris.

In comparison to other home improvement projects, gutter cleaning is a quick and easy way of keeping your house dry. Plus you only have to do this once or twice per year!

This solution works best with gutters that have been clogged by leaves or ice. But in the case of improperly installed gutters, then your best bet is to call in professional roofers.

And we happen to know just the people.

Out There Roofing Are Your Gutter Repair Experts

If you have cleaned your gutters but still are struggling with clogging, then now’s the time to call in the experts. The longer you put off having this problem solved, the costlier repairs will be because there’s nothing worse than coming home from work or school only to find out one of those little leaks has burst into full on rainstorm inside.

If you’re looking for a roofing company that will work with your budget and schedule, Out There Roofing is ready to help. You can have access to a professional team who’ve dealt with their fair share of broken gutters and leaky roofs already.

Contact us today so that we can get started. You can schedule a time for one of our repairmen to visit your home and perform a free consultation, giving you a bid on-site so that you can know the price tag before the job even has to start.

Let’s get those flooding gutters working good as new. Call Out There Roofing today!