When is the last time you cleaned your home’s gutters? If it’s been more than a year now, this is not going to be a good sign!
Generally speaking, you should try to clean your gutters at least once or twice each year. It’ll prevent you from ever having to deal with a single clogged gutter.
Outside of helping you have to deal with clogged gutters, cleaning out your gutters one or two times every year will also help you avoid finding yourself with a clogged gutter downspout on your hands. This is one of the worst problems you can have when it comes to your entire gutter system.
There are a handful of signs that’ll show you that you might have a clogged gutter downspout. We’re going to run through them for you now so that you know what to look out for.
Check out a few surefire signs that you have a clogged gutter downspout below.
No Water Coming Out of a Downspout on a Rainy Day
The next time it rains for an extended period of time, run outside of your home and take a look at your various downspouts. There should be water coming out of each and every one of them.
If you see a downspout without any water emerging from it, this could be a clogged gutter downspout. Either that or your gutters could have so much debris in them that they aren’t able to move any rainwater to your downspout.
In this case, you won’t have to worry about the downspout itself. Instead, you’ll need to find a way to keep your gutters free of leaves, sticks, and other debris.
These gutter guards are great and will do the trick for you. You won’t have to worry about dealing with gutters that are clogged anymore once you put them into place.
Water Spilling Out From the Top of a Downspout
If you ever spot a downspout that doesn’t have any water coming out of it when it’s raining outside, it would be worth looking up at the top of it. There could very well be water spilling over the sides of your gutters when it should be going down your downspouts.
You don’t ever want to find yourself in this situation since it’s likely going to mean that you’ll have a whole lot of rainwater pooling around the outside of your home’s foundation. This could eventually lead to you having to fix your home’s foundation if water begins to infiltrate it and do damage to it.
Doing something as simple as fixing a clogged gutter downspout can prevent serious foundation issues. It’s why you should make it a point to clean clogged gutters and downspouts on a regular basis.
Water Pooling Around the Bottom of a Downspout
After the next rainstorm in your area, head outside and sneak a peek at the area surrounding your downspout. If it’s soaking wet with water just sitting there, this could be an indication that you have a clogged gutter downspout.
At the same time, it could also suggest that your downspout isn’t redirecting rainwater far enough away from your home. In this instance, you’ll need to figure out a way to stop this from happening. You might be able to buy something that you can add to your downspout to carry rainwater further away from your home.
Water Backing Up Into the Gutters
In a worst-case scenario, a clogged gutter downspout will lead to water backing all the way up into your gutters. Depending on how hard it rains outside, your entire gutter system could be filled with water by the time a rainy day or rainstorm ends.
At first, this might not seem like a big problem. Even a clogged gutter downspout will usually let a little bit of water pass through it. So you should see some of the water in your gutters make its way down to the ground eventually.
But in the meantime, water will sit in your gutters and possibly cause problems. It might weigh your gutters down so much that one or more of them will fall right off your home. It might also lead to mosquitos and other pests setting up shop in your home’s gutters and refusing to leave.
And to think: All of this could be prevented by eliminating a single clogged gutter downspout! You won’t have to live with these types of gutter issues when you work to keep your gutters and downspouts free of debris.
Debris Visible Inside of a Downspout
In some instances, you’ll literally be able to see that you have a clogged gutter downspout. When you’re standing up on a ladder looking at your gutters, you might be able to spot debris down in your downspout that is clogging it up.
If you ever see debris in your downspout, you should work to get it out ASAP. You might be able to stick your hand down into your downspout to pull the debris out. But you might also need to use a garden hose to break it up and get it to come out of your downspout.
Either way, you don’t want to let debris linger in your downspout. It can turn a slightly clogged gutter downspout into a downspout that won’t let any water pass through it in no time.
Avoid a Clogged Gutter Downspout at All Costs
In theory, having a clogged gutter downspout attached to your home might not sound like that big of a deal. But if you allow a clogged gutter downspout to hang around for too long, it can have a negative impact on everything from your gutters to your foundation.
Make it a point to keep your home’s gutters and downspouts clean throughout the course of the year. It’ll help you avoid putting yourself into a position where a clogged gutter downspout takes a major toll on your house.
Look for more home improvement tips and tricks by reading through our other published blog articles.
