Picture this: You’re mowing your lawn on a Saturday morning. The conditions are just right- sunny skies, moderate temperature, and you have a whole weekend ahead of you. You finish the last section of the front yard and turn to assess your work when it hits you: something isn’t right with your roof. No, not the roof- the gutters. They’re sagging. Now what?
It’s time to learn how to fix your sagging underperforming gutters, before your neighbors notice and before irreparable damage sets in.
Gutters can begin to sag due to several possible reasons, both natural and human-caused. Once you’ve identified the reason, you can begin to address the issue.
Did you rest your ladder against your home when you last hung your Christmas lights? The weight of a ladder on a gutter run can cause dents or knock loose brackets, screws, or nails that hold the gutter to the fascia board. Without this support, you may end up with loose gutters that will eventually sag.
It’s important to keep your gutters clean for many reasons. Those pesky leaves, pine needles, and whirly birds that fill open gutters are more than just detritus to clean. If too much gunk collects in a particular spot, eventually your gutters may bend and sag off the roof line.
In southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky, we never quite know what to expect from the weather each season. Sometimes, we get lucky and the storms are mild, but other years, Mother Nature relentlessly hits us with heavy rains, ice storms, and more. Any major weather event is a concern for a homeowner. Too much rain can overpower gutter systems that aren’t prepared for it, and ice that builds up inside a gutter can weigh it down and leave you with sagging gutters.
Once you identify the cause of your sagging gutters, you can begin the repair process. Unfortunately, repairing sagging rain gutters requires some legwork. It’s time to bring out that ladder again (just lean it against the wall instead of the gutter this time!)
A trip to your local home improvement store can provide gutter spikes, screws, or brackets- whatever you might need. Thoroughly inspect all points of contact that your gutter shares with the fascia board so you don’t miss anything, then carefully secure the gutter. Enlist a friend to help for safety (and for a second set of eyes to ensure you’re lining the gutter up correctly with the roof line.)
Fixing sagging gutters properly can be a daunting task, especially if you have a larger home or if your gutters are seriously damaged. In some cases, the sagging might be too severe to amend with DIY solutions- which is when professional help with gutter replacement is useful.
If you’d rather spend your sunny Saturdays enjoying the day instead of looking up how to raise sagging gutters, you might be a candidate for a maintenance-free gutter solution. Contact LeafGuard of Cincinnati for a complimentary estimate from gutter installation experts.
