When it comes to protecting your home and roof, your gutter plays a large role in ensuring water won’t have a chance of causing costly damage.

However, just like any part of your home, gutters are susceptible to becoming damaged and may require some repairs. Depending on the severity of the damage, the gutter could need a professional replacement or you may be able to resolve the issue yourself.

In today’s blog, we’ll be looking at the types of damage your gutter can sustain and what you can do to fix this damage.

Holes in your guttering

Holes can form in your gutters for any number of reasons. If you have an old gutter made of metal, any water that pools up could cause rusting and, eventually, cause holes to form. Even if you have more modern materials that aren’t susceptible to rusting, then holes can still form due to factors such as falling debris causing small pinholes or larger damage (such a tree branch crashing into you gutter) leading to much more notable holes.

Regardless of what size the initial hole may be, failing to repair it ASAP gives it more of a chance to worsen. A tiny pinhole can usually be repaired with a little bit of roof sealant, but larger holes will tend to require a combination of both roofing sealant and a repair patch. The roof sealant allows your gutter and repair patch to fuse and effectively block the hole.

To achieve this, you’ll want to clean out the area near the hole to ensure it is free of dirt and debris that could impact your repairs. Once clean, squeeze a healthy dose of the roof sealant around the edge of the hole until the entire circumference is accounted for. Then, place the repair patch into the centre, fusing into the sealant so that it removes any likely leaks; this way you will keep another hole from forming. Also make sure that the repair patch is of the same material as the gutter itself.

Leaky joints

Regardless of what material your guttering is made from and whether or not its joints are seamless, it will still be vulnerable to the possibility of joint leaks. With leaky joints, the process is very much the same as that of holes in your guttering. If the leaks are minor, some roof sealant should do the trick. However, if the joint has a more major leak, you may need to incorporate the combination of roof sealant and a repair patch with similar steps to those mentioned in the above section.

Loose guttering

Any gutter has the potential of coming loose. This could happen after a severe storm removes it from its hinges or simply time has seen a slow deterioration of the gutter straps. Either way, when a gutter comes loose, the likeliest culprit is that your gutter straps have either loosened or become completely damaged.

It’s a good idea to check your gutters, at the very least, two times every year, but we’d suggest having a look every 3 months if possible. No gutter can hold its own weight, so it will rely on gutter straps in one way or another to keep it in place. If you’ve noticed any straps have become loose, it’s typically an easy solution of nailing the strap back in. In the circumstance where any of your straps have become damaged or a completely destroyed, this will require a replacement of those straps.

You’ll be able to find gutter straps at almost any hardware store. All you need to be sure of is that you purchase the right type. Then, simply replace your damaged or destroyed straps with the new ones and nail them into place.

Severe damage

Sometimes gutters may sustain so much damage that resolving the issue by yourself may be too much. At this point, your best option is to hire a professional roofer who can handle extensive guttering repairs or replacements. At Roo Roofing, we can repair, repaint or replace your existing gutters to your liking.

If you have any further questions regarding gutter damage or would like to find out how we could help you with gutter repairs, give Roo Roofing a call on 1300 734 148.

* Image source: pointnshoot