Asking yourself, “Why is water leaking behind my gutters during heavy rain?” There are several causes of water leaking behind gutters, including gutter clogs, gutter pitch problems, fascia board damage, improperly positioned drip edge, and gutters pulling away from the home. While this issue is most noticeable during a heavy rainstorm, you should correct the problem sooner rather than waiting for costly water damage to occur.
Water leaking behind your gutters can lead to rot, mold, and mildew damage to your fascia boards, soffits, siding, landscaping, and foundation. Here’s what causes gutters to leak behind the fascia of your home and how to fix it.
What Causes Water to Leak Behind Gutters?
When water leaks behind gutters, it typically means rainwater is not being properly diverted away from your home. Your gutter system is meant to collect rainwater running down your roof and direct it inside the gutter toward downspouts. When it flows behind gutters, that water will often come into contact with your home’s building materials that are not meant to withstand constant water exposure.
Eventually, you may experience wood rot, chipped paint, mold growth, and other issues that could have been avoided if gutters were installed correctly or maintained properly. You may not even realize you have a problem until you start seeing stains on the outside of your home or discover water damage on the inside.
Because heavy rain produces larger amounts of water hitting your roof and dumping into your gutters, heavy rains tend to highlight problems with your gutter system.
Are Gutters Clogged with Debris the Leading Cause?
Yes. Gutters that aren’t cleaned regularly allow debris like leaves, twigs, pine needles, and other gunk to build up and block the flow of water through the gutter. Water should be flowing through your gutters and into the downspouts.
If gutters are clogged, water will begin to overflow instead. Depending on the location of the clog, gutter water can spill over the front of the gutter or run behind it down the fascia.
Signs you might have clogged gutters include:
- Water overflowing the gutter during rainstorms
- Weed growth in your gutters
- Sagging gutters
- Ponding water near your home’s foundation
- No water (or minimal water) exiting the downspouts
Preventing clogged gutters is one of the easiest solutions. Ensure you’re cleaning your gutters at least twice a year.
Could My Gutters Be Pulling Away From My House?
Yes. Your gutters are attached to your fascia with hangers and fasteners. As time goes on, these can loosen, rust, or give out completely. Once gutters begin to separate from your roof, spaces will develop between the gutter itself and your fascia board.
When rainwater comes down during a storm, water will fall right down into these gaps instead of into the gutter. Depending on how much your gutters pull away from your roof, you could end up with large amounts of water dripping onto your fascia and into your soffit.
Homeowners often catch this problem early by noticing sagging gutters or that their gutters are not sitting evenly with the roofline.
Can Incorrect Gutter Slope Lead to Leaks Behind Gutters?
Yes. Gutters need to slope towards the downspouts to allow water to drain. Incorrect gutter slope can cause pools of water to develop in your gutters. Once water pools, gutter leakage can happen behind gutters when rainstorms come through.
Incorrect gutter pitch is very common in older gutter systems and gutters that have shifted away from their original slope.
Do I Have the Wrong Type of Drip Edge?
Yes, sometimes. The drip edge is a metal flashing that goes along your roof edge and helps guide water into gutters. If your drip edge was installed incorrectly or doesn’t reach far enough into your gutters, rainwater will run behind your gutter instead of into it.
Incorrect drip edge usually becomes a problem during heavy rainstorms when large amounts of water can be diverted behind your gutters if your roof edge isn’t set up to handle it.
Can Your Gutters Be Too Small?
Yes, sometimes gutters can be too small to handle heavy rain. Even a new gutter that has been installed correctly can overflow if there isn’t enough gutter space to handle all the rain pouring off your roof. Certain roofs will gather more water than others and direct it toward one area of the gutter system.
During a heavy rainstorm, typical gutters can become overwhelmed by the amount of water and begin to leak or overflow behind the gutters. Likewise, if you don’t have enough downspouts for the size of your gutters, you can experience backups that cause overflow.
Roofs that tend to have this issue include:
- Large roof surfaces
- Very steep roofs
- Roof valleys that direct most of the water to one area
- Homes located where heavy rain storms are common
- Older homes with smaller gutters
The solution is often larger gutters or additional downspouts.
What Problems Can Occur If Water Continues to Leak Behind My Gutters?
Don’t ignore water leaking behind your gutters. Once water starts to leak behind your gutter system, it can cause several problems to your home.
Here are some issues that can occur:
- Rotting fascia boards
- Deterioration of your soffits
- Mold or mildew growth
- Foundation damage
- Landscape washout
- Damaged siding
- Water intrusion in your interior rooms
The longer you wait to fix this problem, the more damage you can expect to encounter. Plus, the repair could become much more costly.
How Do You Keep Water From Leaking Behind Gutters?
Correcting your gutter problem is easy if you perform regular maintenance and call a professional when you first notice an issue. You should regularly clean out your gutters and watch how they perform when it rains. If you start to notice gutter sections sagging or your gutters aren’t sitting right, take care of the problem sooner rather than later.
Also, be sure you’re regularly checking your downspouts to make sure they’re clear and that water rolls away from your foundation. Lastly, consider having a professional gutter company come out and inspect your gutters. Professionals can spot problems you may have been unable to see from the ground. They can also identify gutter pitch problems, flashing issues, and structural damages that may be hidden from the naked eye.
Contact the Professionals at York County Gutters LLC
If water floods behind your gutters whenever it rains heavily, contact the professionals at York County Gutters LLC. Our gutter technicians can take care of your gutter issues and help determine why you’re experiencing water behind your gutters.
We offer gutter cleaning, gutter repairs, gutter replacements, gutter guards, and complete gutter installations to keep rainwater where it should be, flowing through your gutters! Contact York County Gutters LLC today to schedule your inspection.