What to Do When a Gutter Breaks
Can I Repair A Broken Gutter ?
If you call the Portland area home, you know that gutters are vital to the health of your home.
With regular rain throughout much of the year, good gutters will move the water away before it
can do unwanted damage. With that said, it’s easy to take your gutters for granted – they just
hang out on the eaves and do their job, day after day. That is, until they break. While not a
common occurrence, gutters can sustain damage, and prompt repair is essential to protect the
condition of your house.
Play It Safe
The biggest mistake you can make when you notice that a gutter has broken on your house is to
jump into action without thinking things through first. You might be tempted to grab your
tallest ladder – or borrow one from a neighbor – and climb up to see what is going on. Before
doing that, however, stop and think – what are you going to do when you get up there? Going
up on a tall ladder can be dangerous without experience, and if you aren’t equipped to fix the
problem yourself anyway, you’ll be taking that risk for no reason.
Most likely, anything you need to learn about the problem you can learn from ground level. You
should be able to see how badly the gutter is damaged, if any damage has been done to the
rest of the house, and more. Even the homeowner who is experienced with DIY projects will
likely need to call in the professionals for gutter repair in Portland, so don’t put yourself in any
unnecessary danger by going up for a careful inspection. Instead, bring in Stumptown Gutters
to see what has happened, what work needs to be done, and how long that work will take to
complete.
A Couple of Options
When a gutter is damaged or broken on your home, you’ll most likely have a couple of options.
First, for relatively minor damage that only affects a small section of the gutter, a repair may be
possible. This is typically the most affordable way to go and will have your home back in
working order right away.
With that said, in some cases, a broken gutter is a good opportunity to replace the entire gutter
system on the home. This is particularly true if you live in an older home in one of Portland’s
traditional neighborhoods. It’s possible, or even likely, that the gutters have never been
replaced on that home, so consider using this opportunity to upgrade to a new system that will
perform better and will last for years to come. Additionally, gutters on most homes are made of steel which rusts. So if you are not sure what material your gutters are made of, they are likely steel.
Don’t Wait
Whatever you do, don’t sit around and allow rainy day after rainy day to arrive without having
your gutters fixed. The water damage that may result from waiting too long to fix your gutters
could be significant. Get in touch with the professionals at Stumptown Gutters as soon as you
know there is a problem so we can get right to work. After all, spending money on gutter
repairs or even a new gutter installation is far better than spending thousands to fix water
damage – and then still needing to fix the gutters. We hope to serve you soon!
Stumptown Gutters Portland Oregon