Your gutter system plays an important role in protecting your home against water damage. It catches and redirects rainwater into your downspouts and away from your property. When it doesn’t do its job properly, your home is at risk of roof leaks, damaged siding, and landscaping and foundation issues.

Polar Bear Exterior Solutions, your local roofing contractor, shares the various ways gutters can overflow.

1. Clogged Gutters

This is the most obvious cause of overflowing gutters. Dirt, dead leaves, and other organic matter entering your gutters form clogs that prevent rainwater from flowing toward the downspouts. With nowhere to go, water pools in your gutters and eventually will overflow. It can also find its way under the roof, affecting your attic and potentially causing leaks.

2. Clogged Downspouts

The function of downspouts is to drive rainwater flowing from your gutters away from your home and ideally to a storm drain or sewer to prevent it from saturating the soil around your home. Clogged downspouts, however, can cause water to back up into your gutters and overflow. As your home’s landscaping gets flooded, the water seeping under your soil can in rare cases cause enough intense pressure for your foundation to crack.

3. Too Much Rain

Even if it is regularly maintained, you may notice your gutter system is still overflowing whenever it rains really hard. Consult your local roofer to find out if your gutters are capable of handling substantial rainfall peaks and to see if yours need to be replaced. Five- and six-inch gutters are sufficient for homes that don’t experience frequent torrential rains. Larger gutters are required in areas experiencing very heavy rainfall.

4. Too Few Gutter System Components

Your roof, gutters and downspouts need to work together to prevent overflows. If your roof is older than 15 years and you are beginning to have concerns, Polar Bear can offer a free roofing evaluation and estimate to provide options. The best time to update your gutters and downspouts is when you update your roof. Work with a roofing and gutter professional to install a complete roof and gutter system for your home.

At Polar Bear Exterior Solutions, we offer a variety of options that can help you keep the water flowing away from your house when the rain is coming down. Our roofing and gutter installation pros can build a system capable of handling the toughest weather conditions. 

Count on us for your other exterior home improvement needs, including window and siding replacement. Call (425) 290-5579 today or fill out our contact form to request a free estimate. We serve residents of the Greater Seattle metro area from Tacoma to Bellingham.