The clearest signs of clogged gutters show up in the rain: water sheeting over the front edge, waterfalls at the corners, and downspouts that stay dry or barely trickle in a downpour. On dry days, look for plants or moss growing in the gutter, sagging runs, dark streaks on the siding, soft or peeling fascia, and wet soil or erosion along the foundation. Any one of these means water is not getting where it should, and around Seattle, with months of rain ahead each fall, it is worth fixing before the wet season does the damage for you.
Signs you can see during a Seattle rain
The best time to inspect your gutters is during a steady rain, from the ground, with a jacket on. Walk the full perimeter of the house and watch the roofline. You are looking for water that leaves the system anywhere other than the bottom of a downspout.
- Water sheeting over the front lip. A thin curtain of water pouring over the outside edge along a straight run usually means the gutter is packed with needles and sediment, so water rides over the top instead of flowing toward the outlet.
- Waterfalls at the corners. Inside corners, where two roof planes dump into one spot, overflow first. A small splash in a cloudburst can be normal. A steady waterfall in ordinary rain means the corner or the run leading to it is blocked.
- Dry downspouts in a downpour. If the roof is shedding water and a downspout is silent or only dripping, the outlet or the elbow is plugged. The water is going somewhere else, usually over the edge.
- Water spilling out the top of a downspout. Many older Seattle homes have downspouts that feed underground drain lines. When water backs up and bubbles out of the joint where the downspout meets the pipe, the clog is below ground, not in the gutter.
- Drips behind the gutter. Water running down the fascia board or between the gutter and the house suggests overflow behind the back edge, a leaking seam, or a gutter that has pulled away from the roof edge.
Signs you can spot on a dry day
Seattle's dry summers are a good window to look for the slower, quieter signs. Some of these take a season or two to develop, which is exactly why they are easy to miss.
- Plants or moss sprouting from the gutter. If seedlings, grass or green moss are visible from the yard, there is enough soil-like sludge in the gutter to grow them. Fir needles, maple leaves and roof grit break down into exactly that.
- Sagging runs. A full gutter holding wet debris is heavy. Look along the roofline for dips, bows or sections that hang lower than the rest.
- Pulled hangers or gaps at the fascia. Hangers that have backed out, or daylight between the gutter and the house, often follow months of extra weight.
- Dark streaks or stains on the siding. Vertical streaks below the gutter line, sometimes called tiger stripes, come from water and dirt spilling over the edge again and again.
- Peeling paint or soft fascia and soffits. Repeated overflow soaks the wood behind the gutter. Blistered paint, dark spots or wood that dents under a fingernail are signs of rot starting.
- Pooled water, erosion or washed-out beds along the foundation. Trenches in the soil, splashed mud on the lower siding, or mulch carried away under one spot mark where overflow lands every storm.
- A damp crawl space or basement. Musty smells, efflorescence on concrete walls, or standing water after a rainy week can trace back to gutters dumping water right beside the foundation.
- Gurgling or rattling in the downspout. Gurgling during light rain, or water that seems to slosh and stall, often means air is trapped behind a partial clog.
What each sign likely means
Different symptoms point to different problems, and the fix is not always the same. Here is the rough map.
Clogged gutter run
Overflow along the front edge, plants growing in the trough, and sagging under weight all point to debris in the gutter itself. This is the most common problem under Douglas firs and western red cedars, which drop needles all year, and under bigleaf maples and alders in late fall.
Clogged downspout outlet or elbow
A dry or trickling downspout while the gutter overflows near the outlet points to a blockage at the drop or in the elbows. Needles and spring catkins tend to jam at the first bend. Sometimes the gutter is fairly clean and the elbow alone is the culprit.
Clogged underground drain line
Water backing up and spilling from the top of the downspout, or a downspout that fills and holds water, usually means the buried pipe is blocked by sediment, needles or roots. Cleaning the gutter will not fix this. It needs the line cleared, which is a different job.
Pitch or alignment problem
If a run holds standing water a day after the rain stops, or overflows in the middle while the downspout runs freely, the gutter may have lost its slope toward the outlet. Sagging hangers and settled houses on steep lots cause this. A clean gutter with bad pitch will still overflow.
How to check safely from the ground
You can learn most of what you need without climbing. Wet, mossy roofs and tall two-story walls are common around Seattle, Bellevue and Sammamish, and they make ladders risky.
- Do a rain walk. Circle the house during a steady rain and note every spot where water leaves the system early.
- Check each downspout. Put a hand near the outlet or listen at the pipe. Strong flow is good. Silence or a trickle is not.
- Look up from across the yard. From a distance, sagging runs, sprouting plants and gaps at the fascia are easier to see.
- Read the ground. After a storm, look for puddles, erosion and splashed mud along the foundation.
- Check inside. Look into the crawl space or basement after a wet week for damp spots or standing water.
A single-story gutter you can reach from a stable ladder on firm, level ground is a reasonable thing to check by hand. For anything higher, or any roof edge with moss on it, leave it to someone with the right gear. Moss also feeds the problem; see how roof moss ends up in your gutters.
When to get your gutters cleaned
If you see any of the rain signs above, get the gutters cleaned before the next stretch of heavy weather. Fall atmospheric-river storms can drop a lot of water in a short time, and a gutter that only overflowed in a cloudburst in September may overflow all day in November.
- Overflow, dry downspouts or sagging: book a cleaning soon, ideally before the wettest months.
- Stains, peeling paint or soft fascia: clean first, then have the wood looked at, since rot keeps spreading while the gutter keeps spilling.
- Water at the top of a downspout: mention the underground line when you ask for a quote.
- Standing water a day after rain: ask about re-pitching or hanger repairs along with the cleaning.
For timing by tree type and season, see when to clean gutters in Seattle. If you are tired of the same clogs every year, gutter guards in the Pacific Northwest covers what works under fir and cedar needles.
Get a free quote before the next storm
Clogged gutters rarely fix themselves, and in a long wet season the damage adds up quietly at the fascia, the siding and the foundation. Whether you are in the city or on the Eastside, you can compare options for gutter cleaning in Seattle, gutter cleaning in Redmond, gutter cleaning in Kirkland or gutter cleaning in Renton. Note the signs you saw, especially any downspout that backs up into a buried line, and request a free quote from a local provider.