Why Are My Gutters Overflowing?

The Canadian Shield where our lives thrive up here in North Kawartha sometimes does not go easy on the day to day needs of your home. With granite outcrops, clear lakes from Bancroft to Peterborough and the kind of scenery that makes people drive up Highway 115 just to breathe fresh air. But the weather has other things to say and rainfall has to go somewhere.

If your cottage gutters are working effectively, thankfully water flows away from your house to the lowest point, but if your gutters are overflowing and pooling along your foundation, then you need to call a pro. The importance of strong and clear gutters is worth understanding before the next rainstorm turns a small concern into a project you didn’t anticipate.

Here are the most common reasons gutters overflow, and what each one means for your property.

Tree Debris Clogging Gutters

Most often, the overwhelming majority of overflowing gutters are clogged from tree cover. And if your property sits anywhere near beautiful canopies that make North Kawartha so scenic. You’re working with an onslaught of falling leaves and debris each fall, whether you’re off County Road 620 near Glen Alda, out past the Gut Conservation Area, anywhere around Anstruther Lake or up toward Big Cedar.

Pine needles are a particular nuisance because they're narrow enough to slip past gutter guards, and clump together when wet. Homeowners may not always know there’s a problem because they don’t completely block the gutter, but restrict the water that is flowing. Even maple seeds in Spring contribute to the gutter blockages in this part of Peterborough County faster than you'd expect between cleanings.

The fix is pretty simple to clean them out on a routine schedule in the late spring and the Fall once the leaves are down for good. Regular maintenance plays such an important part for an exterior workhorse of your home, be sure to find advice from the top landscapers in your area, especially from our Eclipse Landscapes team.

Check For Undersized Gutters Installed Poorly

In homes where families have lived for years around Jack Lake Road for example, some gutter installations were probably DIY jobs where the work was too pretty relaxed after a couple pops. Those certainly won’t hold up in a large rain event dumping on your waterfront home. Your gutters need to be pitched correctly and can’t afford to be loosely attached. Moving water toward the downspout can't happen if the pitch has shifted over time, especially if Winter saw some ice damage, or the house settled a bit unevenly years ago. Even a gutter that's been recently cleaned will overflow if the slope is off.

If you're noticing overflow consistently in one specific section of the gutter rather than across the whole run, this is likely your culprit. Our outdoor maintenance company provides an easy fix when you catch it early even when the gutter fascia has been sitting wet for a few seasons.

Not Having Enough Flowing Downspouts

A gutter system is only as good as its downspouts and if they’re blocked, the water flow has nowhere to go, ending up pouring over the edge like a splash pad at Kinsmen Park. Gravity is unavoidable, so those leaves falling onto your shingles and into your gutters end up packing themselves with water weight. Back up water from one blocked downspout can cause an entire gutter run to overflow into your garden beds, pooling below.

The other issue is simply the numbers of downspouts available. On longer gutter runs, especially on full season homes along the waterfront properties on Chandos Lake or the hamlet of Woodview, a single downspout at one end of a 30 ft gutter is not sufficient to handle a heavy storm. Our suggestion as a North Kawartha landscaper would almost definitely be to add a midpoint downspout as an inexpensive solution for an immediate difference.

Gutters Pulling Away From Fascia

There’s always ice to prepare for. A North Kawartha winter will hit gutter fasteners that a Toronto winter can’t touch. Factors like ice buildup, the expansion and contraction through repeated weather cycles, and the sheer force of snow sliding off a steep roof all work to pull gutters away from the fascia over time. The problem becomes obvious when a gutter separates even slightly from the roofline. Then any water runs behind it rather than into it, soaks the fascia, and eventually finds its way into your interior walls. It may give you a good reason to redo grandma’s wallpaper, but not on the timeline your budget could handle.

If you're standing outside monitoring your exterior during a storm in Apsley and seeing water running behind the gutter rather than out the downspout, give us a call. The gutter needs to be refastened, and the fascia should be inspected for rot from a professional gutter installer nearby.

When to Call Your Local Handyman in Apsley

Check the calendar for services you’ve booked in the last year. If it's been more than a year since your gutters were cleaned, now is the time to get it sorted. Noticing water finds it way that leads to damages is never a great situation, that’s why finding it sooner helps your maintenance schedule over the long run. 

All through the year, events like the Creekside Music Festival in September, the Apsley Autumn Studio Tour each month passes, and then before you know it the North Kawartha Knights are back on the ice at McFadden Road and the ground is starting to freeze. Once that happens, getting up a ladder to deal with your gutters becomes significantly less fun by yourself.

Eclipse Landscapes handles gutter cleaning and gutter repairs in North Kawartha, Apsley, Burleigh Falls, Woodview, Glen Alda, Buckhorn, and the surrounding area. If your gutters are overflowing, give us a call to head over and take a look. We respect your time, property, and schedule and can communicate honestly with what you're dealing with.