Checking Your Eavestroughs for Spring Rain

In Calgary, the shift from winter to spring can seem slow and then sudden. The piles of snow shrink, the ground softens, and soon the rain arrives. All that water has to go somewhere. The eavestroughs and downspouts on a house are the first line of defense to keep that water out of the basement. They collect runoff from the roof and send it away from the foundation. After a long winter of snow and ice, it is a good time to make sure this system is ready for the work ahead.

A Walk Around the House

The first inspection should be from the ground. No ladder yet, just your eyes and a bit of time. Walk the perimeter of the house and look up at the eavestroughs. You want to see if anything looks out of place. Watch for sections that sag in the middle or pull away from the edge of the roof. Look at the seams and corners, which are common weak spots. The weight of ice building up over the winter can strain the hangers that hold the troughs, and it is common for some to bend or fail.

Pay special attention to the downspouts. Are they all still firmly attached to the wall and connected to the eavestrough outlet? I walked up to a house once where a downspout had been knocked completely loose over the winter. It was dangling a few inches from the wall and aiming all the future rainfall from a large section of roof straight into a basement window well. The owner was surprised when I pointed it out. It is easy to stop seeing the things you look at every day. A quick, deliberate walk around can catch these simple problems.

Getting a Closer Look

If things look generally okay from the ground, the next step is to get on a ladder for a closer view. Ladder safety matters. Make sure the ladder is on firm, level ground. The soft, muddy soil of a Calgary spring is not the best base, so you may need a board or piece of plywood to create a stable footing. Keep three points of contact on the ladder: two feet and one hand, or two hands and one foot.

Once you are up there, you will see what winter left behind. A layer of asphalt granules from the shingles is normal; that is just weathering. What you are really looking for is a blockage. This might be leaves and needles that did not get cleared out in the fall, or a bird nest or a lost tennis ball. This debris can form a dam and keep water from reaching the downspout. You can scoop most of it out by hand with a good pair of gloves, then use a garden hose to flush the rest toward the downspout and check that the water flows freely.

Downspouts, Extensions, and Drainage

An eavestrough only works as well as its downspout. If the trough is clear but the downspout is clogged, water will overflow the sides and run down the exterior walls, close to the foundation. After flushing the trough, look for a strong flow of water coming out the bottom of the downspout. If it is just a trickle, there is likely a clog inside, often from packed leaves. Sometimes you can clear this from the top with a hose and a high pressure nozzle, or from the bottom with a plumber's snake.

The job is not finished when the water leaves the bottom of the downspout. The last step is to make sure that water is carried well away from the house. A downspout that ends right at the foundation wall only moves the problem a short distance. Each downspout should have an extension that directs water several feet away from the building, onto ground that slopes down and away from the home. Concrete or plastic splash blocks can help, as can the flexible or rigid pipe extensions sold at hardware stores. The goal is to keep water from soaking the soil beside the foundation, where it will work its way into any crack or opening.

Spotting Small Problems Before They Grow

While you are cleaning, you can also look for minor issues that a homeowner can often repair. If you see water dripping from a corner joint or an end cap, it can usually be fixed. After cleaning and drying the area thoroughly, you can apply a bead of specialized gutter sealant to the inside of the joint. If a single hanger has come loose but the wood it is attached to, the fascia board, is still solid, you can often secure it with a new, longer screw.

An hour spent with a ladder and a bucket in May can prevent a week of headaches with a wet basement in June.

Catching these small things is about getting into a rhythm of seasonal maintenance. It is part of the same habit as the winter checks that help your garage door work when the temperature plummets. A little attention now saves a lot of effort later.

When to Call in a Professional

There are times when the problem is bigger than a simple cleaning or a tube of sealant. If you see long sections of trough sagging, or if the trough is pulling away from the house and you can see that the fascia board behind it is soft and rotten, that is a more complex repair. Widespread corrosion or significant hail damage can also mean a full replacement is needed. That is when it is time to call a professional eavestroughing or roofing company.

They have proper safety equipment for working at height, especially on two-story homes or houses with steep roof pitches. They can find problems with the fascia or soffit and make the necessary repairs before installing new troughs. Trying to fix a rotten fascia board yourself from the top of a ladder is not a good weekend project. A professional can do the work safely and set up the whole system so it is properly sloped and securely fastened for the springs ahead.