Gutters and siding after a storm.

Walk the outside of the house and check that every downspout is still attached and still discharging away from the wall. That is the highest value five minutes after any storm, because a disconnected downspout delivers the entire roof’s water to the foundation, and it does it every time it rains from now on.

Then look at the siding on the side the weather came from.

Why gutters are not cosmetic

A roof sheds a very large volume of water and the gutters exist to put it somewhere. When that system is broken, the water goes to the base of the wall instead, which is how a storm turns into water in the basement three weeks later.

Check, on each elevation:

• Every downspout attached at the top, at each bracket, and at the shoe.
• The shoe or extension actually directing water away rather than into the ground next to the wall.
• Gutters still level, and still fixed to the fascia.
• No section pulled loose or bent so water overshoots.
• Debris cleared, since a storm that damages a roof also fills gutters with what it took off it.
• Splashback marks on the wall, which show where it has been overflowing.

Temporary fixes that genuinely work: reattach a downspout with a screw, and add an extension so the discharge lands several feet from the wall. Both are worth doing the same day.

Siding, and what to look for

Vinyl cracks and punctures from hail and from debris, and panels unclip and blow off in wind. Look along the bottom edge of each course and at the corners. A panel that has unclipped but not blown off is easy to miss and is now letting water behind the whole run.

Fiber cement and wood chip, dent, and split. Look for exposed raw material at the edges, and for paint broken where something struck.

Aluminum dents, which is often cosmetic, though the dents are strong evidence that hail was large.

Everywhere, look at the penetrations: hose bibs, dryer vents, light fixtures, meter boxes, and where cables enter. Sealant fails there first, and it is the most common route for wind driven rain to get into a wall.

What water in a wall looks like from inside

The reason to take siding seriously is that it does not announce itself. Check the inside of the affected walls over the following weeks for:

• Staining or discoloration near the floor or at outlets.
• Paint or wallpaper lifting.
• A musty smell in one room.
• Baseboards separating from the wall.

The signs that it is inside the wall, because that is what a small siding breach turns into.

The insurance question

Wind and hail damage to gutters and siding is normally covered on the same terms as the roof. Two things determine whether it is worth claiming:

The deductible. Siding on one elevation may be worth less than a percentage wind deductible, which means the answer is to repair it yourself and keep the claim for the roof.

Matching. This is the argument that dominates siding claims. If half of one elevation is damaged and the product has been discontinued, or has faded for fifteen years, a repair leaves the house visibly patched. Policies vary widely on whether they pay to make things match, and many say nothing at all, which means it gets negotiated.

Raise matching explicitly with the adjuster at the inspection rather than afterwards, and photograph the color difference under the same light.

Repairing it

Gutters are within reach of a competent homeowner on a single story with a stable ladder and someone footing it. Reattaching, extending, and clearing are all reasonable. Realigning a whole run for fall is not.

Vinyl siding panels unclip and replace individually with a zip tool, which is a genuinely satisfying afternoon job if you can source matching panel. On a house more than a decade old, sourcing the match is the hard part.

Anything above single story, anything requiring you to work from a roof, and anything structural is a paid job. The reasoning about roofs applies here too.

Worth doing while you are out there

• Photograph every elevation before repairs. What a claim file needs.
• Check the grade next to the house slopes away from it.
• Clear window wells and their drains.
• Check the outdoor unit of the air conditioner for dents and debris.
• Look at the shed, the fence, and the deck, which are often the only visible proof of how strong the wind was.

The short version

Downspouts attached and discharging away from the wall is the five minutes that matters most. Look along the bottom edges and corners of siding, and at every penetration. Raise matching with the adjuster at the inspection. A small breach in siding is invisible until the wall behind it is not.