Signs your gutters or downpipes are blocked (checked from the ground)

Steps

1. Look along the gutter line from a distance. Stand back across the yard or the street. Leaves poking up above the gutter edge, grass or seedlings growing out of it, or a gutter that dips in the middle all mean it's full or sagging.
2. Watch it rain. Water pouring over the front edge instead of going down the downpipe is the clearest sign. Note which run or corner it is: that tells you which downpipe to check.
3. Listen to the downpipes. In rain, a working downpipe sounds like running water and flows out at the bottom. One that's quiet and dry while the gutter above it overflows is blocked. Water spurting from a joint means the blockage is below that joint.
4. Look at the fascia and eaves. Dark streaks, peeling paint or soft, rotting timber on the board behind the gutter mean water has been spilling backwards over the inside edge.
5. Check the ground under the gutter line. Channels washed into garden beds, mud splashed up the walls, or soggy soil along the base of the house all point to regular overflow.
6. Look at the ceilings inside. Water stains near outside walls after heavy rain can mean a gutter or box gutter is backing up into the roof. Don't leave that one long.

If that didn't help

• Only one corner overflows and the rest looks fine? It's probably that downpipe. Try the downpipe check.
• Overflow everywhere in very heavy rain, even soon after a clean? See why gutters overflow. It may be the gutter's size or fall, which is a plumber's job.