Gutter Cleaning: It’s that time of year

The end of autumn and early winter season brings about a necessity to get gutter cleaning done whether you have a large scale facility or just at your own home. After all the leaves have fallen and collected in your gutters, alarm bells should be ringing to get them seen too – its an annual necessity! Its even more important if your building is near trees or woods. So, here's so key facts and reasons to get your gutters sorted… NOW!

Signs you should get your gutters cleaned:

·        Rainwater Spill over

If gutters are full and clogged with debris, rainwater won’t be able to flow through and will spill over the sides of the gutters. Over time, this can cause expensive damage to your home’s sidings, fascia boards and foundation. So, best to get them checked and tended to; these issues are easily avoidable through regular removing of debris either annually or biannually.

·        Plants & birds’ nests

With all the debris that gutters can collect through the seasons, it can create a lovely environment for healthy grass and weeds to grow. Additionally, gutters are perfect home for birds and their offspring with the materials that collect there and the things they bring back.

·        Sagging Gutters

After much neglect, it is possible for gutters to become weakened which can lead to sagging. At this point the gutters will most likely need to be repaired or you may even need to replace the whole gutter system. Having your gutters cleaned once or twice per year, will help you avoid these unnecessary expenses.

·        If you can’t remember the last time you got your gutters cleaned

To keep your gutters well maintained they should be cleaned annually or bi-annually, so if you can’t remember when they were cleaned last, it is certainly time!

Why is it the best time to get your gutter cleaned?

It is usually spring and summer when you notice growth emerge from your gutters, this should encourage you to clean the gutters out quickly before the problems begin to really cause trouble.

During and immediately after the autumn season, gutters are clogged with all types of debris and the oncoming winter season leads to increased rainfall. Therefore, having gutters which haven’t been tended to may cause some serious issues.

With new plant life growing and becoming more dense it compacts to the shape of our gutters, which blocks the flow of water, causing havoc! With the natural force of gravity, water will find the lowest point and start to pour over the gutters. Scheduling in an annual gutter clean when the gutters have received the brunt of their debris bombardment in autumn means they’ll be safe for another year and full operational to cope with the rainfall of winter.

If your gutters are overflowing, you know you have left the gutter cleaning too long.

Gutter debris by month:

·        Spring

Fine grain debris like sand, silt gets washed off the roof into the gutters. This type of debris weighs a lot and can block gutters easily, also providing the perfect foundation for seedlings to grow.

·        Summer

Gutters are strained fro the extra weight of plants, grass and weeds which grow bigger at this time of year causing major issues for valleys, corner guttering and downpipes.

·        Autumn

The combination of this time of year with the corresponding wind and rain means that dense, easily clogging leaves can accumulate rapidly causing complete blockages.

·        Winter

In the colder months of the year, gutters are left in poor draining conditions as the plants, weeds and grass die off but the leaves still remain. The increased rainfall causes issues and also washes more grain debris into gutters. The snow and ice also add weight to the gutters weakening them further.

Types of debris and some falling facts:

Gutters fill up with fine grained debris such as roof tile silt. This provides a perfect foundation for grass and plant seedlings to grow, and with a continuous supply of water running into the gutters, this gutter blocking foliage seems to flourish better than it would in gardens.

·        Grass

·        Weeds

·        Leaves

·        Silt

·        Nests

Most Popular times of year to clean gutters:

·        May

·        November

Average weight of gutter debris:

·        11kg