How Often To Have Your Gutters Cleaned Out, When To Do It, And How It's Done
You probably know you're supposed to clean your gutters, but it might not be your favorite home maintenance chore. If you can't get around to cleaning your gutters, hire a gutter cleaning service so you can avoid serious problems that often develop when gutters get clogged. Here's a look at how often you should have your gutters cleaned, when to clean them, and how a gutter cleaning company might do the job.
How Often Gutters Need To Be Cleaned Out
At the very least, you should clean your gutters out once a year to get rid of leaves, pine needles, and other debris. However, the frequency really depends on the number and type of trees you have in your yard. You might need to have your gutters cleaned out twice a year or even more often.
One way to cut down on the frequency of cleaning your gutters, but not eliminate the need to clean them, is to have gutter guards put on the troughs. Gutter guards keep leaves and other debris out of the troughs, but they still let rainfall in so it can drain away.
When To Have Your Gutters Cleaned
If you just need your gutters cleaned once a year, a good time is in the fall once the leaves are gone from the trees. If you want to clean the gutters twice a year, spring and fall are good times. This gives you the chance to clean out the troughs after a long winter to see if any damage was done by snow or ice.
Summer is also a good time to clean out gutters if they need it. Winter is usually not a good time unless the weather is mild. When temperatures are freezing, conditions are not suitable for digging out clumps of frozen leaves or rinsing out the gutters.
How Gutter Cleaning Is Done
When you hire a gutter cleaning service, you don't have to worry about safety issues with climbing a ladder. Hiring a service is a convenient way to do a chore you don't like to do. The company will clean debris out of the gutters using tools or by hand.
This could be a big job if your gutters are full of decaying leaves. However, a gutter cleaning professional takes care not to litter your yard or landscaping plants with leaf debris. The debris is collected so it can be disposed of in a tidy way.
In addition to getting all the debris out of the troughs and downspout, the cleaning service will probably wash the inside of the gutters by running water through them. This also lets the workers check for leaks in the seams or for water that doesn't drain properly. If they find problems with your gutters, they'll let you know so you can arrange to have repairs done.
For more information about gutter cleaning, contact a local company.