How Often Do You You Really Need To Clean Your Gutters?

If you’re anything like us, the only time we think of the roof is when Blue Bell releases its limited edition Tin Roof ice cream. Unfortunately, if you enjoy keeping a roof over your head, you will need to think about it occasionally. Somewhat ironically, a good place to start is in the gutter. Specifically, cleaning the rain gutters that typically line your house.

Why Houses Have Gutters

Gutters serve an important purpose for a home. They help redirect rain and melted sleet, hail, and snow so that the water doesn’t damage your room, siding, or foundation. They also help prevent mold, mildew, mosquitoes, and other water damage, which could lead to pricey fixes or even an entire roof replacement. Gutters are so important that it’s worth taking some time to think about them and how to make them last and that means keeping them clean.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature frequently works very hard to make sure those gutters are filled with dirt, debris, detritus, pine needles, leaves, sticks, twigs, moss, and any other part of a tree that can fly off in a wind storm. That means, gutters have to be cleaned and cleaned more often than Blue Bell puts out its Tin Roof ice cream. 

To find out more about gutters and how to keep them clean, we reached out to an expert: David Flax, President of Window Genie, a Neighborly company with franchises all over the South, that offers gutter cleaning among their many home repair and upkeep services. Thanks to his years in the industry, Flax was able to help us answer the important questions: How often should people clean their gutters and how do you do it? 

When To Clean Gutters

“Cleaning gutters should be done twice a year–once in spring and once in the fall,” says Flax. Gutters need to be cleaned in spring thanks to those April (and May and March showers) that run through rainspouts, littering gutters with debris. Come fall, as the name indicates, leaves fall off the trees landing on rooftops and eventually making their way down to the gutters, which get filled up quickly.

However, while once or twice a year is usually plenty for gutter cleaning, you may need to clean them more often if you live in an area with a lot of trees or if Mother Nature is particularly busy raining or blowing debris into your gutters. “You may not think about cleaning gutters in the wintertime but precipitation in a short amount of time from winter storms means excess runoff and potential flooding,” says Flax.

You also may need to clean the gutters more often if a winter storm rolls through as frozen water can cause damage to gutters, too. “When standing water freezes in your gutters it can cause ice dams, which are extremely dangerous and can irreversibly damage your gutters, roof, siding, and more,” Flax warns. 

Signs Your Gutters Need To Be Cleaned

Flax says there are a few telltale signs to look for in gutter maintenance: “[If] rainwater is overflowing from the gutters, the gutters are sagging, you see staining along your siding, there is standing water piles near the foundation of the home, you spot critters crawling into your gutters, and finally birds are flocking to your gutters… your gutters may need to be replaced, repaired or just simply cleaned,” says Flax. 

How To Keep Gutters Clean

Clearly, it’s important to keep gutters clean and handy folks can certainly clean the gutter themselves, however, there’s a reason most people outsource this particular task. It involves a tall ladder and a lot of elbow grease. “Cleaning gutters is primarily a hands-on process,” says Flax. That’s a bit of an understatement.

According to Flax, the best way to do that gutter cleaning is to roll up your sleeves, grab a ladder, and get up to the roof line. From there, start removing all the leaves and debris that have gathered in the gutters, either dumping them on the ground or putting them in a bucket or garbage bag, descending the ladder, emptying, climbing the ladder and starting again. Once clear of debris, grab a garden hose, ideally with a high-pressure tip, and start rinsing the gutter and downspouts. 

While you’re up close and personal with the gutters, give them a good look. “Sometimes, if the gutters have been overflowing, a process called ‘gutter striping’ may exist. This is a striped stain on the exterior of the gutter,” explains Flax. Gutter striping, also called tiger striping, is not particularly harmful to gutters, but it does mar the appearances of gutters and thus homes and some folks prefer to remove it. “Removing gutter striping can be a tedious process but can be accomplished with some scrubbing,” notes Flax.

Preventative Maintenance

To make it easier to keep your gutters clean, keep your trees trimmed and away from the roof line. If storms do roll through when the weather returns to normal—and if you’re physically able to do it—can’t hurt to take a look at the roof and make sure it’s clear of branches and other debris that could potentially wind up in the gutter and cause a drainage issue.

If you’re particularly concerned about drainage issues, some people install gutter guards. The guards basically function as a little roof on the gutter, filtering out leaves, pine needles, and branches to prevent them from clogging up an existing gutter system. They also prevent birds from building nests in gutters. However, even with gutter guards you'll still need to clean your gutters. "It’s important to note that no gutter guard is perfect–you’ll still need to regularly clean and maintain your gutters, but they do reduce the frequency of needing to clean them," says Flax. "Don’t be sold on the thought that gutter guards are maintenance free."