How Often Should Gutters Be Professionally Cleaned?

It’s no secret that ignoring your gutters can have serious — and costly — consequences for your home. You want to make sure that you’re doing your due diligence, but you’re not certain as to how things like storms and the age of your gutters can impact your cleaning schedule.

As a general rule of thumb, you should consider cleaning your gutters at least twice a year—but, depending on where you live, it may be more practical to clean them once every three months. We’ve created this handy guide to help you better understand when to clean gutters, as well as the benefits of doing it.

Factors that Influence Your Gutter Cleaning Schedule

Types of Trees

Interestingly, the types of trees that you have in your yard may impact your cleaning schedule. For example, if you have pine or eucalyptus trees in your yard—or other trees that shed their needles throughout the year—you’ll likely need to have your gutters cleaned out about once every three months.

This prevents their leaves and twigs from building up in your gutters. It’s important to remember that having leaves stuck in your gutters during the warmer summer months can sometimes turn into a fire hazard. When this is happening, it’s best to call in a professional.

➡️Pro Tip: Look at where trees are on your property. If leaves are dangling above or near your gutters, it might be a good idea to call your local arborist for tree removal or invest in gutter guards.

Regional Differences

Just like how tree placement can impact your gutters, so can your home location. In regions that have a lot of flora and fauna, it is commonplace that gutters need to be cleaned more often. Debris builds up faster and more heavily than in other places—like a cabin nestled away in Tennessee versus a beach house in Florida, for example.

But, just because a home is located in an area with less chance of debris doesn’t mean that gutters don’t need attention. Build-up can still happen: animals can make a nest, gutters can become damaged, and various other incidences can occur that will impact the health of your gutter system.

Gutter Cleaning Is Crucial After Severe Weather

Another crucial time to have your gutters cleaned is directly after a snow or ice storm. You don’t want water to freeze in your gutters; it can turn into ice quickly and put a lot of weight on them. Plus, these snow storms can easily knock off lots of twigs and leaves that will end up in your gutters.

To be safe, it’s even a good idea to call out professionals after particularly heavy rains when it’s right on the cusp of freezing.

Signs Your Gutters Need to be Cleaned

The Benefits of Cleaning Your Gutters

There are numerous advantages to keeping your gutters clean and in good working order. From preventing damage to your home to stopping pests from moving in, a clean gutter system is important to the health of your home.

By the way, did you know that a clogged gutter today can lead to the total ruin of your landscape?

Protect your property from damage and a loss in value by prioritizing clean gutters.

Benefits of Hiring a Gutter Cleaning Professional

To begin with, gutters can be damaged during the cleaning process if the right precautions aren’t taken. For example, most homeowners may not realize this, but ladders should never lean directly on the gutter. Gutters aren’t designed for weight and pressure there.

Professional gutter cleaners know that while there’s not a particular best way to clean out gutters, it’s critical that the gutter is completely free of all debris and the downspouts have been checked and cleared. Homeowners might be tempted to use methods like hand cleaning, a leaf blower, or water from a hose to flush out leaves.

These methods could all leave a mess on your landscaping and exterior walls.

That’s why our team hand scoops the leaves, bags them, and takes them away. And, a step many homeowners tend to miss is checking that the downspouts are unclogged to ensure proper drainage.

This is a common place for a clog to occur and is often hard to see, which is why it’s great to have a professional team check that each downspout is clear.

Cleaning gutters can be a risky job if you’re doing it on your own. That’s why many homeowners choose to have the Labor Panes team safely assess and clean their gutters. Our gutter cleaning costs take into account liability insurance, giving you complete peace of mind. While we know that you may be tempted to go the DIY route when it comes to gutter cleaning, it’s just not worth putting your safety at risk.

Whether you want to set up a regular cleaning schedule or if you need a one-time job after a storm, we want to work with you. Additionally, we can also install gutter guards and bundle your services so that you save.

Get in touch with us today to schedule your service with us, or browse for your location below:

Frequently asked questions about how often should you clean your gutters

What happens if you don’t clean the gutters?

Clogs from leaves, debris, and even sapling and weed growth can all interfere with how your gutters function. This leads to roof damage either from sitting water or sagging gutters, foundation damage due to sitting water, staining on your exterior walls, and a ruined landscape.

How do you tell if your gutters need cleaning?

Sagging gutters, weeds and plants growing along the edge of your roof, bugs and birds, and standing water are all strong indications that your gutters are clogged and need cleaning.

What is the best time to clean gutters?

For the average customer, we recommend having your gutters cleaned in late spring and late fall after all the foliage has fallen for the season. This allows your downspouts to flow cleanly throughout the summer and winter seasons. We also recommend scheduling a visit after particularly harsh weather for any unexpected debris dislodged from trees and to check for damage.

How often should you clean gutters with gutter guards?

While gutter guards can reduce the maintenance needs of your gutters, it’s still a good idea to at least have them looked at twice a year. With certain brands and styles of gutter guards, the panels can separate and cause clogs. Generally, though, you won’t need to have your gutters cleaned as often as long as you keep an eye on the system.