Gutter cleaning- how often

How Often You Should Get Your House Gutter Cleaned?

An age old question that varies with several factors. Here are a few points if you live in Australia especially. Most points will be the same across the world.

These include:

• Type of gutter, old style painted or colorbond?
• The climate?
• Number of trees and other items that contribute to the deterioration of your gutters?
• Shaded or not and aspect?
• Get a professional or DIY?
• Personal preference?

Type of gutter

Whereas newer colorbond gutters are not prone to rusting older types are. These should be cleaned out more often to prolong their life. Newer gutters just need to be cleaned out to prevent blockage of the outlets and overflow. Remembering if any gutter is left with debris to rot in them, they will overflow and stain the fascia boards they are attached to.

The climate

You can get away with more in low temperature environments. Tropical areas promote the rotting of gutter debris and need to be cleaned more often. I some areas debris in gutters will increase the growth of mould and lichen on the roof surface leading to more roof cleaning.

Number of trees and other items that contribute to the deterioration of your gutters

Probably the most important factor. If your property is surrounded by trees, then you have a need to clean gutters regularly.

Alternatively gutter guard can be installed with mixed results. Cheap fibreglass stick on guards fail after a few years and make the problem worse after spending your time installing them. We do not recommend using them.

Higher quality (more expensive) metal guards are much better and are durable enough to pressure clean through them remove residual dirt and small particles that make their way through them. Eventually all of these guards let some items through them and provide soil for seeds to grow. They all need some sort of gutter cleaning.

If you love your trees, your gutters will always need some type of protection and cleaning.

Shaded or not and aspect

Not that important for the insides of colorbond guttering. Remembering the outsides may go green on the shaded sides of houses along with walls etc. Mixing a solution of sodium hypochlorite, detergent (for the hang factor) and water sprayed on these areas will kill the mould and prolong paint life and provide appeal.

Get a professional or DIY

Totally up to you. Recommended if you have a two storey house. If you want to graze you hands and risk falls you can do it yourself. We would recommend getting a professional and you can relax and spend your spare time to yourself. As with many things these days just hiring a person who is good at the specific task says so much of your time.

Personal preference

If you are a DYI sort of person well, you are welcome to the task but just think about the advantages of someone else going through the issues of gutter cleaning.

 

We hope this information has been helpful with your gutter care.