Gutter Cleaning

The clearest sign is rain coming over the front edge in a sheet instead of running quietly to the downpipe. After that: black streaks down the fascia or the brickwork, a strip of outside wall that stays dark long after the rain has stopped, drips from the joints, grass or seedlings growing out of the gutter, and a downpipe that stays silent in heavy rain when it should be gurgling. Damp appearing inside on an outside wall is often the same problem, arriving late.

Once a year suits most houses. Twice a year if there are trees overhead, because you get leaves in the autumn and then seed, blossom and moss washing down in the spring. Commercial units with flat roofs and internal outlets are usually better on a set schedule, since a blocked outlet on a flat roof holds the water rather than spilling it. If yours has never been done, start with one clear out and we will tell you what it looked like inside, then you can decide.

It depends on the building, and it is a fair thing to ask anyone who quotes you. Low runs on garages, porches and outbuildings are usually straightforward from a ladder. A two storey house with firm level footing is often tidier done from the ground with a pole, because nothing leans on the gutter and nothing gets dragged through the border. Some buildings, and most commercial roofs, only get done properly from a tower or a platform. We look at the property first and tell you which of those it needs, rather than turning up and improvising.

It comes down and gets bagged rather than tipped over the border or hosed into the drain, which only moves the blockage somewhere less convenient. What comes out is mostly leaf litter, moss, silt and grit off the roof tiles, so plenty of people are happy for it to go straight in the garden waste bin. If you would rather it did not stay on the property, say so when you book and we will agree beforehand how it leaves.

Yes, and it is worth having done at the same time, because the access is already there. UPVC boards pick up green algae and long black streaks from years of water running over a full gutter, and most of that washes off. On painted timber we wash gently rather than taking the paint back with it, and if we find a board that has gone soft or rotten we will tell you, so you can get a carpenter to look at it before it spreads.

Moss shedding off the tiles is one of the most common things we pull out of a gutter, along with the grit that comes down with it. We clear it out of the gutter and off the top of the run. We do not walk on roofs or scrape moss off tiles, and it is only fair to warn you that if the roof itself is shedding heavily the gutter will fill again sooner than it otherwise would. That part is a roofer's job, not a cleaner's.

Yes. The box gutter where a conservatory meets the house wall is usually the first thing to block, and it is the one that leaks into the room below. We clear that out, wash the glass or polycarbonate panels and the bars with a soft brush from the ground, and clear the small gutter running round the outside. Nothing goes on the roof itself, because conservatory roofs are not built to take the weight of a person.

It is the sensible time to book. Get it done once the leaves are off the trees and the gutter goes into the wet months empty. A full gutter in winter holds standing water, which freezes, and the weight of ice in a run full of wet debris is what pulls brackets away from the fascia. It is also the season when an overflow soaks the same patch of wall for weeks on end, because nothing outside ever properly dries.

Yes. Shops, offices, warehouses, industrial units and blocks of flats, including hopper heads, box gutters and roof outlets. We can work outside your trading hours so nobody is stepping round us, and put the building on a repeat visit so it happens without anyone having to chase it. You deal with one person here rather than a different name each time, you get photographs of every run, and the invoice arrives with a payment link on it.