How often should you clean your gutters?

Clogged gutters cause roof leaks, fascia rot, and foundation damage.

Overflowing water saturates the ground at the foundation, which causes settlement and basement seepage. It also runs behind the gutter into the fascia and soffit, rotting timber that is expensive to replace. A full gutter is heavy enough to pull its own brackets off the fascia.

1. Set the ladder up properly. On firm level ground at roughly a one in four angle, tied off or footed. Most gutter injuries are ladder injuries.
2. Work in sections and move the ladder. Never lean sideways past your belt buckle. Move the ladder instead. This is the single most broken rule in the job.
3. Scoop the debris out by hand. Gloved hands or a plastic scoop into a bucket hooked to the ladder. Do not push it toward the downpipe.
4. Flush with a hose from the far end. Confirm water runs the full length and out the downpipe rather than pooling anywhere.
5. Clear the downpipe if it is blocked. A hose fed from the bottom, or a drain rod. Confirm it discharges away from the building.
6. Check the falls and brackets. Standing water means the fall is wrong or a bracket has dropped. Note anything sagging.
7. Inspect the fascia and soffit while you are up there. Soft timber, peeling paint or staining tells you water has already been getting behind.

• Water spilling over the front edge during rain rather than running to the downpipe
• Plants growing out of the gutter, which means it has become a planter
• Staining or streaking down the exterior wall below the gutter line
• Sagging sections or visible gaps at joints
• Water pooling at the base of the wall after rain

• Overreaching from the ladder instead of moving it, which is how people fall
• Pressure washing the gutter, which drives debris into the downpipe and packs it solid
• Clearing the gutter but never checking the downpipe actually discharges away from the foundation
• Fitting gutter guards and assuming the job is finished: most guards still need periodic clearing of fine debris on top

• Overhanging deciduous trees can mean four times a year rather than twice
• Pine needles are worse than leaves because they knit into a mat that water passes through slowly
• Two-storey and steep roofs are genuinely dangerous and worth paying for

Anything above single storey, anything on a steep pitch, and anything you would need to reach from a roof rather than a ladder. Falls from height are the most common serious injury in home maintenance.