Gutters do a stellar job of directing rainwater away from your home, but when they start to fill up with leaves and debris, rainwater can become blocked and leak into your home. For this reason, it’s crucial to clean them regularly.
But how often should gutters be cleaned, exactly? In this article, we provide the recommended frequency for gutter cleaning, and explore some things that will affect it.
How often should gutters be cleaned?
Gutters should be cleaned roughly every six months, but this varies depending on a number of key factors. We outline each of these below, and recommend reading through them to determine whether you need to clean your gutters more or less frequently. The last thing you want is a buildup of debris because it can lead to moisture entering your home, causing expensive damage. If you want to be extra safe, clean your gutters every two months regardless.
What affects how often you should clean your gutters?
These are the main things that affect how often you will need to clean your gutters.
The number of trees near your home
If your property is hemmed in by trees on every side, and your neighbours also have plenty of trees in their gardens, you’ll need to clean your gutters more frequently. More trees mean more leaves, which can quickly build up and cause problems if left for too long.
The types of trees near your home
Australia has a warm climate for most of the year, so we are blessed with tens of thousands of evergreen tree species that remain green and bushy all year long. Evergreen trees obviously do shed leaves, but it happens gradually rather than all at once, as a British deciduous tree would do at the tail end of Autumn.
If you have evergreen trees on your property like most Australians, you’ll probably need to stick to the recommended frequency of four months for your gutter cleaning (taking into consideration the other factors discussed in this article). But if you have a deciduous tree that loses its leaves at the end of Autumn, there’ll be plenty of gutter cleaning for you to do once it happens.
The width and depth of your gutters
Not all gutters are the same. If you have narrow, shallow gutters, you’ll need to check on them more frequently to see how quickly leaves and dirt build-up. We recommend doubling your cleaning frequency to every two months, depending on how big your gutters are. But the best thing to do is check periodically to see how much they are filling.
The weather
If you’ve just had a period of blustery weather, where the local trees have been furiously whipped about, we highly recommend taking a peek at your gutters when everything has calmed down, as you’ll almost certainly find more leaves than usual. Similarly, if a period of intense weather has passed through, or heaven forbid a cyclone, you should take a look at your gutters because they may need to be cleared.
Your bushfire risk
If your property has a high bushfire risk, this means you have lots of trees nearby, and so will probably need to clean your gutters more frequently. This is doubly important because old dry leaves are flammable, so you’ll want to get rid of them as quickly as possible, especially during the drier months for your region.
If you need the gutters cleaned on your home, contact one of our reliable & qualified handymen today.