When Should You Clean Gutters?

Gutters play a very important role in protecting your house from water damage. When it rains, the gutters help to direct water away from your home so that it doesn’t pool near the foundations and possibly seep inside the house, causing expensive water damage. But in order to properly protect your home, your gutters need to be periodically cleaned.

Homeowners should make sure that they regularly clean their gutters so that they don’t get clogged up with leaves and other debris. It’s important to clean your gutters at the right frequency and at the right time for optimal impact.

Clean Your Gutters At Least Twice a Year

Even if the weather is perfect and you have no trees near your home, it’s still a good idea to clean your gutters twice a year. It’s a good opportunity to inspect them for any problems while you’re cleaning them. You may want to hire a professional to do both the cleaning and the inspection so that any problems that may arise with your gutters can be caught early.

Clean Your Gutters in Fall

The most important time of year to clean your gutters is in the fall. Wait until all of the leaves have fallen off the trees that are closest to your house. Many of these leaves will most likely have fallen into your gutters. Cleaning your gutters in fall after the leaves have fallen will help to prepare your home for winter and any wet weather that may come.

If you don’t clean out your gutters after the leaves have fallen in autumn, your gutters could clog, leading to gutter leakage, roof damage, mold, insects, soil erosion, and more.

Clean Your Gutters in Spring

Another good time of year to clean your gutters is in the spring. Even though you cleaned your gutters in the fall, it’s still important to clean them in spring. This is because if you live in a cold part of the country, spring is when animals, insects, and other pests start to come out and look for a place to build nests. Leaves in your gutters make an excellent place for animals and bugs to make a home, so clearing any leaves out of your gutters in the spring is a good way to keep pests away from your home. If you live in a warmer part of the country, it’ll have been six months since you last cleaned your gutters and more leaves could have accumulated in that time.

Clean Your Gutters After a Storm

Sometimes, your gutters need to be cleaned more frequently than twice a year. This is particularly true if you have trees close to your house that hang over your roof. A lot more leaves can get into your gutters because of this proximity. On top of that, storms can blow leaves into your gutters.

If there’s recently been a storm, particularly one with a lot of wind, it’s a good idea to inspect your gutters and clean them out if you see debris and leaves in them.