How often should Edmonton gutters be cleaned?

Spring and late fall

Most Edmonton homes do well with two cleanings. One in spring, once the melt is through and the winter grit has washed down. One in late fall, after the leaves are actually down.

Timing matters more than people expect. A spring clean done too early misses the last of the melt debris, and a fall clean done in early October just means doing it again in November when the rest of the leaves let go.

If your lot has mature poplars or spruce close to the house, you may need a third look in midsummer, or a set of gutter guards to cut the frequency down. Spruce needles are the worst of it here. They are small enough to pass the strainer and then pack into the downspout elbow where nothing flushes them out.

Why the fall clean matters more

A trough packed with wet leaves going into November holds water. That water freezes, backs up under the shingle edge and starts an ice dam. By the time you see icicles along the eave, water has already been sitting where it should not.

Once ice forms in a blocked trough it stays until spring. Every thaw adds a little more water behind it, and the weight can pull hangers out of the fascia. We replace a lot of trough in April that was fine the previous September.

Cleaning before freeze-up is the cheapest ice damming prevention there is, and it is the main reason we book gutter cleaning through October.

What blocked gutters cost you

Water that cannot run to a downspout goes over the front edge instead, straight down beside the foundation. In a wet spring that is how basements get damp and how window wells fill.

Overflow also runs behind the trough and onto the fascia board. Painted wood soaks it up, the paint lifts, and the board starts to rot from the back where you cannot see it. Replacing fascia and soffit costs several times what the cleaning would have.

Standing water in a trough is also where mosquitoes breed through July, which is a smaller problem but a real one.

What a proper cleaning looks like

Troughs cleared by hand rather than blown out over the garden. Every downspout flushed to confirm water actually runs, not just poked at from the top. Debris bagged and taken away. Loose hangers re-secured while we are up there.

The person doing it should also be looking: sagging runs, joints starting to weep, spikes pulling out, shingle edges that hang short of the trough. Those are all cheap to catch early.

You should get photos of the finished troughs so you can see the work was done, especially on a two-storey where you cannot check yourself.

Should you do it yourself?

On a bungalow with a stable ladder and someone home with you, it is a reasonable Saturday job. Use a ladder stabiliser so you are not leaning on the trough, and move the ladder rather than reaching.

On anything two storeys or with a steep grade around the house, hire it out. Falls off ladders are the most common serious home injury we hear about, and the money saved is not close to worth it.