Eavestrough Cleaning?
Eavestroughs, also called gutters, are on your house in order to direct water away from your foundation as well as to prevent water from coming down on you when walking around your house. Eaves are cleaned to remove multiple sources of debris that can cause blocks and downspout clogs that may lead to water damage, both outside and inside your home. It is important to prevent water build-up in your eaves because the weight can pull them away from your house in addition to causing eaves to prematurely rust. The method(s) we use to clean your eaves are dependent on the type of debris. Our innovative approach ensures your eaves and downspouts are free flowing, guaranteed!
Areas with Mature Trees
If you live in an area with mature trees, as you may already be aware, your eavestroughs need to be cleaned on a regular basis. Your gutters fill up with leaves, pine needles, acorns, twigs and other debris. When and how often your eaves will need cleaning depends on the quantity and type of trees in your area. Even if there are no trees directly overhead, you would be surprised to see what the wind can carry. Most trees shed their leaves in the fall, some later than others. As for those late shedding trees, due to safety concerns related to the cold weather, you may not be able to get your eaves cleaned after every tree has finished shedding their leaves. Also, some pine trees have heat activated pine cones that burst open and fall during a hot spring day. This is why we recommend getting your eaves cleaned twice a year, once in the spring/summer and again in the fall. If left for too long, debris in your eaves will impede water flow, clog downspouts, and quite rapidly decompose, producing a very pungent odour. This will make the next cleaning of your eaves less pleasant and more difficult.
Wooden Shingled Roofs
If you live in a house with a wooden roof, you will find that over time bits and pieces of wood break off and fall into your eaves. This is inevitable for wooden roofs. This is particularly a problem for older roofs or ones that have not been properly treated. Besides pieces of shingle, your eaves will have things such as nails, staples, rocks, stucco (if you have a stucco house), etc due to construction. All this will be mixed in with dirt. Dirt makes up the bulk of the debris due to nearby construction and landscaping. Yes, it actually gets that high! The wind is a powerful force. It is very common to find your eaves filled with dirt, or mud if it has just rained or your eaves aren't draining properly. When homeowners with wooden roofs (and not much in terms of trees) tell us of problems with eaves draining, the most common theme we find is clumps of wood covering the downspout entrance(s) or stuck in the downspout. Another difficulty found with eaves filled with wood is that it attracts wasps because the debris is used to build wasp nests, sometimes in the eave itself. We recommend that houses fitting these criteria have their eavestroughs cleaned every 1 to 2 years. The first time is more difficult and will get easier when maintained, and cheaper too!
Asphalt Roofs
If you live in a house with an asphalt roof, you will find that over time a lot of the asphalt that was once on the shingle, is now in your eavestroughs. This is inevitable for asphalt roofs. Besides that, the debris in your eaves will be made up of various combinations of mainly dirt (from landscaping) and construction debris, especially if your house is in a newer or developing neighbourhood. We recommend that houses fitting these criteria have their eavestroughs cleaned every 1 to 2 years. The first time is more difficult and will get easier when maintained, and cheaper too!
Installing Gutter Guards
There are lots of items on the market, usually consisting of a mesh design, which fit into your eavestroughs and guard against large debris. There are many false claims that having these installed will allow you to never get your eavestroughs cleaned again. Through experience, we have encountered many jobs where either the debris now rests on top of the mesh or bypasses through its holes (even very small holes) or both. This means that either way, eaves will still need to be checked and cleaned on a regular basis. Removing and replacing the mesh each time will just take longer. We don't install these products because we don't believe in them. These products will usually prevent your downspouts from clogging but there is a much simpler and very economical way of doing this. We recommend and install what are called wire strainers. They guard against downspout clogs by fitting into the top of downspouts, without the use of any tools.
