Staines Gutter Cleaners

Is my gutter blocked?

Your starting point is to have a wander around your house looking at the gutters and downpipes. Even better, if you can see any of your gutters from an upstairs window then look from there too. There are certain tell-tale signs that your gutter is blocked:

• Can I see any obvious gutter blockage?
• Is there water flowing over one point of the gutter?
• Are there any drips coming from any point in the gutter?
• Can I spot any rotting wood on the fascias?
• Have I seen any animals, such as squirrels or rats in the gutter?
• Have I seen any birds landing on the roof?
• Do I suspect I might have a wasp nest, or other nesting insects?
• Can I see any vegetation growing from the gutter?
• Can I see any misshapen, bulged, or bending pipes?

If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions then the chances are you’ve got a blocked gutter and it’s time for some gutter cleaning before real problems strike.

Why do gutters need a regular clean?

We live in Britain, and the one thing we get is rain! Combine this with prolonged autumn with out trees dropping their leaves and being met with a blustery wind, everyone’s gutters are prone to blockages.

The problem is that gutter blockages spell danger that regular gutter cleaning prevents. They can cause structural damage both internally and externally, and result in expensive repairs.

Whilst a one-off clean is great, unless you have a professional doing the job it’s likely that it will be incomplete at best. Additionally, you’re likely to forget about it until a problem strikes.

What can happen if I leave my gutter blocked?

Water Damage

The most obvious problem arising from blocked gutters is water damage. Speed is of the essence when it comes to effective guttering. Any blockage slows down the process and is the source of trouble. The water has to go somewhere so you’ll either get a back up, over your eaves and under the gutters and finding its way in through the roof and ultimately your ceilings, or significant run off down the exterior walls. Once this happens you’re looking at damp finding its way in, potentially saturated foundations, and notable structural damage which is difficult and costly to fix.

Wood Damage

Whilst gutters are performing their job well, your fascias really don’t see too much water. However, blocked gutters cause the fascias to be exposed to much more water than they are designed for. The result is that they can deteriorate and rot, negatively affecting the look of your home and proving costly to replace.

Weight Damage

Remember, gutters are not designed to carry great weight and they are only held up by screws and simple brackets. Whilst debris adds some weight, sodden debris and waterlogged gutters puts a weight pressure on the gutter fixings which they weren’t designed for. This can cause them to bend and break, triggering damage to the roof, and being potentially dangerous to anyone walking underneath.

Animal Infestation

If gutters are left blocked it creates a prime location for the local wildlife to make nest.  This is typically birds but can be vermin as well.  A number of problems are created as a result such damage that even more weight is put onto an already overburdened blocked gutter which can result in having to replace the entire rigging.

Additionally it also means when it comes time to remove the blockage the wildlife needs to be removed as well wiping out an animals home.

Why use professional Gutter Cleaner?

Very few homeowners possess either the right tools or the right skills for a gutter cleaning task. Thinking that it is a simple case of climbing a ladder and emptying the debris in to a black sack is where the first problems lie.

Even if you have a ladder which extends to gutter height, this is a dangerous position for an amateur. Additionally, it becomes all too easy to put undue weight on the gutter in the process potentially causing more damage. Further damage can be caused by using the wrong implement to help, for example a metal scraper in a plastic pipe, or by accidentally lodging the blockage further in to the pipe, or even disturbing a wasps nest.