Out of sight, out of mind, right? That can certainly apply to your roof’s gutters – which, since they are so high up, get on with their job largely thanklessly. That job is directing rainwater away from where it could cause unwanted damp and moisture, but what if the guttering is hindered in the attempt?

This can too easily occur if debris like leaves and sediment have built up in your guttering, perhaps leading rainwater to seep into your home’s walls. So, when’s gutter-cleaning time?

Do clean your gutters at least twice a year

DIY Doctor highlights two particular times when you should aim to clean your gutters: near the end of spring and then towards the close of autumn. This is because, in spring, flowers and trees liberally expel seeds and pollen that, consequentially, can too easily end up in your gutters.

Meanwhile, autumn is when any trees near your home will start shedding leaves. However, consider cleaning your gutters more often if your home is battered by rainfall particularly commonly.

Don’t try cleaning your gutters from the roof

Ignoring this advice would be needlessly risky. For your safety, you ought to instead use a ladder, though there are safety risks to heed with this approach, too. Make sure the ladder’s feet both rest on a solid, level surface; otherwise, it can too easily destabilise and so lead you to fall.

Once you have ascended the ladder, resist reaching out further than what would be safe. The Art of Manliness advises that you “keep your waist between the rails” when cleaning.

Do consider using your hands for scooping out debris

You should remember to strap on a pair of good gloves before getting onto that ladder, as removing dirt from that gutter will be easier with your hands than even with a small garden trowel, believe it or not. That’s simply because your hands are much easier to manoeuvre.

Start removing that dirt from the downspout first. Once your hands have removed as much of the gunk as safely possible, you can use a hose to flush finer debris from the gutters.

Don’t simply drop discarded debris onto the floor

Of course, as you scrape out that rubbish, where should you immediately put it for permanently discarding later? While simply throwing it onto the floor might suffice for dry debris like dried leaves and twigs, doing so with wet sludge will necessitate leaving a big mess for cleaning up later.

For this reason, you should instead pop that sludge into a plastic bag or bucket that you carry with you while up that ladder. The bucket, however, would be much safer than the bag for wet rubbish.

Do fix damage caused by gutter blockages

If you’ve attended to a gutter blockage and it’s already damaged part of your roofing, rest assured that we can send roofers to Darlington, Durham, Middlesbrough or wherever else you happen to live in the North East. We can expertly restore that roofing, even its especially vulnerable fascia.