Okay, so I was chatting with my neighbor yesterday and he was up on a ladder cleaning his gutters already. Seems kinda early to me, but then again, I usually wait until the leaves are mostly down—like late October or even November. Got me wondering if I'm the odd one out here, lol. Quick poll: when do you guys usually get around to cleaning your gutters? Early fall, late fall, springtime...or um, never? (no judgment here, haha)
"Seems kinda early to me, but then again, I usually wait until the leaves are mostly down—like late October or even November."
I used to think the same way, waiting until late fall made sense logically because you'd only have to do it once. But after my first year in this house, I learned the hard way that waiting too long can cause some headaches. We had an early, heavy rainstorm in mid-October, and my gutters were already clogged with leaves. Ended up with water spilling over and pooling near the foundation—not ideal.
Now I do a quick clean-out around early October, just to clear the initial buildup, and then a more thorough one around late November after most leaves have fallen. It's a bit more work, but honestly, it's worth avoiding potential water damage. Also, checking again briefly in spring doesn't hurt, especially if you have trees that drop seeds or blossoms. Better safe than sorry, in my experience.
Yeah, I get your logic about waiting till most leaves are down, but have you ever had issues with early storms? I thought the same until one year we had a freak storm in early October... gutters overflowed and made a mess around the foundation. Now I'm wondering if maybe a quick early check wouldn't hurt. Guess it depends on your trees and local weather patterns though.
I totally get your point about early storms, but have you considered maybe looking into gutter guards or covers? I used to be in the same boat—waiting until most leaves dropped—but then we had a similar situation with an unexpected storm. It wasn't pretty... water everywhere, and I spent way too much time cleaning up afterward.
Since then, I've been experimenting with gutter guards, and honestly, they've made a huge difference. They're not perfect, and you still need to check them occasionally, but they definitely reduce the frequency of cleaning. Plus, they help prevent those sudden overflow disasters you're talking about.
Have you ever looked into something like that? Or maybe even considered trimming back some branches that hang directly over the roof? I know it depends a lot on your specific trees and how your house is situated, but sometimes a little preventive maintenance can save a ton of headaches later on.
Also, just curious—do you find certain types of trees worse than others for clogging gutters? Around here, maples seem to be the worst offenders, especially when those helicopter seeds start dropping. Anyway, just throwing out some ideas. Gutters are one of those things you don't think about until they're causing trouble, right?
I've tried gutter guards too, and they're definitely helpful, but like you said—not foolproof. One thing I've noticed is that pine needles are a nightmare. They slip right through most guards and build up into these dense mats that clog everything. Ended up switching to a finer mesh type, which helped a bit. Still gotta climb up there occasionally, but way less often than before.
