Gutter Cleaning in Chicago

Clogged gutters cause more damage than most homeowners realize. When water cannot flow through the gutter and down the downspout, it goes somewhere else. Over the edge and down the siding. Behind the fascia board. Into the soffit. Down the foundation wall and into your basement or crawl space. One season of neglected gutters can cause hundreds or thousands of dollars in water damage.

Gutter cleaning is a simple service, but it needs to be done right and done regularly.

Clearing the channels

We start on the roof. We clear leaves, twigs, shingle grit, and whatever else has accumulated in the gutter channels. We do this by hand and with scoops. Not leaf blowers that push debris onto your roof or yard. Everything goes into buckets and comes off the ladder with us.

Flushing and downspouts

After the channels are clear, we flush the entire system with water. This does two things. First, it washes out the fine silt and dirt that hand-cleaning misses. Second, it tells us whether the downspouts are flowing freely. If water backs up during the flush, we have a clog further down in the downspout.

Downspout clogs are common and easy to miss. A gutter can look clean from the ground, but if the downspout is blocked, water has nowhere to go. We clear downspout clogs with a plumber's snake or high-pressure water, depending on where the blockage is. We check every downspout, including the underground extensions if your system has them.

Inspection and minor repairs

While we are up there, we inspect the gutters for problems that cleaning alone will not fix. We look for sagging sections, loose hangers, leaking seams, rust spots, and damage to the fascia behind the gutter. We also check the slope. Gutters that have shifted or pulled away from the house will hold standing water even after cleaning.

If we find minor issues, we fix them on the spot. Tightening a loose hanger or resealing a corner joint takes a few minutes and saves you a bigger problem later. If we find something that needs more work. Rotted fascia, a badly sagging section, or corroded gutters. We will let you know and give you options.

How often to clean

For homes with trees nearby, we recommend cleaning gutters twice a year: once in late fall after the leaves drop, and once in spring after the pollen and seed pods come through. Homes without overhanging trees can usually get by with an annual cleaning, but we still recommend a fall visit at minimum.

Why it pays off

The whole job takes one to three hours for a typical home. We clean up any debris that lands on your walkways or landscaping, and we haul everything away. You should not have to clean up after the gutter cleaners.

Gutter cleaning is the cheapest form of home maintenance you can do relative to the damage it prevents. A few hours of work protects your foundation, your siding, your fascia, and your landscaping from water damage that would cost far more to fix.