Water leaves and other debris clog your gutters at the elbows and downspouts, you need to have them cleaned before water backs up and overflows the gutter.

If water is overflowing from the gutter, or foliage is visible growing from the edge of roof it’s time to clean your gutters.

Faulty or clogged gutters can cause stained ceilings,damaged interior/exterior walls and damp basements. Standing water in the gutters may cause a mosquito break out.

Gutters in most cases should be cleaned twice a year, in the spring and fall.

Often, people have a gutter guard installed with the assumption that their gutter cleaning days are over. However, leaf strainers and wire mesh don’t always work. They’re designed to keep debris out of the gutter, but the leaves may cling to the screening or the strainer, so they also may keep water from the gutters, essentially negating the effectiveness of your drainage system.

So if you have a type of gutter guard, or are planning on having one installed, it is still a good idea to have your gutters inspected and cleaned when needed.

When your gutter systems aren’t working the way they should, often they can be repaired without replacing the entire system. If your gutter or downspout is rusted through it should be replaced. As you probably know, once the rust process starts it can not be reversed. Obviously, patching is a temporary fix. But depending on the existing gutter size and profile, it is often possible to replace just the sections of rusted through gutters even when they tie into adjacent gutter sections.

Often, existing downspouts are reusable because water is less likely to stay pooled in vertical downspouts.

Some Common repairs:

• Re-sealing seams and corners
• Re-securing the gutters by adding additional hangers
• Re-attaching downspouts
• Re-pitching gutters that aren’t flowing correctly
• Adding downspouts to redistribute water and increase capacity
• Overall “tightening up” of the system

If water collects along the run of the guttering, then it may need to be repositioned. If the pool of laying water is only about 5mm, you do not need to do anything, but if the water collects to over 25mm, you do. Between 5 and 25 mm means that you may have a problem developing.

Inspect cast iron and steel systems for any signs of rust. Corrosion is always worst at the back edge of the gutter and to repair this you will have to dismantle the system and treat each section separately at ground level.

Look for water running down the outside of the gutter, and around the downspouts. You may also notice discoloration around the joints.