What Is The Cost Of Cleaning Gutters?

What Are Typical Gutter Cleaning Prices?

The average cost to clean gutters ranges from $80 to $250, but many factors affect the price, which we’ll get to soon. All homeowners should know that keeping their gutters clean is the best way to keep them working correctly.

We know that cleaning your gutters likely isn’t at the top of your to-do list, but we can’t stress the importance of cleaning them enough. 

We’ve seen many disasters that could have been averted by keeping them clean. 

If you do not clean your gutters regularly (around twice per year), debris can build up inside the gutter, causing them to clog and overflow. 

Overflowing gutters can lead to countless issues throughout your home – gutter sagging, roof damage, landscape erosion, flooding, foundation damage, and water damage – plus other additional costs. 

What Factors Determine the Cost of Cleaning a Gutter?

Various factors contribute to the cost of gutter cleaning, such as how the rainy season usually makes pricing go up a bit due to the increase in demand. 

The cost of a gutter cleaning job is typically affected by the following factors. 

Number of Stories

The number of stories in your home has a significant impact on gutter cleaning costs. For example, a one-story house will have lower gutter cleaning costs than a two-story and three-story home. 

With more stories, it takes more time climbing up and down a ladder, and it costs more money for the homeowner. 

Amount of Gutters

The total gutter length that needs cleaning is also a significant factor in the cleaning cost. If you have a small home with only 100 linear feet of gutter, it will cost less to clean than a home with a large square footage and 250 linear feet of gutter.

We know this should be obvious, but with big gutters comes great responsibility and higher average prices to clean. 

Gutter Features

If you have regular gutters without any protection, the chances are high that your gutters will build up with debris quickly. This is particularly true if you have trees near your home.

However, if you have high end gutters with gutter guards, leaf filters, or gutter screens, these protective devices will prevent the intrusion of those pesky leaves, twigs, acorns, berries, and pests. 

And because your gutter guards or leaf filters keep your gutters clean, it will cost less time and money to clean them later. 

Your Location

Each state within the country has a unique cost of living. Due to the variability in local economies, the price of gutter cleaning will vary too. For example, Arkansas will have lower gutter cleaning costs than New York. 

So don’t be surprised when your cousin Joe in Arkansas only paid a total cost of $100 for gutter cleaning while you’re being quoted $175 in New York. The main difference is labor costs. 

Why Should You Clean Your Gutters?

Cleaning your gutters twice a year is a good rule to follow as it ensures your gutter system works properly. If they stay clean, they don’t get clogged, which can lead to overflowing gutters. 

And as you could probably imagine, excess water around the perimeter of your home can lead to a whole host of expensive issues. Here are the top reasons why you should clean your gutters regularly.

Prevents Water Damage

When your gutters are too dirty, they can get clogged. This will lead to water overflowing from your gutters onto the ground around your home.

Pooling water could leak into your basement, causing extensive water damage and mold growth. Mold remediation and fixing water damage costs a lot more than gutter cleaning. 

Prevents Foundation Issues

Along with pooling water leaking into your basement, clogged gutters can also lead to foundation issues. Water can seep into the foundation, cause cracks, and make them larger through freezing and thawing.

An unstable foundation can lead to cracks in your home’s walls, ceiling, and floors and can be a very expensive repair, often costing north of $10,000. 

Protects Your Landscaping

When your gutters are clogged, the rain cannot drain away from your home properly. As such, a river of rainwater from your roof can wash away your expensive landscaping, plus it can pool and create a mud pit. 

Improves Your Home’s Curb Appeal

Let’s face it, dirty and clogged downspouts and gutters detract from your home’s curb appeal. If you have dirty or clogged gutters, you might have gunk sticking out over the top, which looks unsightly.

Plus, buildup, clogs, and obstructions make water leak over the gutter’s edge and track dirt and debris down the side of your gutters and home – not to mention the damage to your landscaping. 

Saves You Money

If you clean your gutters regularly, you can prevent these costly issues entirely. So, think of gutter cleaning as insurance – you pay a little bit of money a couple of times per year to avoid spending a lot more money later. 

How Often Should You Clean Your Gutters?

The general rule of thumb is to clean your gutters at least twice per year – including downspout cleaning. On the low end, you can do it once a year if you don’t have any nearby trees or other sources of gutter-clogging material. 

What Is The Most Common Cause of Gutter Debris?

We’ve seen many things clog gutters – from tennis balls and baseballs to clothing, shoes, and pet toys. However, as interesting as the stories of how those got into the gutters are, the most common sources of gutter-clogging debris are trees, pests, and weather. 

Trees

If gutters had an arch-enemy, it would most definitely be trees. Trees drop leaves, twigs, branches, bark, acorns, and other tree fruit onto your roof, which roll and fall directly into your gutters and downspouts. 

Even leaves from trees down the road from your home could ride the wind to your gutters.

Pests

Bugs, squirrels, and birds, oh my! While these are not the only pests that can take up shelter, they are the most common and can wreak havoc on your gutter system. Birds build nests, squirrels stash acorns, and bugs will colonize in your gutters and start throwing parties. 

Oftentimes, dirty gutters become colonized with more than one pest as they’re great sources of food, water, and shelter from predators. 

Weather

Wind, rain, snow, and sleet are some common causes of gunk in your gutters. 

The wind blows over leaves from nearby trees, and precipitation washes anything on your roof down to your gutters (not to mention all the pollutants in the rainwater). 

Everyone has to deal with weather, and some parts of the country even have to deal with soot from nearby wildfires. 

What Factors Should You Consider When Cleaning Your Gutter?

If you consider yourself a crafty, “get it done” yourself type of homeowner, you might be considering cleaning your own gutters. 

DIY gutter cleaning sounds like it might be simple on paper, but here are some factors to consider before you jump up on your roof. 

Heights 

Unfortunately, most people can’t actually jump to their roof; instead, they use a long ladder. But before you prop yours up and climb, consider this: 

Looking up from the ground to your roof is an entirely different experience than looking down at the ground from your roof. Many people get vertigo and are naturally afraid of heights. 

If you’re attempting to clean gutters with a fear of heights on the top of your mind, you almost certainly won’t do a good job. Also, you’ll likely be shaky, which means you’ll be more prone to falling. 

Tools

You don’t necessarily need specialized tools and equipment to clean your gutters, but they certainly help. They make the gutter cleaning process more efficient and help prevent damage to your gutters and roof.

How

If you’re inexperienced with cleaning gutters, you may not know where to start. For example, you might not know what materials to bring, like a bucket or tarp, to improve the cleaning process. 

That is why having a step-by-step plan on gutter cleaning helps if you’re doing it yourself, even if we don’t recommend it.

Proper Care

We have been in the business long enough to witness homeowners damaging their gutters in an attempt to clean them. We’ve seen it all, including:

• Dents and cracks from ladders
• Damaged shingles
• Sagging and bent gutters
• Broken gutter hangers, fasteners, and extenders
• Bent downspouts
• Cracked gutter covers
• Fully collapsed gutters
• Broken fascia

All homeowners should take extreme care during a “do-it-yourself” gutter cleaning home improvement project to avoid these potential issues.

Why Should You Hire A Professional to Help with Gutter Cleaning?

Gutter cleaning technicians are experts at what they do. They have tons of experience cleaning all types of gutters along the proper tools.

Plus, they do it so often that they’re efficient while ensuring they cause no damage to your gutters, roof, and landscaping.

Here are the top reasons homeowners hire professional gutter cleaners.

Fewer Frustrations

It is hard work to climb up and down a ladder repeatedly, especially if you’re not used to it. Plus, you’ll have to balance a bucket while you remove gunk from your gutters.

If you lose grip on the bucket, you can spill soggy gutter gunk onto the side of your home or your landscaping – yuck!

Having to do this extra clean up after the gutters can be a huge annoyance. With professional gutter cleaning, you avoid these frustrations entirely.

Safety

Climbing a ladder is dangerous on its own, even more so when you’re trying to scoop out clogged gunk from your gutters.

Falling from the height of even a single-story home can lead to severe injuries, and falls from two-story homes are even worse.

That is why we recommend homeowners take things slow and be highly cautious with ladders. Or, if you don’t want to risk an accident, give our pros a call.

Experience

Our local gutter cleaning professionals have years of experience and can efficiently clean your gutters without causing damage to the gutters or property.

Plus, they’ll be able to quickly make simple repairs while they’re up there and recommend additional repairs if they discover a big problem.

If you need gutter repair, new gutters, or gutter cleaning services done right and for a fair price, give us a call today or fill out our form below.