How often should gutters be cleaned?

The answer, and what people actually do

Twice a year, in fall and spring. That is Fixr's schedule, This Old House says gutters require cleaning at least twice per year on average, and their half-round guide repeats it.

Then This Old House surveyed 1,000 homeowners and found this:

Only about a third of people follow the advice. We are not going to tell you the other two thirds are all wrong, because the right schedule depends on your roof, but it is worth knowing that the published rule and normal behaviour are not the same thing.

When twice a year is not enough

Fixr gives the conditions that should push you to add a visit, and they are observable rather than theoretical:

• Your gutters or downspouts are routinely full or clogged when the cleaner arrives. That is the direct signal.
• Many trees, or tall trees, dropping leaves and twigs regularly.

This Old House's half-round guide names the same two drivers, trees around the house and heavy rainfall in the area.

What is actually in there, from the same This Old House survey: leaves for nearly 85 percent of respondents, then dirt or dust at 44 percent, insect debris such as spider webs and dead bugs at 41 percent, and pine needles at 31 percent.

Our reading, marked as ours: pine needles are the case to watch. They are small enough to pass most screens and they arrive year-round rather than in one autumn drop, which makes a twice-yearly schedule a poor fit for a house under pines. Neither source draws that conclusion.

What guards change, measured rather than assumed

This is the part we can now put numbers on, because This Old House asked the same people before and after.

Kevin Brauer, owner of Storm Guard Roofing and Construction, told This Old House that guards can reduce cleaning frequency from twice a year to every other year.

And over 66 percent of their respondents reported saving four to eight hours or more of gutter maintenance a year after fitting guards.

Our arithmetic, marked as ours. If guards take you from two cleans a year to one, and our cleaning page puts a typical clean at around $300, the saving is about $300 a year. That is the figure a guard quote has to beat, and our gutter guard page runs the payback against both the contractor and the branded-installer price. Note what the table above does not show: the share cleaning once a year is 41 percent either way. The shift is from cleaning to not cleaning at all, not from twice to once.

The thing that makes a cheap visit expensive

Fixr: a clogged downspout frequently adds $50 to $100 to a standard clean, taking the visit to $170 to $350. Skipping visits is how downspouts clog.

This Old House adds a detail worth knowing: the drop, the piece that feeds water from the gutter into the downspout, often just needs cleaning and resealing, and is the most common cause of clogging in the whole system. Our downspout page covers what that costs to put right.

When to stop doing it yourself

This Old House's half-round guide is direct about it: pay a professional if your home is two or three storeys tall.

Mohsen Goodarzi, assistant professor of construction management at Ball State University, told This Old House that cleaning regularly, fitting guards and making sure downspouts point away from the foundation are the steps that extend a gutter system's life.

Our advice, marked as ours: the schedule matters less than whether anyone looks at the gutters at all. A cleaner who inspects while up there is the cheapest inspection you will ever buy, and Fixr lists repairing fasteners and seals as part of a standard clean, which means small fixes are often already in the price.

A schedule that fits your house

What this costs annually is on our cleaning page, and our gutter cost calculator prices guards against it.