Frequently Asked Questions

How often should you clean your gutters?

A lot of this is down to location, and the condition of your roof tiles. If you’ve got a few trees near your property, you should have an annual gutter clean. More, and we’d recommend you do it twice a year.

Some sand-based tiles will eventually cause build-up of debris in your gutters. An annual gutter clean should do the trick.

Is there an ideal time to clean gutters?

There’s no golden rule here. Obviously if your gutters are noticeably blocked or leaking, then the sooner the better, to avoid any lasting damage to the fabric of your property.

If we need to repair your gutters, then it is easier to thoroughly brush them out and apply fresh sealant or mastic in dryer months – but as the British weather is notoriously unpredictable, dryer months aren’t guaranteed in the summer.

However, autumn and winter are generally wetter, with leaf-fall, which can make routine gutter repair and cleaning less straightforward.

How long should gutters last?

A UPVC gutter should last between 25 and 30 years. Eventually the plastic turns brittle and the rubber seals porous, so the gutter gets damaged more easily.

Cast iron gutters, on the other hand, should have around 100 years’ life in them – providing they have been properly installed.

Leaks are a sign of gutter deterioration, and, over time, temporary fixes may prove to be short-lived, meaning you need a gutter replacement.

What do we use to clean gutters?

There’s no substitute for good old-fashioned elbow grease, so our main tools are brushes and sponges. Cleaning by hand ensures a thorough job, especially when it comes to removing large amounts of encrusted dirt.

We use stabilised ladders to reach gutters or, for tenements, ropes.

What causes leaking gutters?

Gutters leak for two main reasons: they’re damaged or they’re blocked. If the gutter is leaking close to a downpipe, then it is likely that the downpipe is blocked.

Also, sometimes we find a gutter has been installed incorrectly, so that the water is running away from the downpipe. This means the gutter will end up holding too much water and overflow down the side.

How We Can Help Building Conservation

In 2016, the conservation charity Edinburgh World Heritage warned that the city’s status as a World Heritage Site was under threat because over 200 of its historic buildings needed repair.

Most of these are privately-owned tenements, and many have rotting windowframes and damaged stonework resulting from blocked gutters.

As specialists in tenement gutter cleaning, we know the damage that leaves, vegetation and other material can cause over time.

Edinburgh has had Unesco World Heritage status since 1995 and it would be a tragedy for it to lose it not through inappropriate new developments, but because its existing buildings were poorly maintained.

Gutter cleaning and maintenance are essential to keep buildings at their best and, in some cases, helping to restore them to their former glory

Using rope access, we offer expert gutter cleaning for tenements. We’re ready to do our bit to help conserve Edinburgh’s historic buildings.

Give us a call on 07717 634956.

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