Gutter Clearing in Seaford & East Sussex

Gutters are the job people put off until water is running down the wall, and by then the gutter is not the only thing that needs attention.

A blocked gutter overflows at the back edge as often as the front, which means the water goes into the fascia board and down the cavity rather than off the front of the house where you would see it. That is how a twenty minute job becomes a joinery job.

How I do it

Most of it from the ground, with a carbon pole and a wet-and-dry vacuum. The pole reaches a normal two-storey eaves comfortably and carries a small camera on the end so I can see what I am doing rather than guessing.

The vacuum takes out leaf mulch, silt, moss washed down off the tiles, and the tennis ball that has been in there since 2016. Working from the ground is safer than a ladder, it does not put ladder feet in your borders, and it does not involve me leaning sideways off a rung over your conservatory.

Some things do need a ladder or a tower: a bracket that has come away, a joint that needs reseating, an outlet packed solid enough that suction will not move it. I say so when I quote rather than finding out on the day and adding it to the bill.

Downpipes

Clearing the horizontal run and ignoring the downpipe is half a job, and it is the half most likely to leave you with the same problem in a month.

I check each downpipe for flow and flush it through. A pipe that gurgles or backs up usually has a blockage at the shoe or at the first bend, and that clears with rodding from the bottom in most cases. If it is blocked underground, that is a drainage job and a different trade, and I will tell you what I found rather than leaving you to discover it in the next downpour.

The photographs

Every run gets photographed with the pole camera before I leave, and you get them the same day.

This is the part customers mention most, and the reason is straightforward: you cannot see into your own gutters. Any tradesman can tell you they cleared them. The only honest way to prove it is a picture of a clean gutter from above, and I would rather do that as standard than offer it if asked.

If something is wrong up there you get a photograph of that too. Rusted-through section, sagging run, missing bracket, a nest. You get told, whether or not it is work I can do.

When to have it done

Once a year is right for most houses, and the useful time is late autumn, once the leaves are actually down. Doing it in early September and then having the trees empty in November means paying twice.

Twice a year is more realistic if you have conifers, if the roof carries a lot of moss, or if you are under a mature deciduous tree. Moss on the roof is worth mentioning because it washes into the gutter continuously through winter, and a house with a mossy roof will block up whatever the trees are doing.

Around Seaford and along the coast the wind is as much of a factor as the trees. Debris blows in from a long way off and the salt air holds moisture in the silt, so it packs down harder than it does inland.

Fascias and soffits

While the pole is up I can wash the fascia, soffit and the outside of the gutter. That is a separate line at £90 to £180 depending on the size of the house, and it makes a bigger visual difference to a property than most people expect, because grey-green streaked plastic reads as neglect from the pavement.

It is a soft wash rather than a jet wash. Pressure on a fascia board drives water up behind it, which is precisely the problem we are trying to avoid.

What it costs

£65 to £140 for a full circuit including downpipes, depending on the size and shape of the roof. A bungalow is at the lower end. A large detached with several changes of level and a conservatory is at the upper.

Fascia, soffit and gutter exterior wash £90 to £180.

Small repairs while I am there, like reseating a joint or clearing a blocked outlet, are included. Replacing a length of guttering, a bracket or a downpipe involves materials and is priced separately.

Getting a price

A photograph of the front and back of the house from a few paces away is usually enough. I can count the runs and see the changes of level, and that is most of what decides the price. Autumn books up from September, so if you want it done before the winter rain it is worth asking early.