A blocked gutter rarely announces itself until water is sheeting down the wall and a damp patch is spreading across a bedroom ceiling. Half an hour with a ladder and a trowel in late October heads off a repair bill that runs into the hundreds.
Set the ladder up safely
This is the part people skip and regret. Stand the ladder on firm, level ground, tie it off or have someone foot it, and never lean out past your belt buckle. Move the ladder along rather than stretching for that last metre.
Working along the gutter
Scoop the leaf mush and grit into a bucket hooked over a rung, working away from the downpipe so you are not pushing debris into it. A narrow trowel or an old kitchen spatula gets right into the run.
- Flush the cleared gutter with a hose and watch it drain.
- If water backs up, the downpipe is blocked.
- Clear the downpipe from the top with a length of hose or drain rods.
Look while you are up there
It is a rare chance to see the roofline closely. Check for slipped tiles, cracked joints between gutter sections, sagging brackets and any sign of rot on fascia boards. A loose bracket is a five minute fix now and a collapsed gutter in January if ignored.
Keep the worst out
If you have trees overhead, mesh guards or simple wire balloons in the downpipe outlets cut the clearing down to once a year. They are not magic, but they stop the big stuff that causes most blockages.