If you are the Do It Yourself type, there are a lot of products out there designed to help you keep your gutters clean.
How frequently you will need to clean your gutters will largely depend upon the number of trees hanging over the roof of your home. The more trees there are, the more leaves there will be to clog up your gutters. Expect the greatest need for gutter cleaning to occur in the fall, but you should be mindful that this task may need to occur during any time of the year.
Outdoor seasonal projects usually include rain gutter cleaning. If you cannot do the work yourself, you will want to hire a gutter cleaning service. When searching for a reputable service, try not to be tempted to hire someone without experience, thinking you will get a better price. People you pay to do work on your home, your most important investment, should be knowledgeable and safe, and that means licensed, bonded and insured.
Before you hire a gutter cleaning service, ask to see their qualifications and references from at least three recent jobs. Call those people and ask if they would hire the service again. Continue your research online. There are plenty of web sites with customer reviews. Some charge fees for prospective customers to read reviews, and some do not. One of the best places to find information about a service at no cost is the Better Business Bureau at http://www.bbb.org. Provide your zip code and the name of the business you are considering and this site will show any previous complaints against them and if – and how – they were resolved.
Ask at least two of the companies to come to your home and give you a free estimate. Then, you can choose which gutter cleaning service you want based on their qualifications, price, and customer service skills. Trust your intuition. If you have a shaky feeling about one or both of the services, then go back to the drawing board and check on more services, following the steps listed above.
Before you make your final choice of a gutter cleaning service, think about the possibility of negotiating a package deal, particularly if you have an extra large house and lots of trees around your house, making two visits a year from the service more helpful than just one.