Serving Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties, and Now in Savannah, Georgia

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

DO I EVEN NEED GUTTERS?

There are two primary reasons people have gutters on their homes:  

1) To prevent water from pouring down on themselves while entering or exiting their homes and businesses. Getting deluged with cascading water can be irritating and even dangerous. Gutters divert the water away from the roofs over entryways and channel it down, out and away from the home or business.

When leaves fall onto your roof, they accumulate into your gutters, eventually filling them up with debris that diverts water over the top of the gutters, rendering them useless. In addition, the outlet holes in the gutters where the downspouts are attached can become clogged with a wad of debris as small as a tennis ball. If the outlet hole is plugged, or the downspouts clog (usually in the elbows) they will not drain your gutters, even if the gutters are free of debris. Therefore all downspouts should be checked and cleaning during gutter cleaning. In some cased, downspouts must be disassembled, cleaned out, reassembled and re-secured to the gutter and wall.

DO I HAVE TO BE HOME WHEN YOU ARE SERVICING OUR GUTTERS?

No. There is no need for you to be there, taking time away from work or other activities away from your home. Upon completion of the work, we will leave an invoice and wait for payment, providing you agree to drop a check in the mail within the next 2 days. If you prefer to be home during our work, we will arrange a mutually agreeable time to be there to fit into our respective schedules. In either instance, we will call you at least 1-2 days before coming out so you will know when will be on your property.

Depending on the location of trees in the area, gutter-guards can be very useful. Gutter-guards ensure that the gutters don’t accumulate debris that will fill up and clog the gutters and downspouts. You may want gutter guards on all gutters, or just on gutters that have trees around them. We can assess your situation to determine where gutter guards may be indicated to keep your gutter functioning with the least possible cost.  

There are many types of leaf guard systems available today, from solid coverings that allow water (but not the leaves) to wrap around and into the gutters to plastic or metal screening systems with holes that let water run into the gutter while leaves are accumulating on top. Prices range from all little as 50¢ per foot for material in do-it-yourself jobs to as much as $15 per foot installed. We have found through experience that many efficient systems for the money cost between $2 to $4 per foot installed. We can determine the best style for your house or business based on your particular material and price preferences.

Gutter guards can reduce your cleaning frequency to ½ or less, depending on the debris that normally falls onto your roofs and into your gutters. In many cases, gutter guards will not reduce the cleaning frequency enough to pay for themselves. In other situations, they cannot be installed, and therefore regular cleanings are the only solution.

Certain areas of your gutters can overflow while others never cause problems. Over time the gutters can “loosen up” from the weight of water and wet debris, causing the gutters to sag or pitch forward, creating low spots. In addition, the slope of the gutter can be lost causing water to run away from the downspouts. (The gutter should be sloped so that it is lowest at the points where the downspouts are and highest between them. ) Securing the gutters and readjusting the pitch can restore the performance of your gutters without the need of replacement.

Some areas of your roof accumulate more water than others, creating rivers of water or cascading sheets that the gutters cannot handle. The area where two roof sections meet each other (called “valleys”) concentrate water run-off that rushes down and over the top of the gutters, missing them altogether. This can also occur where you have one roof section over the top of another.

To resolve this, splash guards can be installed on the gutters to catch the rush of water and force it to drop into the gutter. In addition, diverters can redirect the water at various locations on the roof to other areas in order to redistribute the water so the gutters can capture all of the water and direct it to the downspouts. 

In addition to splash guards, diverters and/or gutter guards, strainers can be inserted into the outlet holes of the gutters where the downspouts are attached. Strainers are cone- shaped screen sections that fit into the outlet hole at the bottom and rise up above to the top of the gutter. When leaves accumulate in the gutters, water will still drain into the outlet holes, as the leaves are prevented from plugging the holes as the water drain through the openings of the strainers.

Depending on the size and height of your home, condominum, townhome, trailer, apartment building or business, prices range from $65 to $250. A typical two-story single family residence of 2500 sq. feet or less with an asphalt shingle roof runs approximately $85. Homes with tile roofs require more time (and therefore more expense) due to increased exercise of care while getting around to access the gutters. If the home has a “super gutter” (a thicker, square-shaped gutter between the roof and a pool enclosure or “birdcage”,) additional time may be required if the access to the super gutters is limited. (Sometimes the edges of the roof material overhang the super gutter, making it difficult to clean via traditional methods. Extra time and tools may be needed to properly clean the gutter.)

All of our work is unconditionally guaranteed for 30 days after the cleaning service. If the gutters or downspouts fail to perform due to the presence of debris, we will return at no charge to re-clean the entire gutter system.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

 IS IT MESSY?

It can be. If the debris in the gutters is dry, we can remove it by hand or leaf blower. If it’s wet, we will remove debris by hand or carefully by blower to avoid splatter. In either instance, we will take away all debris and blow off sidewalks and garden areas that were affected in the process. You should never know that we were there by looking after we have finished. This result is part of our guarantee.