Adelaide homeowners would not typically consider gutters until water was falling over them onto the porch. When it’s time, the damage has already been done. When it comes to gutter maintenance, storm season gutter cleaning is not something that you can leave “until next month” and hope that it will get better. Once the first real rain comes and your gutters become clogged, a clogged gutter turns from a bother into a real hazard for your roof, walls, and foundations.

This is as much as a few minutes of your time and definitely worth holding off until you’ve taken the time to clean your gutters Adelaide-wide. We will explain what happens to gutters when they are full of leaves and debris before storm season, discuss a real-life scenario one of our clients experienced, and provide some action steps you can take before the next system arrives to tip the balance of removing any leaves and debris.

A Client’s Story: Mark’s Hills Home and the Overflow He Didn’t See Coming

One of our regular clients is Mark, who lives in a two-story house amongst tall gum trees that shed their leaves and bark almost all year round in the Adelaide Hills. He had his gutters cleaned the previous year and thought that he wouldn’t see any difference this year. This was quite a year, as cleaning gutters was faring well at the bottom of the to-do list.

Some time later, a late autumn storm came through Adelaide with copious persistent rain over the next couple of days. Mark saw water falling down the side of his house instead of down the downpipes. After two days, he had wet stains on an inside ceiling up against the eaves. When we visited to check, the gutters were full of silt and compaction of leaf litter, and water was just trickling through. The overflow so far had made its way inside down the fascia board and entered through a small gap in the roof.

The repair itself was not overly complicated, but it was a tough time. After some time flushing out the downpipes and clearing the gutters, the water began to flow again normally. Mark ended up facing not only the task of having to pay for plaster repairs, but also a dome of water-stained plaster that could have been avoided by just having a regular clean a month or two earlier. He shared with us afterward his experience that he always considered gutter cleaning to be a “nice to have”, not a problem that would lead to water entering the house.

During Storm Season, Blocked Gutters Are Far More Dangerous

Part of the reason for Adelaide’s weather pattern is that part of it isn’t mindless. Leaves, seed pods, and dust, if left undisturbed for extended periods over the summer, can accumulate, and by the start of fall can have a lot of debris friable, like almost soil. Once the first major storm happens, gutters that appeared to operate all right in the driveway will be completely clogged under the house.

Blocked gutters storm damage usually manifests itself in one of several predictable ways and reappears in a large size for the duration of the storm. The typical scenario when gutters are not cleaned prior to a rainy season in a wet system is:

• Water pools and overhangs the gutter all the way down the gutter up to the downpipe instead of flowing through the downpipe.
• Overflow drips down external walls and creates stains on the render/brickwork over time.
• Water sneaks through openings around the fascia, eave or roof line and grows into the ceiling cavity.
• Water accumulating around the foundations can cause dampness and even movement of the building in some instances.
• When gutters are weighed down by waterlogged debris, the added weight can make gutters lose attachment to the roof line, particularly on the older fixtures.
• Water at the entrance of buildings runs a risk of making paths, decks, and stairs slippery because of the water buildup near the entranceway.

All of these outcomes would occur if a once-a-decade storm did not occur. If the gutters are full, it could be enough if there is a great deal of rain for one night, and that is a common occurrence during a few of the most stormy years in Adelaide.

When It Comes to Weather Problems, Overflowing Gutters Don’t Necessarily Involve the Roof

A wet spot on the ceiling may be the most dire part of the situation, but when gutter water overflow occurs, it can cause more consequences than you may realize on the roofline. Where water is not adequately carried away, there tends to be water congestion at the base of the house, and this will cause softening of soil, damage garden beds, and, in older houses, external wall faces to experience rising damp.

Of course, the drawback isn’t easily noticed; it’s the mould growth in ceiling cavities and wall spaces that has yet to be found long after the storm subsided. If dark patches start showing up on the render itself, our guide on black mould on exterior walls explains what you’re looking at. A lot of the damage to the ceiling occurs after the stain shows up; by this point, the water has been in the attic insulation and/or timber framing for at least a few days, and a repair will be far more complex and costlier than a simple clean-out of the gutters.

The Top 5 Essentials That Regular Gutter Cleaning Adelaide Homes Require

Fortunately, most of this is easily avoidable through a few bits of routine care. The timing of gutter maintenance Adelaide properties require is more important than many realize and can be quite simple.

Here are a few things to add to your annual schedule:

• Have gutters cleaned early in fall before heavy leaves fall and storm season begins.
• Downpipes are not blocked, and the gutter is not clogged.
• Be aware of “Tall Tree” properties; these tend to fill up longer than open blocks.
• If the property tends to fall into heavy leaf litter, have a follow-up inspection in the middle of the storm season.
• While up, have a pro check fascia and the gutter brackets for minor damage because it is far less expensive to fix if they can be spotted early.

However, one yearly pruning is seldom enough for houses surrounded by gums, jacarandas or other trees that drop lots of leaves. Cleaning the gutters twice a year, once in fall and once in mid-winter, helps to keep the gutters truly “clean” and not just “mostly clean.” A full seasonal maintenance checklist covers what else to check alongside your gutters each season.

It’s a Daunting Task, but It’s Also a Worthwhile Task

One of the jobs that, if you do, costs little, but if you don’t, you’ll have to compensate for more than you could ever dream of. A normal clean takes only a fraction of the time and cost of tackling the repair of a ceiling that has been damaged by water, replacement of existing fascia board, or damp that’s seeped into walls. Don’t worry, this is a common occurrence throughout Adelaide, not an anomaly, and it shouldn’t happen in the vast majority of cases as long as suitable planning is done in advance of the rain.

If the gutters have not been inspected since the previous season, this is the time to do so and not once the first storming season has broken into the weak point in your roofline. You can browse our work to see how our crew tackles compacted gutters before booking your own clean.