Gutter cleaning in Houston

What a cleaning includes

• Every foot of gutter cleared by hand — we don't blow debris into your flower beds
• Downspouts flushed with a hose and checked for flow at the bottom
• Debris bagged and taken away
• A quick ladder check of seams, corners, hangers and fascia, with photos of anything that needs attention
• Splash blocks and extensions reset if they've been knocked out of place

The flush matters more than the scoop. A downspout plugged with a year of pine straw and a tennis ball will back up a perfectly clean gutter, and you won't know until it overflows onto the walkway in the next storm.

When to clean gutters in Houston

Late May, before hurricane season, after the live oaks have finished dropping leaves and catkins. Late fall after the pecans, sweetgums and tallow trees drop, which in Houston means late November into December — later than most of the country. Homes under pines need a third visit, usually late summer, because the needles fall almost year-round and mat into a plug that holds water. If you have guards, once a year is usually enough. Our fall leaf-season guide has the tree-by-tree calendar.

Pricing

Cleaning is priced by the size of the home rather than by the hour. Single-story homes run $120–$200, two-story $180–$300, and large or complex roofs are quoted after we see them. If we find a repair while we're up there, the cleaning fee comes off the repair price. There's no charge for the inspection photos, and no upsell — if the gutters are fine, we say so and leave.

Cleaning that turns into a repair

About one in four cleanings turns up something: a corner that's been dripping, a section pitched the wrong way, or a downspout that's separated at the elbow. We'll show you the photo and give you a price on the spot — and if you'd rather wait, the estimate is good for 30 days. The most common finds, in order: a downspout elbow that's come apart, a corner leaking on the sunny side of the house, spike hangers backed out on a long run, and soft fascia under a corner that's been overflowing for years. All of them are on the gutter repair page with prices.

What a cleaning won't fix

A clean gutter that still overflows is undersized or pitched wrong. We'll tell you which, but a cleaning doesn't change it. And a clean gutter under a big live oak in Bellaire or River Oaks will be full again by April. If we're cleaning the same gutters twice a year and the trees aren't going anywhere, we'll suggest gutter guards — not as a sales pitch, but because the arithmetic starts to favor them after about year six.

Doing it yourself

Single-story homes with a good ladder and a helper holding it: go ahead. Wear gloves, scoop into a bucket hung from the ladder, and flush each downspout from the top. Stop if the ladder has to lean on the gutter itself (it'll crush it), if you'd be reaching more than an arm's length sideways, or if the roofline is two stories. We get a lot of gutter cleaning Houston calls in December from people who got halfway around the house and thought better of it — no shame in that; the second half costs the same as the whole.