What This Covers
One leaking end cap or a single downspout dumping at the foundation is a normal call, not too small to bother with. The gutter that overflows in an August thunderstorm is the same one that ices up in January, so the small fixes are worth doing before the weather turns.
Gutters
- Gutter cleaning, including the corners and outlets that pack solid
- Re-hanging loose runs where spikes have pulled out of fascia
- Seam and end cap leaks resealed
- Re-pitching sagging gutter so water reaches the outlet
- Gutter guards and screens cleared, refitted, or removed
- Fascia repair where water has been running behind the gutter
Drainage
- Downspout clearing and reattaching sections that came apart
- Extensions and splash blocks to carry water off the foundation
- Redirecting outlets away from walkways and crawl space vents
- Low spots at the foundation flagged before the wet months
Washing
- Siding washed at a pressure the material can actually take
- Decks and fences cleaned before stain or sealer goes on
- Driveways, walkways, and patios washed of grime and buildup
- Gutter exteriors washed of the dark streaking down the face
How Gutter and Washing Calls Go
Most gutter calls start with something you can see. Water sheeting over the front edge in a storm, a dark stripe down the siding, a wet patch at the foundation every time it rains. Cleaning is the obvious answer, and often it is most of the answer. What decides whether the problem comes back is pitch and how the gutter is hung, and that is worth checking while the ladder is already up.
Gutters here fill with more than leaves. Blowing dust and field grit settle in through a long dry summer, and the first real rain packs it into a silt that a hose will not move. Add cottonwood or needles and a run can plug in a single season. The part that matters most is where the water goes after it leaves the downspout. A spout emptying against the wall keeps the foundation wet through the freeze and thaw months, which is the slow kind of damage nobody notices starting.
Washing runs on the same logic. Most people ask for more pressure. Pressure is the least important setting on the machine, and the tip, the distance, and what the surface is made of decide the result. Old cedar, painted wood, and composite mark at pressures concrete shrugs off, so we start soft and go up only when a surface asks for it. If something will not come clean without wrecking it, you hear that first.
Questions
Exterior Questions
The questions that come up before a gutter or washing job, answered the way we would answer them standing in the driveway.
How often do gutters actually need cleaning around here?
Twice a year is the honest baseline, and what is overhead decides the rest. A house under cottonwoods or pines can plug a run in a single season. An open lot with nothing hanging over it still collects blowing dust and field grit all summer, and that silt packs down heavier than leaves once it gets wet.
Timing matters more than frequency. The cleaning that earns its keep is the one before the wet and freezing months, because a gutter holding packed debris holds water, and water that freezes puts weight on the hangers and backs up under the roof edge. Ice working under the shingles themselves is a roofer's call, not a handyman's. A spring pass clears what the wind delivered over winter. If you are only going to do one, do the fall one.
My gutters leak and sag. Is it worth repairing them or are they finished?
The fascia behind the gutter decides this, not the gutter. Aluminum gutter is straightforward to reseal, re-pitch, and re-hang, and a run that looks finished from the ground often is not. What ends the conversation is the wood it hangs on. Years of water running behind a gutter leave fascia too soft for a fastener to bite into.
If that wood is solid, repair is worth doing. Resealing seams and end caps, swapping pulled spikes for screws and hidden hangers, and correcting the pitch can add a lot of life to an old gutter. If the fascia is soft, we cut out and replace the rotten section, because hanging anything new on bad wood repeats the same failure. If the rot has carried into the roof decking or the shingle edge, that part goes to a roofer. You get told which it is before work starts.
Will pressure washing damage my siding, paint, or older wood?
Pressure is not what protects the surface. The tip and the distance are. A wide tip held back does gentle work. A narrow tip up close will carve soft wood, drive water up behind siding laps, and take off paint that was holding fine. Older painted wood, cedar, and composite decking all mark at pressures a concrete driveway does not notice.
So we start soft and only go up when the surface asks for it. On siding that means washing down at an angle rather than forcing water under the laps, and staying off anything already lifting or chalking. After smoke season a lot of what is on a wall is film rather than stain, and it comes off low. If paint is already failing, washing will find it, which is information about the paint.
Water pools next to my foundation after a storm. Is that a gutter problem?
Start at the downspout before you start at the foundation. The usual cause of water against the wall is a spout that empties right there. Gutters can be clean and pitched correctly and still deliver everything they collect into one spot next to the house. An extension, a splash block, or moving the outlet a few feet is the first thing to try, and often the only thing needed.
If the water is still sitting there after that, it is a ground question, not a gutter question. Soil that slopes back toward the house, or a low spot along the foundation, holds water where you least want it through the freeze and thaw months. We tell you what we see and handle the small corrections. Real drainage excavation goes to an excavating contractor, and anything structural goes to a structural engineer.
Ready to get it done?
Tell us about the project, or call and talk it through.