Lawn Care Maintenance
Weekly, every other week, or monthly mowing, trimming and blow-off, with or without an annual contract.
How the visits work
HRH Lawn Care · Marshall County, Alabama
Gutter Cleaning
Gutters and downspouts cleared out so the water goes where it is supposed to go.
What to expect
How it works
A blocked gutter is a small problem that turns into an expensive one. Water backs up over the edge, runs down the wall, sits against the fascia and finds its way into places it has no business being. Clearing them is a half-day job once or twice a year, and it is a great deal cheaper than the repair that follows leaving them.
- Gutters and downspouts cleared and flushed
- Base price starts at $64.95 on single story homes
- Debris bagged and taken away
- Best done alongside the fall clean-up
- Two story and complex rooflines quoted after a look
The problem
What a blocked gutter actually does
A gutter is a channel with one job: catch what comes off the roof and take it to a downspout. Fill it with leaves, needles and grit and the water stops going to the downspout and starts going over the edge instead.
Where it goes then is the problem. Water spilling over the front edge lands in a concentrated line at the base of the wall, which is exactly where you least want a lot of water arriving repeatedly. It erodes the bed underneath, splashes soil up the siding, saturates the ground against the foundation, and in freezing weather it has somewhere new to sit and expand.
Water backing up the other way is quieter and can be worse. A gutter full to the brim holds standing water against the fascia board behind it, which is timber, and the damage there is usually found long after it started. The weight of a gutter full of wet debris also pulls on its own fixings.
Planting is the visible casualty. Beds directly under a blocked run take a hammering every time it rains, which is why the same beds keep washing out no matter how often the mulch is topped up.
Downspouts
The downspout is half the system
Clearing the horizontal run does nothing if the vertical pipe is blocked. The downspout is what actually gets the water off the roof and away from the building, and it is where debris tends to jam.
Material washed along a gutter arrives at the downspout opening and packs there, which is why the outlet is usually the first thing to go. A downspout that is blocked at the top keeps the whole run standing full; one blocked further down is harder to spot and does the same thing.
Where the water goes after it leaves the downspout is worth a look at the same time. A pipe discharging straight against the foundation is only moving the problem down a story, and an extension or a splash block that has been knocked out of place is a common and easily fixed cause of a persistently wet corner.
Signs and frequency
How to tell when gutters need attention
The reliable sign is water going somewhere it should not during rain. If you can see it spilling over an edge, running down a wall, or a downspout that stays dry while the gutter is full, the system is not working.
How often it needs doing depends on the property rather than on a rule. The number of trees near the roof, whether they are pines shedding needles more or less continuously or hardwoods dropping in a few weeks, the pitch and layout of the roof, and how sheltered the house is all change the answer. Some properties are comfortable once a year; a house under heavy pine can want it more often than that.
For most properties the sensible time is after the leaves are down, which is why gutters are usually booked alongside the fall cleanup. Doing both on the same trip is cheaper than two separate visits.
- Water sheeting over the front edge of a gutter during ordinary rain
- A downspout that stays dry while it is raining hard
- Staining or streaking down the siding below a particular run
- Soil, mulch or gravel washed out of the bed directly under the roofline
- Plants growing in the gutter, which means there is soil in it
- Sagging along a run, or visible debris above the gutter line from the ground
What is included
Cleared and flushed, and the ground left tidy
The gutters and downspouts are cleared of debris, the runs are flushed so the water is seen to go where it should, and what comes out is bagged and taken away rather than left in the beds.
Ground cleanup is part of the job. Debris pulled out of a gutter lands somewhere, and leaving a pile of wet, half-composted leaf matter in a bed or on a walk is not finishing the work. It is bagged and hauled off, and the hard surfaces underneath are cleared before the crew leaves.
This is a cleaning service, not a repair service. If a gutter is sagging, pulling away from the fascia, leaking at a seam or damaged, we will tell you what we have found and what it looks like from a ladder. Repairing or replacing guttering is a different trade and is not something HRH takes on.
Pricing starts from the base rate published on the service prices page for a straightforward single-story home. Two-story properties and complex rooflines are quoted after a look, because access is most of what decides the job.
Also handled here
Related services
Leaf Removal and Seasonal Cleanup
Spring and fall clean-ups that clear leaves and limbs off the whole property, not just the front lawn.
What a clean-up includes
Pressure Washing
Drives, walks, patios, decks, siding and awnings cleaned back toward the color they started out, at a pressure the surface will take.
What we washLawn and property care guide
More on this, in detail
Our summers stress cool-season grass and our winters stress the warm-season kinds, so advice written for anywhere else is wrong here in one direction or the other. These are written for this county.
Leaves, fall cleanup and getting a property through winter
Why a heavy leaf layer costs a lawn its spring, what a cleanup actually covers, and the jobs that are easier once the trees are bare.
Read the fall and winter guideAfter a storm: a property recovery checklist
What to leave alone, what to photograph, and the order to work through a property after severe weather in North Alabama.
Read the storm cleanup checklistAnswers
Questions about gutter cleaning
How much is gutter cleaning?
Base price starts at $64.95 on single story homes. Two story homes and complicated rooflines are quoted after we have had a look, because guessing at that over the phone helps nobody.
How do I know my gutters need cleaning?
The reliable sign is water going somewhere it should not during rain: sheeting over the front edge of a gutter, running down a wall, or a downspout that stays dry while it is raining hard. Staining down the siding, soil washed out of the bed under the roofline, and plants growing in the gutter are all the same message.
How often should gutters be cleared?
It depends on the property rather than on a rule. How many trees are near the roof, whether they are pines shedding needles more or less continuously or hardwoods dropping in a few weeks, and the pitch and layout of the roof all change the answer. Some properties are comfortable once a year; a house under heavy pine can want it more often.
Do you repair gutters as well as clean them?
No. This is a cleaning service. If a gutter is sagging, pulling away from the fascia, leaking at a seam or damaged, we will tell you what we found and what it looked like from the ladder, but repairing or replacing guttering is a different trade and not something HRH takes on.
Service area
Serving Marshall County and the surrounding area
Crews run out of Guntersville and work across the county all week. These are the communities we look after.
- ServingGuntersville
- ServingAlbertville
- ServingArab
- ServingBoaz
- ServingSardis City
- ServingDouglas
- ServingGrant
- ServingHorton
- ServingSnead
Properties throughout Marshall County are looked after by crews running out of 5378 AL Highway 79 South in Guntersville.
HRH Lawn Care Services
Not sure what your property needs?
Call and ask. We would rather come and look at it than guess over the phone, and it does not cost you anything either way.