- Clear your gutters at least once a year after the autumn leaf fall, as SPAB and Historic England both advise, and ideally again in spring. Which? says you may need to clear them more often if you have trees nearby or a lot of moss on the roof.
- For most houses the main autumn clear is best done in late November or early December, once nearby trees are bare. In the Woodland Trust's analysis of 2019 Nature's Calendar records, most of the tree species recorded were bare in November on average, and oak was bare around 1 December.
- The clearest sign of a blocked gutter is water pouring over the front edge in heavy rain. In dry weather, look for stained or green brickwork behind downpipes and for plants growing out of the gutter.
- Checkatrade's price guide gives £86 to £147 a job for gutter cleaning in Yorkshire, and MyBuilder puts a standard clean at £50 to £150. These are published third-party figures, not Roofline's prices. Gutters above a single storey are safer left to someone with proper equipment than tackled from a ladder.
How often do gutters need clearing?
Clear your gutters at least once a year, after the autumn leaf fall, and ideally again in spring. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) advises clearing leaves and silt from gutters and hopper heads every autumn, and suggests doing it in spring too. Historic England says to clear them after heavy leaf fall, at least every autumn and preferably more often.
Which? says you may need to clean them more often if you have trees nearby or a lot of moss on the roof. If moss is what keeps filling yours, our guide to moss on roofs covers whether to remove it.
Rainfall matters too. The Met Office says average rainfall is over 1,500 mm a year on the higher parts of the Pennines, and that the wetter upland areas get their heaviest rain in autumn and winter. Its 1991 to 2020 averages give Huddersfield (Oakes) about 1,041 mm a year, with 101 mm to 119 mm a month from October to December, against about 620 mm a year at Church Fenton in the Vale of York. A gutter in the Pennine towns carries much more water while the leaves are falling, so a part blockage turns into an overflow sooner.
Should you clear gutters before or after the leaves fall?
Do the main clear after the leaves are down, or the gutters will soon fill again. The Woodland Trust's analysis of 2019 Nature's Calendar records found that, on average, most species recorded dropped their first leaves in October and were bare in November. Oak ran later, with first leaf fall around 1 November and bare branches around 1 December.
That puts the best time for most houses in late November or early December, once the trees near you are bare. The same analysis notes that heavy rain and wind encourage leaves to drop, as do freezing temperatures, so a stormy October can strip trees early. If your gutters are already overflowing in October, have the outlets and the tops of the downpipes cleared then and leave the full clear until later.
SPAB's Maintenance Week, its yearly reminder to get buildings ready for winter, is held in November and always finishes with Gutters Day. For other jobs worth doing before the cold weather, see our winter roof guide.
How can you tell if your gutters are blocked?
The surest sign is water spilling over the front of the gutter in heavy rain instead of going down the downpipe. Historic England advises inspecting gutters while it is raining, and SPAB says heavy rain is the best time to look for a blocked downpipe, because you can see water coming from any leaky joints. From the ground, look for:
- Stained brickwork or stonework under the gutter or behind a downpipe, the dry weather sign SPAB points to. Historic England adds algae and washed-out mortar joints behind a pipe.
- Plants growing out of the gutter. If something has rooted up there, there is enough silt to hold water.
- A gutter that sags or slopes the wrong way, so water sits in it or spills onto the wall. SPAB advises having gutters refixed if they slope the wrong way or discharge water onto the wall.
- A full hopper head, the open box at the top of a downpipe on many older houses, where leaves collect first.
On Victorian terraces with cast iron gutters, a leaking joint often shows as a dark streak down the brick or stone. The plastic half-round gutters now on many post-war estate houses are lighter and can sag between brackets when full of wet silt.
What damage do blocked gutters cause?
A blocked gutter sends rainwater down the wall instead of into the drain, and a wet wall is where most of the damage starts. Historic England says that if gutters and drains are kept clear, and are large enough for the rainfall, there is little chance of them overflowing and causing damp walls. Once a wall is damp, frost and changes in temperature can make bricks flake or decay, and salts in the moisture can harm plaster and paint.
- Fascias and soffits. When a blocked gutter overflows at the back or leaks at a joint, water soaks the timber fascia it is fixed to. Historic England advises checking timber fascia boards whenever gutters are fixed to them, along with the soffit and barge boards. Soft or rotten boards are a job for our fascias and soffits service.
- Walls and mortar. Water down the same wall every winter washes out mortar joints. Victorian terraces and older Pennine stone houses mostly have solid walls, with no cavity to stop that damp reaching the inside.
- Damp indoors. A damp patch on a bedroom ceiling near the eaves can be an overflowing gutter rather than a roof leak. Our damp patch guide explains how to tell the difference.
One Aviva home policy, quoted in a 2025 Financial Ombudsman Service decision, says it does not cover damage caused by a lack of maintenance, and gives making sure gutters and downpipes are not blocked by leaves as an example. Keep a note of when your gutters were last cleared. Claims after bad weather are covered in our storm damage and insurance guide.
Should you clean gutters yourself or pay someone?
A low gutter on a bungalow or a single storey extension is a reasonable job from a ladder with the precautions below, but gutters at two storeys or more are better left to someone with the right equipment. The Ladder Association, using hospital data from NHS England, NHS Wales and Public Health Scotland, reports that on average 7,723 people a year ended up in hospital after falling on or from a ladder between 2014/15 and 2021/22. The largest group of those admitted were aged 50 to 79.
The published advice agrees on the basics:
- Treat the ladder as a way up, not a platform. Historic England says ladders are handy for clearing gutters or a quick check but should be used only for access, not as a working platform, and should be securely clipped or tied, or held steady by someone else.
- Set the angle on firm, level ground. HSE guidance is one out for every four up, a 75 degree angle, and RoSPA gives the same ratio for ladders at home, on stable, level ground.
- Keep three points of contact and do not overreach. HSE says your belt buckle should stay within the stiles.
- Keep it short and do not work alone. HSE recommends other equipment for any task that would keep you up a leaning ladder for more than 30 minutes at a time, and SPAB advises against routine work at high level unless someone is with you and you have suitable equipment.
- No pressure washers from a ladder. Which? notes that leading manufacturers advise against using one while standing on a ladder.
Never climb onto a porch or conservatory roof to reach a gutter. Roofline clears gutters and repairs sagging runs and leaking joints as part of its guttering work: send a photo on WhatsApp to 07413 797731 for a free, itemised quote.
How much does gutter cleaning cost?
Checkatrade's price guide gives £86 to £147 a job for gutter cleaning in Yorkshire, with an average of £111, and MyBuilder puts a standard clean at £50 to £150. These are published third-party figures, not Roofline's prices.
- Checkatrade (updated September 2026): by house type, shown as average cost plus VAT, a small terrace is £50 to £120, a medium semi £100 to £150, a 4-bed detached house £130 to £165 and a 3-storey townhouse cleaned with a gutter vacuum £165 to £300.
- MyBuilder (updated August 2026): £4 to £12 a metre where the job is priced by length. Larger or harder to reach jobs run from £150 to £425 or more, with scaffolding usually £100 to £300.
- MyJobQuote (updated August 2026): about £125 on average, with £70 for a bungalow, £75 for a terrace, £100 for a semi and £150 for a detached house. Its figure for the North of England is £75 to £120.
Use these to judge whether a quote is in the normal range, not as a price for your house. Ask if it includes clearing and testing the downpipes, and before and after photos.
Are gutter guards worth it?
Gutter guards can cut how often a gutter under trees blocks, but none of them make a gutter maintenance-free. They come in two kinds.
- Guards on outlets and pipe tops. A cage or grille over the top of a downpipe or soil pipe keeps leaves out of the pipe, where a blockage is hardest to clear. SPAB recommends bird and leaf guards on the tops of soil pipes and on rainwater outlets. At ground level, Historic England recommends grilles over the gullies that downpipes drain into, because a grille is easy to clear of leaves.
- Mesh and brush guards along the whole gutter. Aspect Maintenance Services, a property maintenance firm, says debris can build up on top of the guard instead, so guards still need cleaning. Neglected, they let water overflow, which can lead to damp and rotting timbers. MyJobQuote puts fitting at around £200 to £500, depending on the length of guttering.
Aspect says guards may reduce downpipe blockages, especially under heavy tree cover. Where moss washing off the roof is the main problem, a guard does not deal with the cause. Fix a sagging gutter before a guard goes on, and look along the guards from the ground each autumn.
This guide is general information about roofing in England and is not a substitute for advice about your own roof. Standards and regulations are updated from time to time; check the current edition before relying on a specific requirement. Written by Roofline, roofers across Yorkshire. Last reviewed September 2026.
