Get your gutters ready by the end of October. The rainy season in the Los Angeles and Ventura county valleys runs from about November through March, and the first real storm finds every clog, sag and disconnected downspout at once, usually at night, usually on a weekend.
The checklist below is what we go through on a pre-season visit. If you’re doing it yourself, work through it in order, and read the safety guide first if any of it involves a ladder.
Why October?
Our weather doesn’t give you a gentle warm-up. A typical year has a dry stretch from April through October with almost no rain at all, and then the first storm can be an inch or two in a day. Whatever has accumulated during six dry months, leaves, needles, roof grit, a bird’s nest, is packed and dry when that water arrives. In a strong El Niño year the odds tilt toward a wetter winter, and El Niño and your gutters covers what that changes.
October also comes before the Santa Ana winds, which run from about October into February and dump fresh debris on roofs during the rainy season. That’s why a single cleaning doesn’t always cover the whole winter. The pre-season visit is the big one. A second look after the wind is the follow-up. How often to clean gutters has the schedule by tree type.
The checklist
1. Empty the troughs
Every foot of gutter should be clear to the metal. Not just the visible leaves on top, but the compacted layer underneath and the grit at the bottom. On tile roofs, clear the valleys above the gutter line too, because that debris ends up in the gutter with the first heavy rain.
Look for standing water while you’re at it. A gutter that holds a puddle in dry weather has a pitch problem or a sag, and the puddle will be a lot bigger in the rain.
2. Flush every downspout
This is the step people skip. A clean gutter with a blocked downspout still overflows. Run a hose into the gutter at the far end from the downspout and watch the outlet. Water should come out steadily within a few seconds. If it dribbles, backs up in the gutter, or leaks out at an elbow or seam, the downspout is blocked. Clogged downspouts covers how to clear them.
Two-story homes in Encino and Sherman Oaks often have long downspout runs with multiple elbows where the second-story gutter drops to the first-story roof and then to the ground. Each elbow is a place needles pack in. Flush from the top and check the bottom.
3. Check the underground drains
A lot of homes in the tract neighborhoods of Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, Simi Valley and Porter Ranch have downspouts that go straight into a pipe at grade and run under the yard to a curb outlet or a drain in the sidewalk. Find the outlet at the street. Run the hose into the downspout and confirm water comes out at the curb. If it doesn’t, the underground line is blocked with roots, silt or a collapsed section, and that’s a job for a drain snake or a plumber. Water that can’t get out backs up the downspout and floods the base of the wall.
If the underground drain is blocked and can’t be fixed before the rain, disconnect the downspout from the pipe and put a splash block under it. Water on the lawn is better than water against the slab.
4. Look at the outlets and extensions
Downspouts that don’t go underground should discharge onto a splash block or an extension that carries water at least a few feet from the foundation. Slab foundations, which are nearly every house built here since the 1950s, don’t have a basement to flood, but water pooling against the slab edge gets under it, erodes the fill, and works behind the stucco. Make sure extensions are attached and pointed away from the house, and that the splash block hasn’t been kicked out of place.
5. Check the hangers, seams and end caps
Walk the perimeter and look up. A gutter that’s pulling away from the fascia, sagging between hangers, or bowed outward has been holding wet debris and the weight is winning. Look at the corners and end caps for staining or drip marks, which means the sealant has failed. Look at the outside face for tiger striping, which is the black streak pattern that forms when gutters have been overflowing. That’s cosmetic, and gutter brightening takes care of it, but it’s also a diagnosis: those gutters have been overflowing regularly.
Signs your gutters need repair goes through what’s a quick fix and what’s a replacement.
6. Check the pitch
Gutters should run downhill toward the downspout, gently. If you saw standing water in step one, or if the hose water pooled instead of moving, the run needs to be re-pitched. This is common on older homes in the flat Valley where hangers have loosened over decades, and on homes that had a new roof put on and the gutters reinstalled by the roofer.
7. Look at the guards
If you have gutter guards, clear the top surface, check that every section is still seated and fastened, and look at the inside corners and valley points where debris piles against the mesh. A guard that’s lifted or dented lets debris under it, and then you’ve got a clogged gutter you can’t see. Gutter guard maintenance is a service we offer on its own for exactly this reason.
8. Look at the roof edge
While you’re looking at the gutters, look at what’s above them. Fronds and branches lying on the roof, debris piled behind a chimney, moss or plant growth at the tile edge. It’ll all be in the gutter after the first storm. Pull it now.
9. Make sure the rain chains and leader heads are clear
Some of the newer custom homes in Woodland Hills and the Conejo Valley use rain chains or decorative leader heads instead of a standard downspout. They clog like anything else. Leader heads in particular collect debris in the basin. Clear them.
10. Decide what you’re doing after the wind
Once you’re through the list, the house is ready for the first storm. It’s not necessarily ready for February. If you’ve got oaks, pines or eucalyptus, or if you’re in a spot like Newbury Park that catches the wind coming through the Conejo Grade, plan a second look after the first big Santa Ana event. Put it on the calendar now.
What a pro visit covers
A pre-season cleaning from us covers every item above. We clear the troughs and valleys, with a gutter vacuum wherever it can be used, flush all the downspouts, check underground drains where they exist, inspect hangers and seams, note any pitch or sag problems, and tell you what we found. If something needs repair, you’ll know before the rain, not during it.
Most of our customers handle this through the membership plans, which put the fall visit on the calendar automatically each year. It’s free to join and the more frequent plans cost less per visit. Otherwise, call (818) 913-1626 Monday through Saturday 7am to 7pm, or request an estimate. Property managers and HOAs can read about commercial service.