Premium Gutter Cleaning in Lake Balboa

Lake Balboa is a flat, central San Fernando Valley neighborhood that was part of Van Nuys until the city renamed it in 2007, named for the lake in the Sepulveda Basin. The housing is mostly postwar single-story stucco tract homes with composition shingle roofs, laid out on a straight grid between White Oak Avenue and the Van Nuys Airport. Additions and second stories have been added to plenty of them, which creates roof valleys and extra downspouts.

The blocks have mature street trees, and that canopy is the reason gutters here fill faster than the size of the houses would suggest. Jacarandas, ficus, liquidambar and magnolias line the blocks, and fan palms rise above the rooflines and drop long fibers that wrap around downspout inlets. There is no hill to worry about, but there is heat and wind: the Valley bakes the debris into a crust over summer, and fall winds add dust and roof grit on top. When the winter rain arrives, a clogged run on one of these low houses pours off the corner onto the walkway and stucco, and water pooling along the foundation is how many of these homes develop foundation and termite problems.

For Lake Balboa we recommend two cleanings a year, late spring and late fall, with a third visit for homes under heavy street trees.