Gutter Cleaning in Brandwood End

Cemetery leaf in November and moss off concrete tiles

Leaf is the obvious half and it is sharply seasonal here. The cemetery canopy comes down through late October and November and it arrives in quantity over a few weeks. The second half is moss. Concrete tile roofs of this era hold moss on the shaded slope, and it washes into the run all year as a wet silt that beds down under the leaves and holds standing water. Third, where the water goes matters, because a downpipe on a Brandwood End semi generally discharges onto the driveway or into a gully beside it, and that is what turns into a sheet of ice in January.

• Streets bordering Brandwood End Cemetery, taking a leaf load the housing type would never predict
• A short, heavy drop through late October and November, with little warning
• Moss shedding off shaded concrete tile roof slopes and settling as silt beneath the leaf layer
• Conservatory gutters along the back of the house, lower and quicker to block than the main run
• Downpipes discharging onto a driveway or the gully beside it, where an overflow becomes a winter hazard

Leaf and moss silt lifted by vacuum from the drive

Everything comes out through a pole-mounted vacuum worked from the ground, so no ladder is footed on a driveway or leant against pebbledash. We lift the moss silt as well as the leaf, because on these roofs a run cleared of leaves alone is blocked again by midwinter. Downpipes are then flushed and watched into the gully to confirm they take the water. The conservatory run is included in the same visit. Anything we find, a sagging length, a failed bracket, a joint dripping onto the drive, is photographed and shown to you.

• Pole vacuum from ground level, with nothing resting on pebbledash, render or fascia
• Moss silt lifted as well as the leaf layer, since the silt is what holds standing water
• Downpipes flushed and watched into the gully, because a clear gutter above a blocked pipe still overflows
• The conservatory gutter emptied within the same visit, not billed as a second call

More detail on the equipment and the order of work: gutter cleaning across Birmingham.

Two clears a year beside the cemetery

The roads that really warrant two visits are those on the cemetery boundary and the tree-lined roads towards Allens Croft Road. The sheltered interior streets between them are usually fine on one, and we will tell you which group you fall into when we look, since one clear that works is better than two that are not needed. Access is simple on these semis: a drive to park on, a side gate to the rear, and no need for anybody to be home so long as the gate is unbolted. We are about eighteen minutes out from Selly Oak, so outside the late autumn rush a slot within the week is usually possible.

Run length, height and fill on a B14 semi, and why the second visit is lighter

What we charge for is the length of the run, the working height, and the volume actually sitting in it. A standard semi is a modest job, and the second visit within a year costs less than the first because there is less to take out. The number climbs when a run has been left long enough for seedlings to root in it, which happens faster than people expect on the cemetery-side streets. Conservatory guttering is part of the price, never an addition. Where two neighbouring houses book together, both can be done on the same visit, which is worth raising with next door if their trees are what fills yours.

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Twice a year on the cemetery boundary, once on the interior roads

Twice a year on the cemetery boundary streets: once in late November after the drop has genuinely finished, and once in late spring after the blossom and seed. Once a year is enough on the sheltered interior roads, and late November remains the right month for that as well. Booking in September mostly buys you the same job twice over, because most of what is going to come down has not come down yet.