You can usually spot an overflowing gutter without climbing anything. There's a strip of bare soil under one spot on the roofline, mud spattered a foot up the siding, and somewhere below it, a walk square or stoop corner sitting a little lower than it used to.
Gutters are a roofing topic, and we're a concrete company. But when gutters stop working, the concrete underneath usually pays for it. Here's why, when to clean in this climate, how to do it safely, and which guards are worth a look.
Where an Overflowing Gutter Actually Dumps Its Water
A working gutter delivers roof water to a few downspouts, where extensions can carry it away. A clogged one breaks that system three ways:
- It spills at the worst spots. Water overflows wherever the gutter is lowest or most crowded: inside corners, the bottom of roof valleys, sagging sections, and the stretch above a plugged outlet. Inside corners tend to sit right above a stoop, a walk, or the spot where the garage meets the house.
- It free-falls. Water going over the edge drops 10 to 20 feet, digs a trench along the drip line, and splashes mud onto the foundation.
- It skips your extensions. Extending downspouts doesn't help if the water never reaches them.
The volume doesn't change. Each inch of rain on 500 square feet of roof is about 310 gallons (the full math is in why downspout extensions matter). With the outlet packed with leaves, most of it goes over the front edge, often along just a few feet of gutter.
Flowing Gutters vs. Clogged Gutters: What Your Concrete Gets
| Gutters flowing | Gutters clogged | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the water lands | At the downspout outlets, ideally extended 6–10 feet out | Along the drip line, concentrated at corners and low spots |
| Slab edges under the roofline | Mostly dry | Washed out from the side, then undermined |
| The joint where a slab meets the house | Only gets what falls on the slab | Gets a curtain of roof water poured straight into it |
| Winter | Melt goes down the downspout | Leaves and ice freeze into a solid plug; melt spills over and refreezes on the walk |
| Foundation | Normal moisture | Saturated backfill pressing water toward the wall |
Signs Your Gutters Are Already Hurting Your Concrete
Walk around the house on a dry day and look for evidence that water has been coming off the roof in the wrong places.
| Sign | Where to look | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| A trench or bare strip in the soil or mulch | Directly under the roof edge | Water has been falling over the gutter there, not through it |
| Mud splashed on siding or the foundation | The bottom foot or two of the wall | Splash-back from overflow hitting bare ground |
| Dirty vertical streaks on the gutter's outside face | The front of the gutter, often near corners | Water and grime have been spilling over the front lip |
| Dark stains, moss, or green film on the concrete | Slab edges under the roofline | That spot stays wet long after the rest of the slab dries |
| A sunken corner or a tipped slab | Stoops, walks, and AC pads below inside corners and valleys | Overflow has washed soil out from under the edge |
| A gap under a slab edge | Walks that run alongside the house | Soil is gone from beside and under the slab |
| The same ice patch every winter | Walks and stoops under the roof edge | Melt is spilling over the gutter and refreezing |
| Plants growing in the gutter, or water standing in it days after rain | From the ground, or with binoculars | It's overdue, or the gutter has lost its slope |
Found a sunken spot? Step on its corners. A slab that rocks or sounds hollow when tapped has likely lost support underneath. See voids under concrete.
When to Clean Gutters in Northeast Wisconsin
It depends on your trees, but the calendar around here has a pattern, and it isn't the generic "spring and fall."
| When | What's coming down | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Late May–June | Cottonwood fluff, which disperses in late May or early June in the Green Bay area, and silver maple seeds, which ripen by early June and drop soon after | Clean once the helicopters and fluff are down, usually mid to late June |
| Summer | Twigs, leaves, and shingle grit after windstorms | Look after any big storm and make sure every downspout is flowing |
| Late October–November | Leaves | Clean once most of the leaves are down but before things freeze. Green Bay's normal November low is 28.9°F, so early November beats late. |
| December–March | Snow and ice | Stay off the ladder. Watch for icicles and overflow as clues, and pull roof snow with a roof rake from the ground. |
| April | Whatever winter left behind | Check from the ground once the snow is gone: sagging sections, gutters pulled loose by ice, downspouts knocked off their extensions |
Rules of thumb:
- Trees over the roof? Plan on at least two cleanings a year, maybe a third with big maples, oaks, or cottonwoods nearby.
- Pines and spruces? Needles drop all year and slip through a lot of guards. Check more often.
- No trees near the house? Once a year may do. Shingle grit still builds up in the outlets.
Cleaning Gutters Yourself Without Getting Hurt
A one-story gutter job is reasonable for a lot of homeowners. A ladder fall is not something you shake off. These ladder rules come from OSHA's portable ladder guidance, written for workers but sensible for anybody.
Setting the ladder
- Use the 4-to-1 rule. Put the base 1 foot out from the wall for every 4 feet of height to where the ladder rests. Resting at a roof edge 12 feet up, it should start 3 feet out.
- Extend it 3 feet above the edge if you plan to step onto the roof. Better yet, don't. Work from the ladder and move it often.
- Firm, level footing only. Never a chair, a cooler, or soft soil. Use a leveler on a slope.
- Don't rest it on the gutter. A loaded ladder can crush one. A stabilizer (standoff) holds it against the roof or wall instead.
- Look up before you raise it. Find the power line to your house, and keep metal ladders well away from it.
Climbing and working
- Keep three points of contact. Two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand, facing the ladder.
- Stay off the top three rungs of an extension ladder.
- Keep your body centered. If you have to lean to reach, climb down and move the ladder.
- Pick your day. Dry, calm, and above freezing. Wet rungs, frost, and wind are where ladder accidents start.
- Tell someone you're up there, or better, have them hold the base.
The cleaning itself
- Wear gloves. Gutter edges and hanger screws are sharp.
- Start at the downspout and work away from it, scooping into a bucket hooked to the ladder, so you don't push debris into the outlet.
- Clear the downspout. If water won't go down, flush it from the bottom with a hose or feed a plumber's snake from the top.
- Flush the run with a hose from the far end. A puddle that stays put means a sag or a hanger that let go.
- Check the extension at the bottom. Still attached, still pointing away from the house and past any concrete.
- Bag the debris for compost or yard waste. Northeast Wisconsin's stormwater rules prohibit washing material into storm drains, and it can draw a fine.
What to skip: pressure washers on a ladder (the kickback can push you off balance), walking a wet, steep, or mossy roof, and two-story gutters unless you're truly comfortable on a tall extension ladder. Gutter companies and roofers do this all day, and it's money well spent.
Gutter Guards Compared
Guards cut down on cleaning. None of them end it.
| Type | How it works | What still gets in or builds up | In winter | Upkeep | Relative cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snap-in screen (plastic or metal) | A grid over the gutter keeps big leaves out | Maple seeds, pine needles, and shingle grit slip through; leaves mat on top | Snow and ice can sit on top | Brush the top; clean underneath now and then | Low |
| Micro-mesh | Fine mesh on a frame lets water through and stops most debris | Pollen, cottonwood fluff, and grime can coat the mesh until water runs off it | Ice can form on the mesh | Brush or hose the mesh; check yearly | Moderate to high |
| Reverse-curve hood | Water follows a curved lip into a slot while debris slides off the front | Fine debris still enters the slot; heavy downpours can overshoot the curve | Ice can bridge the slot, and sliding snow can bend it | Hard to clean under; usually installed by a pro | High |
| Foam insert | Porous foam fills the gutter and water soaks through it | Seeds sprout in it; fine grit clogs the pores | Can stay soaked and freeze in place | Pull out and rinse; wears out over time | Low |
| Brush insert | A long bottle brush sits in the gutter and catches leaves | Leaves and seeds tangle in the bristles | Behaves much like an open gutter | Pull out, shake out, put back | Low |
Match the guard to your trees: screens handle big oak and maple leaves, while pines, cottonwoods, and silver maples call for micro-mesh. Look under any guard once a year, because debris that sneaks past builds up out of sight. And no guard stops an ice dam.
Ice Dams and Winter Overflow
Gutters don't cause ice dams. According to University of Minnesota Extension, ice dams form when there's snow on the roof, the upper roof surface stays above freezing, and the eaves stay below it. Heat escaping from the house is the main reason the upper roof warms, often through air leaking into the attic. Melt runs down, refreezes at the cold edge, and builds a ridge of ice that can back water up under the shingles.
Gutters do shape what happens next. One still packed with fall leaves freezes into a solid block, so on thaw days melt pours over the front onto the walk or stoop, refreezes overnight, and leaves a slab that's wet and salted all winter. What soaks in at the foundation hits frozen ground a few inches down and saturates the thin thawed layer under your slab edges.
What helps:
- Clean gutters before freeze-up, so there's an open channel at the first thaw.
- Use a roof rake from the ground to pull snow off the lower few feet of roof after big storms. Go easy; raking can damage shingles.
- Fix the heat loss. Air sealing and attic insulation are the long-term cure. A weatherization or insulation contractor can find the leaks.
- Don't chop ice out of a gutter from a ladder in January. You'll wreck the gutter and risk a fall.
- Sand the drip spots on walks instead of salting them twice a day. More in winter concrete care.
What Clean Gutters Can't Fix
Cleaning stops new damage, not old damage. If overflow already washed soil out from under a stoop, walk, or AC pad, the hollow is still there, and the slab will stay low or keep sinking.
To be clear: Rise & Shine doesn't clean gutters, install guards, or do roofing. Call a gutter company, a roofer, or a handy neighbor for that. We handle the concrete:
- Foam lifting raises sunken slabs and fills the hollows under them as it lifts, through 5/8" holes about the size of a dime. Cured foam is waterproof, so it won't wash out like the soil did. See how concrete lifting works.
- Joint and crack caulking closes the gap between the slab and the house, so overflow that lands on the concrete runs off instead of down the wall. See caulking where concrete meets the house.
Get the gutters handled first, or at the same time. Lifting a slab under a gutter that still overflows means paying to fix the same corner twice.