Clogged gutters are the cheapest problem on your house to fix and one of the most expensive to ignore. When water can’t drain, it goes over the back edge instead: into the fascia, down the siding, against the foundation, and in winter, into the ice that pries at your lowest shingle courses. We clean gutters across Sun Prairie, Madison, and Dane County, and we bring a roofer’s eye up the ladder with us.
Why a roofing company cleans gutters
Because the gutter line is where roofs start to fail. Overflowing gutters soak fascia boards, rot the ends of roof decking, and feed the freeze-thaw ice that works on shingle edges all winter. Most homeowners only find out about edge damage when a stain shows up on the ceiling years later.
So while we’re up there clearing your gutters, we’re also looking at what they’ve been hiding: fascia condition, the drip edge, the first course of shingles, and how the downspouts are moving water away from the house. If something’s wrong, you get photos and a plain explanation, the same way we handle roof inspections.
What a cleaning includes
Every run scooped and cleared by hand, downspouts flushed and confirmed draining, debris bagged and hauled off your property, and a quick photo report of anything worth knowing about: standing water, sagging sections, failed seams, or early fascia rot. If the fall cleaning turns up a roof problem, leak repairs and flashing work are exactly what we do the rest of the week.
One honest boundary: we don’t repair or replace gutters themselves yet. If your gutters need more than cleaning, we’ll show you exactly what we found and what to ask a gutter company for, so you walk into that quote knowing what’s real.
Timing matters more than most people think
The cleaning that protects a Wisconsin house is the late-fall one, after the leaves are down but before the first hard freeze. Gutters that go into winter packed with wet leaves freeze into a solid block, and that block is the anchor ice dams build on. Spring earns second place: winter drops shingle grit, seed pods, and small branches that quietly choke the downspouts before summer’s storm season arrives.
We clean gutters in Sun Prairie, Madison, Cottage Grove, Marshall, and everywhere else we work. Request a cleaning or call, and if you’re booking for fall, call early. That window fills fast once the leaves turn.
Frequently asked questions
How much does gutter cleaning cost?
Pricing depends on house height, gutter length, and how packed the runs are. You get a firm price before we start, and it includes downspouts and a rinse to confirm everything drains.
How often should gutters be cleaned in Wisconsin?
Twice a year is the honest answer for most Dane County homes: late fall after the leaves are down, and spring to clear seed pods, shingle grit, and whatever winter left behind. Homes under mature trees sometimes need a third pass; new subdivisions without big trees can often stretch to once a year.
Do clogged gutters really cause ice dams?
They do not cause them (ice dams come from attic heat melting snow), but a gutter full of wet leaves freezes into a solid block that gives meltwater a place to pond and refreeze. Clean gutters will not prevent an ice dam on their own, but they take away its favorite anchor point at the roof edge.
Do you repair or replace gutters too?
Not currently. We clean them, and because we are roofers, we document what we see while we are up there: sagging runs, failed seams, bad pitch, rotted fascia. If something needs repair or replacement, you get photos and a straight recommendation to take to a gutter company, with no markup and no referral games.
What about gutter guards?
Good guards reduce cleaning frequency; none eliminate it, whatever the door-to-door pitch says. Fine debris, shingle grit, and seed pods still get through or mat on top, and guarded gutters are harder to inspect. If you have guards, an occasional check is still worth it.