Are There Gutters That Don’t Need Cleaning? (Explained)

No, there are no gutters that don’t need cleaning. There are types of gutters that have a hooded design that lets water pass through but not leaves and other debris but these gutters will still require regular maintenance and cleaning but not as often as other types of gutters.

Do all gutters need to be cleaned?

Our gutters play an important role in our homes. That’s because these accessories are the ones responsible for catching water and debris coming from the roof of our homes and then relocates the water properly so that you don’t have to be bothered by water that is falling at the sides of your roof or your home.

If you must know, without a gutter, the water falling from the roof can seep into the basement or even damage your home. And that is why gutters are very important.

On top of how gutters are important, there is also a need to make sure that your gutters are regularly cleaned. This is true during the fall season whenever leaves start falling at a rapid rate and then make their way to your gutter.

Aside from that, any kind of debris or insect coming from your roof can easily make its way to your gutters.

These leaves and debris will pile up in your gutters thereby blocking the passage of the water that your gutters should be moving.

That said, any expert will recommend that you should always clean your gutters and that many gutters need to be cleaned. And the recommended number of times that gutters should be cleaned is a minimum of two—one at the end of fall and the other at the beginning of spring.

For those who live in places with plenty of trees or if your home is surrounded by trees, it is recommended that you clean your gutters more often than twice a year because of how the falling leaves can find themselves in your gutters and then block them.

Of course, the reason all gutters need to be cleaned is that all gutters will eventually have leaves and other types of debris taking up the pathway of water and even clogging the drains where the water should be able to pass through smoothly.

It may seem like it’s a tedious task to regularly clean gutters, but you have to understand how important gutters are to your home.

Water is the natural enemy of any kind of home because excess moisture in a home can easily damage the entire house.

You don’t want water building up in your roof because this can lead to unwanted ceiling leaks. Water can cause the wood in your home to rot. And you certainly don’t want your home to have excess moisture because insects and mold can easily live off of the excess moisture and cause problems in your home.

That said, a clean gutter is your first line of defense against water that can possibly cause damage and issues to your home.

So it is important for many gutters to be cleaned regardless of whatever their design may be or whatever their manufacturers say they are.

Are there gutters that don’t need cleaning?

In line with what we said that all gutters need to be cleaned regardless of their design, there are actually some manufacturers that market their designs as gutters that don’t need to be cleaned.

For you to understand why they say that these gutters don’t need to be cleaned, it is important to look at their design.

Gutters that are marketed to require no cleaning or proper maintenance actually have hooded designs. The hood doesn’t cover the entire gutter but leaves a small space where the hood will allow water to slide through so that the gutter still catches the water. And the is actually too narrow for most types of debris to pass through.

That said, such hooded gutters are said to require no cleaning precisely because of how they are designed to keep debris such as leaves out of the gutter. So, now that you know how these gutters work, does that really mean that they don’t require regular cleaning? Not exactly.

Even if a gutter may have a hooded design that should be able to keep larger debris out of the gutter, that doesn’t mean that they are entirely debris-proof. As narrow as the space between the hood and the gutter might be, it could still allow smaller leaves to actually pass through and get into the gutter.

There are also other types of debris that can also get through that space. And let’s not forget about the insects that can find their way into the gutter and make a home there due to how the hood actually acts as a shelter for them.

As such, regardless of how they may be marketed as gutters that don’t require cleaning, these hooded gutters still need to be cleaned.

The only caveat here is that they probably don’t require to be cleaned as often as other gutters do due to the very fact that they make it harder for debris to clog up the gutters.

So, while these gutters aren’t exactly what they say they are in the sense that you would still need to clean them, the good part about them is that they are less likely to allow debris to clog up the pathway of water quickly. This means that you might only need to clean such gutters once or twice a year.

Of course, regular maintenance is also a requirement here because you would have to make sure that these gutters are not only clean but are properly maintained as well.

There is no such thing as a gutter that is hassle-free as all gutters need to be cleaned or maintained properly regardless of what their designs may be.

Is it bad to not clean gutters?

We have been stressing throughout this entire article that it is very important for you to make sure that you do your part in cleaning and maintaining your gutters.

Your gutters are actually doing their part when it comes to keeping your home free from excess water and moisture but it is also your job to make sure that these gutters are clean enough so that they could actually do their job. And there are plenty of reasons why you need to clean your gutters.

First off, a clogged gutter will steadily allow water to build up to the point that the water will eventually find its way to your basement walls. This can lead to basement flooding, bad odors, and mold infestation.

Insects can also easily infest your home when there is excess moisture in your gutters. That’s because plenty of insects can live off of the dirty water that can be found in the gutters. As such, expect your home to be full of pests if you don’t clean your gutters.

Finally, the wooden parts of your home will end up rotting due to the excess moisture building up in the gutters. When the water overflows from the gutters and makes its way to the walls of your home, expect that the wood of your home will rot and probably put your home at risk of structural damage.

Conclusion

All that said, there is no arguing against the fact that all gutters need to be cleaned regardless of what their design may be.

Gutter cleaning and maintenance is an integral part of a homeowner’s job because of how important gutters are to your home.

So, instead of looking for gutters that don’t need cleaning, it should be better if you actually properly plot when you should be cleaning your gutters. That way, you wouldn’t find gutter cleaning a hassle because you have already set aside a proper time and date to clean them.