Gutter Cleaning Calgary — Roof Cleaning and Maintenance Services

As Calgary and Edmonton roofing contractors that care to educate our fellow homeowners, we wanted to share some information about roof cleaning and maintenance services, including gutter cleaning in Calgary, re-sealing worn out sealant, performing detailed roof inspections, and tree and branch trimming.

Read on to learn about the benefits of cleaning and maintaining your roof to maximize its longevity in protecting your home.

Roof-Ex Roofer Cleaning Gutters during Roof Replacement

Benefits of Cleaning your Gutters

A question we often get asked about is “How often do I need to clean my gutters?”.

Uncleaned gutter filled with leaves and debris

There is no exact time frame of when you should clean your gutters, as there are numerous factors that can cause it to need more or less cleaning. In general, we recommend getting a professional to check your roof at least once a year. Most homeowners opt to do a spring roof cleaning to clear away anything that has built up over the seasons.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, roof gutters (or eavestroughs) protect your home by directing rain and snowmelt away from the roof, which helps prevent leaks, rotting, and buildup of mold. Similar to how you use a vacuum to clean your floors and dump the dirt once its full, gutters can collect debris and get clogged and thus need cleaning too.

Gutter cleaning in action

There are numerous ways that your gutters can get clogged. If you have trees in your yard or neighbourhood, leaves can land in your gutters or get washed down from your roof when it rains. Dust and debris can settle on your shingles and get washed into the gutter from the rain too. Even granules from shingles — though newer shingles hold onto its granules more efficiently — can break off and be washed into the gutters, clogging it up.

As more matter accumulates in your eavestroughs, they can settle and become a hard-packed pile of mud and dirt, sitting for 5-10 years and blocking the ability of water to flow and exit through the downspouts like they’re supposed to.

Thus, getting someone to take a look at your gutters at least once a year or more can ensure your roof is efficiently getting rid of water and snowmelt. This maximizes the longevity of your roof and prevents the opportunity for leaks, rotting, and buildup of mold to occur (which can be quite the headache to identify and fix).

Re-sealing — Crucial Roofing Maintenance

Since we’re on the topic of cleaning and maintaining roofs, we’d like to share with you the importance of checking for the need to re-seal your roof.

There are multiple spots on roofs where sealant — a paste-like material that blocks air, water, and dust — is used to protect your home. Sealant wears out every 5 years or so, and should be checked by a professional if they need re-sealing to maintain the functionality of your roof.

Common places where sealant is used on roofs and may need re-sealing:

• Exposed fasteners on the capping

• Storm collars on the chimney vents

• Large chimneys with step flashing

• Exposed nails fastening down a vent

Exposed Fasteners on the Capping

• In the area where faces of the roof meet, capping is installed and nailed down. The final cap that is put on inevitably leaves 4 exposed nails as it is the upper-most layer in the area. Therefore, sealant is used to cover the exposed nails

Storm Collars on the Chimney Vents

• A chimney vent is a tall pipe that comes out from the basement furnace. The spot where it attaches to the roof has a gap where water can run down, so we wrap storm collars (a rim-like structure) around the pipe and use sealant to seal it, preventing leakage.

Large Chimneys with Step Flashing

• Many homes — especially older ones — have a chimney that’s put inside a big box or structure of bricks to make it look nicer. This is often a style choice from homeowners to make the chimney more aesthetically pleasing on their roofs. These big boxes need flashing (rectangular pieces for waterproofing) all the way around the chimney. Unavoidably, there are a few spots on the step flashing that are more susceptible to water getting in, which is where sealant would be used to prevent leaks.

Exposed nails on chimney with step flashing

Large Chimney with Step Flashing

Exposed Nails Fastening Down a Vent

• Every vent has 4 exposed nails that hold down the vent onto the roof. Sealant is also used on those exposed nails to ensure nothing gets through.

Exposed nails fastening down a black vent

Sometimes homeowners may ask why there are exposed nails on a roof. For cases like the capping and certain vents, it’s unavoidable that a few nails are exposed — this is completely okay and normal for roof installations. As long as they are sealed properly and checked every 5 years or so to ensure they are upkept, your roof should be efficiently protecting your home from leaks.

Gutter Cleaning in Calgary and Roof Maintenance Services — Our Roof Refreshment Package

There’s no better time to check if your roof needs some TLC than in spring for some spring cleaning action. At Roof-Ex, we understand that maintaining your roof is a priority to protect your home throughout the year. 

Therefore, we created a Roof Refreshment Package that bundles common maintenance services at an affordable price based on your home size. Included in this package are:

1. Inspection

   1. While we’re on your roof to do some cleaning, we’ll also take a look around and inspect the general status and longevity of your roof. This includes any damage to the shingles from UV/rain/ice, possible leak areas, unwanted rusting, and quick repairs that we can perform. If we identify any major repairs during the inspection, an estimate will be calculated and given to you.

2. Gutter cleaning

   1. All gutters will be cleaned of debris and inspected for possible damage.

3. Re-sealing

   1. Flashings, vents, and storm collars will be re-sealed, along with any nails that may be exposed due to wear and tear.

4. Tree trimming

   1. Damage can be caused by trees growing over or near the roof, especially on windy days from branch movement and from tree sap that can damage shingles over time. We will trim any tree branches away from the roof and from those that may end up in your gutters.

Our Roof Refreshment Package starts at $130 + GST depending on the size of your roof and its complexity. 

It’s time to give your home the care that it deserves. If you’re interested in our roof cleaning and maintenance services, inquire with our Calgary and Edmonton teams here and we’ll be in touch with you!