What Wagga Wagga does to a gutter
Summer heat
Summer afternoons average about 30% humidity, 29% in January, and the early 2009 heatwave ran 13 days straight over 38 °C. Leaf litter left in a gutter through that becomes exactly the dry fuel embers look for.
Fires to the south-east
The Pulletop fire burnt over 9,000 hectares of farmland about 30 km south-east of the city in 2006, though no homes were reported lost. If you're on Wagga Wagga City Council's bush fire prone land map, gutters cleared before summer are the first step the RFS asks for.
Rain in bursts
The AMO averages 571.5 mm a year, but the record day dropped 110.2 mm, beating 104.1 mm from 1966. A gutter half full of dry leaves can't carry that, and the overflow goes into the eaves.
1960s suburbs
Housing spread to Tolland and Lake Albert in the 1960s. Asbestos cement gutters are listed among old roofing products, and homes from before 1990 probably contain some asbestos, so don't scrape or hose old fibro gutters yourself.
Winter fog and frost
July has the most rain days, 13.6 on average, and fog and heavy frosts are common. Shaded gutters that stay wet through those months are where sludge and moss build up and choke the outlets.
A Wagga gutter clean should include
- Eaves gutters and valleys cleared, with the debris bagged and taken away
- Every downpipe flushed, and any blockage found and cleared
- Brackets and sags checked, since the NCC wants gutters to fall at least 1:500 so water doesn't pond
- Rust spots or holes pointed out, with photos
- Any gutters that look like old fibro noted and left alone until tested
Questions for a Wagga Wagga gutter cleaner
- Can you book me in before summer and again before winter?
- Will you flush the downpipes and check they're not blocked further down?
- If any gutters look like fibro, what will you do?
- Are the guards you fit non-combustible?
Our call
We'd clean twice a year in Wagga: late spring, before the heat, and late autumn, before the July rain. If you back onto bush on the edge of the city, the spring clean matters most. On a 1960s or 1970s home, we'd check the gutters aren't fibro before anyone starts. More in gutter cleaning.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.