Gutter Cleaning in Swansea: Plants and Roots Growing in Overdue Gutters Beside the Bush ($330)

Nov 2

2 min read

Nancy has lived in her Swansea home for more than 30 years. It's a single-storey brick house with a metal roof, and it's surrounded by bush. Her gutters were overdue for a clean and overflowing: grass was hanging over the edge and seedlings had taken root in them.

The job at a glance

Customer: Nancy
Location: Swansea (Lake Macquarie)
Property: Single-storey brick home surrounded by bush
Roof type: Corrugated metal
Problem: Overflowing gutters with grass, seedlings and roots growing in them
Service: Gutter vacuum cleaning
Price: $330
Result: Gutters emptied and the downpipe outlet open

The problem

You could see it from the yard. Dry grass was hanging out of the gutter over the windows.

Dry grass hanging out of the gutter of a single-storey brick home with a metal roof under tall trees, Swansea — Before: grass hanging out of the gutter

Around the house, plants were growing straight out of the gutters.

Seedling and grass growing out of a gutter beside bushland, with the gutter vacuum pole in place, Swansea — Before: a seedling growing out of the gutter

Up close, the gutters were packed with leaves, with a eucalypt seedling rooted in the middle of them.

Leaves packed in a metal roof gutter with a eucalypt seedling growing out of it, Swansea — Before: leaves and a seedling in the gutter

When gutters stay full for long enough, the leaves break down into soil and plants root into it. What came out of Nancy's gutters wasn't loose leaves but clumps of soil and mats of roots.

Clump of soil and roots lifted out of a gutter on the end of the vacuum pipe, Swansea — A clump of soil and roots lifted out of the gutter

Long mat of roots and soil pulled out of a gutter hanging from the vacuum pipe, Swansea — A long mat of roots pulled out of the gutter

What Turbovac did

Mark vacuumed out the gutters, pulled out the plants and root mats, and cleared the downpipe outlets. Turbovac works from the ground wherever possible, with ladders and harness where access needs it.

The result

Metal roof gutter emptied after vacuum cleaning, Swansea — After: the gutter emptied

Gutter cleared with the downpipe outlet open after cleaning, Swansea — After: the downpipe outlet open

What it cost

This job was $330, quoted up front. Standard homes start from $250; the price depends on the size of the home and what needs clearing.

Living near the bush?

Homes backing onto bush fill their gutters faster than most, and full gutters are fuel close to the roof in fire season. If yours haven't been done in a while, call Mark on 0431 103 323 or visit turbovac.com.au for a fixed-price quote.

Related: see our Lake Macquarie gutter cleaning page for more local jobs.