Start with the symptom
Downspout and Gutter Cleaning, Read From the Ground Up
Most downspout trouble shows up at ground level first. We start with what you have noticed, trace it up the water path to the cause, clear it, and prove the flow.
Customer reviews
What customers say
Came out and quoted my gutters the same day I requested it! Came out and cleaned my gutters and did some repair while they were up there for a reasonable price! Going to use them for my windows in the spring. Great service
Amazing! Sent in a request form on their website in the morning, heard back that afternoon, and booked for the next day. Very fast, reliable, and efficient.
They are efficient, hardworking, and reliable. I’ll definitely call them again for other services. Highly recommended!
Why us
Why customers love our service
And why you will get the best gutter cleaning service in Nanaimo!
Fast and efficient gutter cleaning
We turn up on the day we said, clear the whole run, and get off your property without stretching the job out.
Clear and quick communication
You get an answer when you call or text, a price before we start, and a straight account of what we found up at the roof edge.
The best gutter cleaning you have ever had
Consistent five-star reviews from the homeowners we work for.
1000+ happy customers
More than a thousand customers have had us out to clear their gutters.
- A chat about what you have seen in the rain before we start
- Gutters emptied first so nothing gets washed into a cleared pipe
- Outlets, goosenecks and mid-wall offsets cleared
- Every downspout flushed and watched at the base
- Lower roofs checked where an upper downspout empties onto them
- A plain account of any blockage below ground, and where it sits
Nobody looks at a downspout until something goes wrong at the bottom of one. The first sign is usually on the ground: a puddle that will not drain, a flowerbed cut in half by falling water, a damp patch on the crawlspace wall. So we read the system the way you meet it, from the ground up. Below are the symptoms people describe to us, roughly in the order they show up, and what each one usually means further up the water path.
Water bubbling up around the base
When a downspout drops into a pipe in the ground and water wells up out of the joint during a storm, the downspout above is often fine. The pipe below is not taking the flow. It may be packed with silt and roots, crushed, or simply never connected to anything that drains well.
This is where our work stops and a drainage contractor’s starts. We flush the downspout into the pipe and watch. Water that backs up straight away points to trouble close to the house. Water that drains for a moment and then rises suggests the line fills from further away. We tell you which, and which corner of the house it was.
A washed-out bed or a wet wall beside the downspout
Here the water is leaving the downspout but landing in the wrong place. An extension has been knocked off by the mower, a splash block has sunk out of sight in the bark mulch, or the shoe at the bottom is aimed straight at the foundation. On a Nanaimo hillside lot, the water from that one downspout can run along the uphill wall and straight into the lower floor.
We check each outlet at ground level and point out any that are dumping water against the house.
A drip from a joint halfway up the wall
Tall rear walls on split-level and hillside homes often have downspouts with an extra set of elbows partway down, to step around a window, a deck beam or a meter. Each offset is a narrow spot where debris can settle. A plug there backs water up to the joint above it, and it leaks out down the siding. Nests in a seldom-used downspout cause the same drip.
A gurgle, or a weak trickle in heavy rain
If a downspout sounds busy but delivers a thin stream at the bottom, the gooseneck under the eave is usually partly blocked. Those two tight bends under the roof edge catch whatever slides off the outlet. Bigleaf maple keys turn sideways and wedge there, and fir needles build up behind them until only a trickle gets past.
How it works
Getting Your Gutter Cleaning Booked
Simple from start to finish. Tell us about your home, get a straightforward quote, and let us handle the dirty work.
Tell us about your home
A few details are all we need.
Send us your address, number of storeys, and anything important about the property—trees, access, or a tricky roofline.
Get your quote
We price the job, not a generic house.
Size, height, roofline, access, and debris all matter. We'll give you a clear quote before we start.
We handle the dirty work
You don't need to climb the ladder.
We clear the gutters, clean the downspouts, flush the system, and take the debris with us.
You know what we found
We'll let you know if we spot something.
Loose bracket? Leaking seam? Drainage issue? We'll give you a straightforward heads-up.
That's it.
- You tell us about the house.
- We give you a clear quote.
- We clean the gutters.
- You get one less chore to worry about.
Ready to get your gutters cleaned? Get your quote and let us handle the dirty work.
Water pouring over one corner of the gutter
Now we are at the top of the path. When the gutter spills at one point, right above a downspout, the outlet itself is capped, often by a single wet maple leaf with needles packed behind it. Inside corners and the spot under a roof valley collect the most, because two slopes feed debris to the same place.
A lower roof that floods in every storm
Split-levels and houses built down a slope often have an upper roof whose downspout empties onto a lower roof. Everything that comes off the top, both the water and the needles, then lands on the lower roof and runs into its gutter. That lower gutter does double duty and fills twice as fast. We check where every upper downspout lands and clean both levels.
Ice in the downspout
Nanaimo’s winters are mild, but cold snaps do come. If a gooseneck or a buried pipe is holding standing water, a hard frost can freeze it solid, and expanding ice splits elbows and opens seams. Keeping the path clear before winter is the best protection.
Long runs across a rural yard
Out on bigger lots in Cedar, Errington or Coombs, roof water often travels a long way after it leaves the wall. A length of corrugated pipe carries it across the lawn, down to a gully, or out past the garden. Those surface runs sag between supports, collect needles at every dip and get crushed by tires. When a downspout on one of these properties backs up, the cause can be fifty feet from the house. We follow any run that lies on the surface, flush it, and tell you where the water stalls.
The work
On the job
How the visit runs
Reading goes bottom-up, but cleaning goes top-down. We empty the gutters first, so nothing new gets washed into a downspout we have just cleared. Then we clear outlets, goosenecks and offsets, by hand where we can reach and with water where we cannot. Finally, water goes in at the top of every downspout and we stand at the base until it runs at full flow. If it never does, you get a straight account of where it stopped.
Why choose us
Why choose us for gutter & downspout cleaning
Your symptom first
Tell us what you saw in the last storm. It usually points to one part of the system before we even unpack.
Proof at the bottom
A downspout is clear when water leaves the base as fast as it enters at the top. We wait for that.
Honest about the ground
We stop at the buried pipe. When the trouble is underground, you get a clear account of what we saw, not a guess.
Insured and WCB-registered
Insured and WCB-registered, and the job is covered by our guarantee.
Got questions?
Downspout questions
Can you clear the underground pipe my downspout runs into?
No. We clear the gutter and the downspout down to where it meets the ground, then flush water into the buried pipe to see whether it drains.
If it backs up, we tell you which downspout it was and how quickly it came back up, so a drainage contractor knows where to start.
Will flushing push water into my basement?
We watch the base the whole time. If a buried pipe is not taking the water, we stop pouring rather than keep going.
A short test is enough to tell an open pipe from a blocked one, and it puts in far less water than a single winter storm does.
Why does the gutter on my lower roof keep overflowing?
Check whether a downspout from the upper roof empties onto it. If so, the lower gutter is taking its own rain plus the upper roof's water and debris.
We clean both and check that the lower outlet can handle the extra load.
Do you take downspouts apart to clear them?
Sometimes. If a plug is stuck in a bottom elbow, removing that elbow is often quicker and gentler than forcing it from above.
We refit it before we leave and check that it is secure.
My downspout dumps water right beside the foundation. Is that okay?
It is better if the water is carried away from the wall. A missing extension or a splash block that has sunk into the bed is a common cause of damp crawlspaces.
We point out any outlet aiming at the house, and our gutter repair page covers refitting what has come loose.
Does a downspout need cleaning if the gutter above it is clean?
Often, yes. Debris that left the gutter months ago may be sitting in the gooseneck or an elbow partway down.
That is why we flush every downspout on the house, not only the ones under a full gutter.
How do I know which downspout is blocked?
Walk around the house during a steady rain. A blocked downspout is often quiet when it should be loud, and the gutter above it is the one spilling over.
Tell us which corner, and we start there.
Is gutter cleaning included, or only the downspouts?
Both, always. A clear downspout under a full gutter blocks again in the next storm.
For how the troughs themselves are cleared through the year, see eavestrough cleaning.
Gutter & Downspout Cleaning in Nanaimo and the mid-Island
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