Roof and gutter cleaning in Melbourne gets booked as two jobs and done as one, and there is a good reason for that. Almost nothing in your gutter fell into it from above. It landed on the roof first, dried out, broke up, and washed down into the gutter with the next bit of rain. Clean the gutters and leave the roof loaded with leaf litter and moss, and you have bought yourself a few weeks. The next southerly puts most of it back.
So when we quote roof and gutter cleaning, we are talking about the whole path water takes: the tiles or sheets, the valleys, the gutter line, then down the pipe and away from the house.
Where the debris actually comes from
Gum trees are the worst offenders around Melbourne. They drop bark, twigs, hard little nuts and leaves that curl into shapes which pack tight and hold water. Elms and plane trees in the older inner suburbs drop everything at once in autumn. Pine needles are the quiet killer: they slip through most gutter guards and knit into a mat that water cannot get through.
All of that sits on the roof surface first. On a low pitch it barely moves. On a steep tiled roof it slides down into the valleys and the gutter within a season. If nobody clears the roof, the gutter clogs again and again no matter how well the gutter cleaning was done.
Valleys are where roofs leak
A valley is the internal corner where two roof planes meet, and it carries more water per metre than anything else up there. It is also the first place debris collects. A blocked valley does not overflow into the garden the way a gutter does. It backs up under the tiles, gets in behind the sarking and runs into the ceiling, and the first you know about it is a stain on a bedroom ceiling after a long wet week.
Valleys need clearing by hand and flushing out. It is the part of the job most people cannot see from the ground and the part that does the most damage when it is skipped.
Moss, lichen and the shaded side
The south side of most Melbourne roofs stays damp for months. Moss takes hold in the joints between tiles, lichen bonds onto the surface, and both hold water against the roof instead of letting it run off. Moss also breaks off in clumps and goes straight into the gutter, which is the other reason a moss covered roof blocks its gutters faster than a clean one.
Moss is not something you scrape off with a broom. It comes off with a treatment and a low pressure rinse, which is a separate job from clearing. If the roof needs that, it needs roof soft washing, not a pressure washer. High pressure on a tiled roof drives water up under the laps and strips the surface off older tiles.
Tiled roofs and Colorbond behave differently
On terracotta and concrete tiles, the risk is breakage and foot placement. Tiles crack under a boot in the wrong spot and cracked tiles leak, so the crew works off ladders and roof ladders and stays off the field where possible. Older terracotta with the glaze worn off holds moss much more readily than newer tiles.
Colorbond sheds debris better and there is nothing to crack, but it gets slippery when it is damp and a mistake up there has nowhere to stop. It also shows what has been sitting on it: leaf litter left against a sheet for a couple of seasons leaves a stain and, where the coating has been damaged, the start of rust. Nobody should be walking a wet metal roof at any pitch.
What we check while we are up there
Access is the expensive part of any roof work, so when the crew is already set up and harnessed on, it makes sense to look at everything at once. On a roof and gutter clean we clear the gutters by hand, flush the downpipes, clear the valleys, and while we are there we look at:
- Cracked, slipped or chipped tiles, and the state of the ridge capping and pointing.
- Rust starting in the gutter line, the valleys or a Colorbond sheet.
- Gutter brackets pulling away from the fascia, usually from years of wet debris sitting in the gutter.
- Downpipes that drain slowly, which means a blockage below the gutter.
- Moss and lichen build up, and whether it needs treating now or can wait.
- Overhanging branches worth cutting back before next autumn.
We take photos of anything worth knowing about and send them through. We do not do roof repairs, so there is nothing in it for us to invent a problem. If a tile is cracked you will want a roof plumber, and it is better to hear about it in March than in July.
Doing both in one visit
Two visits means two setups, two lots of travel and two lots of height gear. One visit means the crew is on the roof once and everything downstream of the roof gets sorted in the same session. It costs less than booking the roof one month and the gutter cleaning the next, and the result lasts longer because you are not dropping fresh debris into gutters that were just cleared.
Safety is the other half of it. Every time somebody goes up, that is another setup, another ladder, another chance for something to go wrong. Our team is work at heights certified and the business is public liability insured, and the fewer trips onto a roof it takes to get the whole job done, the better for everyone.
Timing wise, most houses in Melbourne want this done in late autumn once the deciduous trees have finished dropping, and again in early spring before the storm season. Under gums, more often than that.
Questions we get asked
How much does it cost to have a roof professionally cleaned in Melbourne?
It depends on roof size, pitch, material and how much moss is on it, and on whether the job is a clear out or a full soft wash. A clear and flush is a fraction of the cost of treating a roof covered in lichen. We quote it free, often from photos, so there is no need to guess.
How much should you expect to pay for gutter cleaning?
Enough to cover an insured, height certified crew clearing the gutters by hand and taking the debris away. Storeys, gutter length and how full they are move the number more than anything else. Adding the roof to the same visit costs less than a separate booking.
How much does it cost to get gutters cleaned in Australia?
Prices vary by city, access and how bad the gutters are, so a national average tells you very little about your house. Get a quote on your own roof.
Can I just clean the gutters and leave the roof?
You can, and on a house with no overhanging trees and a clean roof surface it is fine. Under gums or on a shaded roof carrying moss, you will be doing the gutters twice as often. That is the trade off.
If your gutters are due and the roof has not been looked at in years, get them quoted together. Send us photos from the ground and we will come back with a price, or read what is included on our gutter cleaning Melbourne page first. Seven days a week, right across the bayside, southern suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula. Call 03 8682 8767.