A dry-climate trap
Because it rains rarely here, gutters get forgotten — and then the season's first real storm arrives on a system off the Pacific and dumps a month of water in a weekend. Gutters that spent summer collecting eucalyptus bark, pine needles, and wind-blown grit overflow at the corners, sheet water down the stucco, and dump it against the foundation exactly where you do not want it. The staining alone costs more to fix than years of cleanings.
What a real cleaning includes
Scooping the troughs is half the job. The other half is the downspouts — flushed with a hose until water runs free at the bottom, because a clean gutter feeding a plugged downspout still overflows. The visit ends with a flow test, resecuring any hangers the debris weight pulled loose, and a note about anything — sagging runs, rusted seams, a low spot holding water — that deserves attention before it deserves replacement.
Timing beats frequency
Once a year is enough for most homes if it is the right once: late fall, after the trees have dropped and before the storm door opens. Homes under heavy eucalyptus or pine earn a second pass in spring. Tying the cleaning to the calendar — not to the first ceiling stain — is the whole trick.
About screens and guards
Guards cut the scooping but do not end maintenance; grit and needle fragments still find their way in, and the guards themselves need clearing. They make sense over heavy tree cover and are a shrug elsewhere. Honest answer either way, after a look at your roofline.