Plan on two visits, one in spring and one late in fall. The fall visit matters most here because anything left in the trough freezes solid and turns a drainage problem into an ice problem. Spring clears what came down over winter and lets you see what the ice actually did to the seams and hangers.

Twice a year covers most homes. Lots with mature oak and maple overhead often need a third pass in late November, after the last leaf drop but before anything freezes. If you are emptying troughs more often than that, the problem is usually pitch or an undersized downspout rather than the leaf itself.

Heat escaping through the roof melts snow at the ridge, the meltwater runs down and refreezes at the cold eave, and the ridge of ice that builds there holds the next melt behind it. Full or poorly pitched gutters make it worse by giving the ice a place to anchor. Clearing the trough before the first hard freeze is the cheapest thing you can do about it.

It depends on what is above the roof and what the pitch is. Under heavy oak and maple canopy, a good screen or micro-mesh cuts cleanings back sharply. On a steep roof that already sheds well, guards can shed water straight over the trough in a downpour and cost you more than they save. We say which one you have before quoting the work.

Sectional gutter comes in lengths that are joined on site, and every joint is a seam that can open as the metal moves through freeze and thaw. Seamless is rolled to the length of the run on site, so the only joints are at corners and outlets. On long straight runs the difference in how long the system stays watertight is substantial.