October 13, 2026 • 4 min read
You probably don’t think about your gutters very often. Until they’re overflowing.
Your gutters, or eavestroughs, do one fairly important thing: they collect water from your roof and direct it away from your home.
When leaves, twigs and other debris block that path, water has to go somewhere. And with a Toronto winter around the corner, a clogged gutter is one fall chore worth dealing with sooner rather than later.
For most Toronto and GTA homes, fall and spring are the two key times to check them.
CMHC’s home maintenance schedule puts eavestrough work in both seasons. In fall it lists cleaning leaves from the eavestroughs and roof and testing the downspouts for proper drainage. In spring it lists checking for loose joints, clearing obstructions and making sure water flows away from your foundation.
Fall is the one people notice, because of one obvious culprit:
Leaves. Lots of them.
If your house is surrounded by mature trees, one pass may not be enough. It is worth looking again once the last of the leaves have come down.
1. You want water moving away from your home
Your gutters and downspouts are there to move rainwater and melting snow away from your exterior walls and foundation. Properly installed and maintained, they help reduce the risk of water damage and flooding around your home. Clogged, that drainage system cannot do its work.
2. Winter makes existing problems worse
A gutter packed with wet leaves in October is not going to improve when Toronto temperatures drop. Once freezing weather arrives, snowmelt and water can freeze around the edge of the roof.
Natural Resources Canada describes ice dams as “large masses of ice that collect typically on the lower edge of a roof and in the gutters”. Melting snow running down the roof meets that ice, backs up, and can get under the shingles and into the attic. Read their guidance on roofs and attics.
Clearing your gutters will not solve every cause of ice dams. Natural Resources Canada points to attic insulation and air leakage as the bigger factors, since a warm attic is what melts the snow in the first place. But keeping the drainage path clear is still part of getting your exterior ready for winter.
3. Clogged downspouts send water where you don’t want it
Cleaning the trough itself is only half of it. Your downspouts also need to be clear enough to carry water away from the house.
Watch where the water exits. You don’t want it collecting right beside your foundation. The federal Flood Ready fall checklist lists clearing leaves from eavestroughs, downspouts and drains, and CMHC’s spring checklist says to make sure water flows away from your foundation.
You don’t need to climb a ladder to spot a problem. Walk around your home during or shortly after rainfall and look for:
If you’re seeing any of these, don’t wait for the first snowfall to investigate.
For a single-storey home with safe, easy access, some homeowners handle basic gutter cleaning themselves.
Working at height changes things quickly, though. If you need an extension ladder, have to reach awkward roof areas, or are working around steep sections of the property, someone with the right equipment is usually the safer option. Don’t do it alone either, and CMHC suggests considering a qualified handyperson for the maintenance you would rather not take on yourself.
A good pre-winter check goes beyond scooping out leaves. Make sure:
If you’ve had recurring overflowing or drainage trouble even after cleaning, there may be a larger gutter, downspout or grading problem worth investigating.
Toronto fall weather doesn’t last forever. Once the leaves finish dropping and winter starts moving in, cleaning gutters becomes colder, harder and more dangerous.
Checking them now means one less thing to worry about when snow and freezing temperatures arrive. Gutters are the first item on our fall home maintenance checklist for a reason.
Don’t want to spend your weekend on a ladder? Book a verified local Pro through OnCallable, see your price upfront and get your gutter cleaning taken care of before winter.
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