April Brings 67mm of Rain to Windsor. Here's Where It Goes If Your Eavestroughs Are Blocked.
- Kris Richardson
- Apr 9
- 4 min read
March in Windsor averages somewhere between 39 and 57 millimetres of rain. April pushes that to 67. May climbs higher. By July we're looking at 90 to 100 millimetres in a single month. If you're reading this - you know it's not going where it should.
That's not weather trivia. That's a volume problem — one that your eavestroughs either handle or don't.
If your gutters are still packed with last fall's leaves, cottonwood from the spring, and whatever compressed itself into the downspout over winter, they aren't handling it. They're redirecting it. Somewhere you don't want it to go.
The Part Nobody Tells You About April Rain
A lot of homeowners got the message in March. They read something, a neighbour mentioned it, they noticed the overflow during a heavy rain. A good number of them called me.
But plenty didn't — and now it's April, the rain has arrived in earnest, and the question is no longer theoretical.
Here's what happens when an eavestrough is full and it rains 67mm+ in a month: the water doesn't stop because there's nowhere for it to go. It finds another way to go. That usually means over the front edge — which is the visible problem, the one that stains your soffits and fascia board. But it will also go backward, toward the house, where it gets under the shingles, behind the drip edge, into the fascia itself.
Fascia rot is expensive. It's also invisible until it isn't. By the time you notice there's something wrong up there, you're into a huge problem.
One section of fascia being replaced is going to cost more than several years of gutter cleanings.
What a Blocked Downspout Actually Does
The eavestrough is only half the system. The downspout is the exit point — and it's where most blockages actually live.
Leaves and seedpods that cleared the trough get funnelled towards the downspout and either cover the opening or compact in the elbow. Add a freeze-thaw cycle or two over winter and that material can become a solid plug that is also slowly destroying the aluminum downspout. When spring rain hits a blocked downspout, the water backs up into the trough, overflows at the weakest point — usually a corner joint or end cap — and runs down the exterior of your home.
From there it pools at the foundation, or it finds the gap between the siding and the framing, or it soaks into the soil directly against the basement wall.
Most basement water problems aren't dramatic failures. They're the slow accumulation of a blocked downspout nobody checked for three years.
Why We Use a SkyVac — and Why It Matters
I use a SkyVac system for eavestrough cleaning. It's a vacuum extraction unit designed specifically for gutters — it pulls debris out rather than flushing it through or scooping by hand.
Here's why that matters to you: the SkyVac operates from the ground. I'm not on a ladder at your eaves. I'm not walking your roof. I'm not leaning over your soffit. The system reaches up to the gutter with a carbon fibre pole and extracts everything — leaves, packed debris, seed compaction — directly into a sealed collection tank.
There's no blowing debris across your yard. No flushing wet material down the downspout and hoping it clears. No mess left on the driveway.
After the extraction, I verify each downspout independently. If there's a blockage in the downspout itself, we address it. You don't get a "trough is clean, downspout is your problem" answer.
In most cases in South Windsor, LaSalle, Amherstburg, and through the older streets of Walkerville and Riverside, I can complete the job without setting foot on a ladder at all. Your landscaping stays intact. Your soffits don't get bumped. The job gets done properly the first time.
How Do You Know It Actually Worked?
Fair question. You can't see into your eavestroughs from the ground, and I'm not going to ask you to take my word for it.
I video and take photos before and after each job. Often I am taking video of sections while I'm cleaning. I have a GoPro mounted on the top of the vacuum pole. You don't have to trust me - you'll see for yourself.
When I complete an eavestrough job, I document the condition before and after using CompanyCam — photos tied to your address, not mixed into my personal camera roll.
You receive confirmation of the work. If there's anything I found that needs your attention — cracked mitre joints, a downspout pulling away from the wall, deteriorating fascia — I note it and show you. Last week I was able to send a client a photo of a hole in their brand new roof courtesy of the local squirrels. Having a pro at your home is always a good thing :-)
You're not paying for someone to tell you it's done. You're paying for documented confirmation that it is. "Proven, not promised"
If Your Eavestroughs Aren't on a Schedule, This Is the Year to Start
One cleaning a year — properly done in late fall after the leaves are down — handles most homes in Windsor-Essex. If you have significant tree coverage (cottonwood, silver maple, the large oaks common in Windsor, Amherstburg and LaSalle), twice a year makes sense: late fall and again in early summer after the leaves clear out.
The cost of a cleaning is a fraction of one fascia board replacement. It's a much smaller fraction of a foundation crack repair.
If you're not sure whether your eavestroughs need attention right now — or you've been meaning to get them looked at since March — this is the time to act. April rain is already here. May is heavier.
Richardson Clean provides eavestrough cleaning using the SkyVac vacuum extraction system throughout Windsor-Essex, including Windsor, LaSalle, Amherstburg, Tecumseh, and Kingsville. Fully insured. Ground-level operation. Every job documented.
