Gutter cleaning in The Moorings.

The Moorings has mature trees over most of its lots and the long, low-pitch roofs that mid-century Naples homes were built with. A low-pitch roof moves debris toward the gutter slowly and then leaves it there, so troughs here fill with a dense mix of leaf litter and grit rather than the loose material that a steeper roof would flush through.

Our gutter cleaning hand-clears the packed layer out of every trough, flushes the downspouts until they run clear, and tests the full run before we leave. On the older systems common here we also check the hangers and seams while we are up there — decades-old aluminum with a season of wet debris sitting in it is where the sags and separations start.

The wide overhangs on these homes mean a spilling gutter runs down the soffit and fascia, which is what darkens them and starts the mold that then needs soft washing to clear. Getting the water into the downspout stops that at the source. More on the area in The Moorings.