Gutter & Roof Care Blog
Plain answers about gutters, gutter guards, roof moss, washing and fire-season prep for Sonoma County homes, including two tips straight from Dave.
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What will you find on the Nor-Cal Maintenance blog?
Answers to the questions homeowners ask us most, written for houses in Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties: when to clean gutters, which gutter guard suits your trees, what drives the cost, how embers and gutters mix in fire season, and what moss does to a roof. Two posts come straight from Dave’s own expert tips.
Gutter guardsChoosing Gutter Covers: Debris Type and Roof Pitch Come FirstStart with what falls into your gutters, then look at how steep the roof is. Those are the two considerations Dave Stankas, owner of Nor-Cal Maintenance, walks through in his Diamond Certified expert video on choosing gutter covers. Match a cover to both and it has a real chance of working. Miss either one and you can end up with a clogged cover, or rain sailing right past the gutter. Here's what he means, and how it plays out on Sonoma County houses.Read it
Washing and windows4 Tips for Hiring a Pressure Washing Company, from Dave StankasCheck references, find out how long the company has been in business, ask how they'll wash each surface, and hire for experience. Those are the four tips Dave Stankas, owner of Nor-Cal Maintenance, gives in his Diamond Certified expert video on hiring a pressure washing company. Dave started out washing windows door to door in Healdsburg in 1984, and pressure and soft washing are now part of what his crews do. Here is each tip, with the questions worth asking.Read it
Gutter guardsTypes of Gutter Guards Compared: Mesh, Screens, Foam, Brush and MoreMost gutter guards fall into one of seven types: mesh, micro-mesh, screens, expanded metal, surface-tension (reverse-curve) hoods, foam inserts and brush inserts. Each one keeps some debris out and lets some in. Which one suits a house depends mostly on what your trees drop and how your roof is built. This guide compares them plainly, with no rankings, so you can see how each behaves under the redwoods, oaks and pines common around Sonoma County.Read it
Gutter guardsGutter Guard Installation Cost: What Sets the Price on Your HomeGutter guard installation cost comes down to your house: how many feet of gutter there are and how high they hang, the roof above them, the cover your trees call for, and whether the gutters need work first. That's why a fair price only comes after someone looks. This post walks through each factor, explains how Nor-Cal puts a quote together for gutter guard installation, and lists questions worth asking any installer.Read it
Wildfire seasonEmber-Resistant Gutter Guards: Gutters, Embers and Zone 0An ember-resistant gutter guard is a noncombustible cover, usually metal, that keeps leaves and needles from collecting where wind-blown embers can land. It helps by taking fuel away from the roof edge. It doesn't make a house fire-safe, and it still needs upkeep. Here's what CAL FIRE, state law and the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code say about gutters, and where a cover fits in your fire-season prep.Read itGutter cleaningGutter Maintenance in Sonoma County: When, Why and HowClean Sonoma County gutters in the fall, before the steady rain begins, and again later in the season if big trees hang over the roof. That one habit protects the fascia, the foundation and the roof edge, and it takes fuel off the house before the next fire season. This guide covers timing, what goes wrong when gutters get skipped, what a proper cleaning looks like, and how to do it yourself without getting hurt.Read it
Roofs and mossRoof Moss in Santa Rosa: What It Does and How to Get Rid of ItMoss should come off a roof once it's thick enough to see from the ground, and it should come off gently. Left in place, it holds rainwater against the shingles all winter and slowly pries up their edges. In Santa Rosa, shaded roofs under oaks and redwoods can stay damp for months, which is exactly what moss needs. Here's what it does, why it grows where it does, why pressure is the wrong answer, and how to keep it from returning.Read it
Washing and windowsHow to Clean Window Screens: A Step-by-Step GuideTo clean a window screen, take it out, brush or vacuum off the dry dust, wash both sides with mild soapy water and a soft brush, rinse gently with a hose, let it dry, and put it back in the window it came from. For most houses that's an afternoon's work with things already in the garage. Below is each step, plus how to spot a screen that needs repair instead of a wash.Read it
Gutter cleaningRainy Season Checklist for the Outside of a Sonoma County HomeBefore the first big storm, walk around the house and check seven things: the gutters, the downspouts, where the water lands, the roof as seen from the ground, moss, the trees overhead, and the vents and drains. Most of it takes an hour with binoculars and a hose. If you'd rather have it handled every year, that's what our Peace of Mind Program is for.Read itTalk to Dave's team
Rather have someone look at it?
Call (707) 940-7875. We’ll come out, look at the gutters and roof, and answer your questions.