Gutter cleaning Atherton

Clearing Atherton roofs that drain into pipes, carts and the Channel

Atherton gutters fill under oaks the Town protects, and what comes out of them has a set route: into the green yard carts GreenWaste Recovery gives every home, up to two of 96 gallons, which go to the curb even where a household pays for backyard service. On many rebuilt houses the downspout does not end at a splash block. It feeds a buried leader tied into a site drainage system, so leaves left in the trough travel underground.

Yard trimmings carts
Up to two 96-gallon green carts per home at no extra charge
Heritage oak size
Valley, coast live or blue oak 15.2 inches across at 54 inches
Gas leaf blowers
Banned under Municipal Code Chapter 8.16 from July 1, 2024
Trees the Town keeps
Town Center, Holbrook-Palmer Park, medians, part of Middlefield
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  • Rules on this page checked against 13 public sources, October 2026
Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton
Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Permits and local rules

Four Town documents that reach a gutter visit

  1. Heritage trees, Chapter 8.10

    No one may remove a heritage tree without a permit, and no one may disturb or damage one, a term the chapter spells out: excessive pruning, topping, cutting, girdling, trenching, compaction and screwing anything into the tree. Excessive pruning is allowed only when the Town Arborist approves it before the work starts, with the amount set by the tree's species, age, health and site, and pruning must follow ANSI A300 Part 1. Applications to remove a heritage tree are filed with the Building Department.

    Source: Town of Atherton Municipal Code, Chapter 8.10 (athertonca.gov)

  2. Most trees here belong to the owner

    The Town maintains public trees in only four places: the Town Center, Holbrook-Palmer Park, the Town's medians, and the northbound side of Middlefield Road between Ringwood Avenue and Marsh Road. Every other tree is the responsibility of the property owner or the adjacent owner, which leaves roadside trees elsewhere in town with the household. The Town Arborist does not consult on private property and refers owners to private tree companies, while a dead or dangerous tree by a street can be reported through SeeClickFix.

    Source: Town of Atherton Building Department (athertonca.gov)

  3. Gas leaf blowers off the property

    Atherton amended Chapter 8.16 of its Municipal Code, the noise chapter, to ban gas leaf blowers starting July 1, 2024, a step the Town links to the state's ban on selling new gas-powered small off-road engines. Blowing out gutters and roof valleys here therefore takes an electric or battery blower, or a scoop and a bucket. For landscapers and other small businesses switching over, the Town points to California's CORE program for electric equipment.

    Source: Town of Atherton Sustainability (athertonca.gov)

  4. Grading and drainage plans and roof leaders

    The Building Department's Grading and Drainage Checklist, effective July 1, 2023, asks permitted plans to show where site drainage discharges, at the Town storm drain, a drainage channel, the street or the historical path, and every connection between roof drain leaders and the site system. Roof drainage and detention must stay separate from foundation subdrains. The checklist also states that a roof replacement is not at-grade work and does not by itself trigger a Grading and Drainage Permit.

    Source: Town of Atherton Building Department (athertonca.gov)

State license for this work: C-43 Sheet Metal, C-39 Roofing, D-49 Tree Service. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

The work

Where an Atherton roof's leaves and water actually go

  1. Two green carts, rolled out to the street

    GreenWaste Recovery has hauled Atherton's waste since January 1, 2021, and each single-family home may have up to two 96-gallon green carts for yard trimmings, collected weekly at no extra charge. Leaves from a heavy clean-out go there with no dirt mixed in, set out by 6:30 a.m., each cart under 150 pounds or its printed limit. Backyard service, sold as an extra, covers only the blue and gray carts, so the green ones still travel to the curb, which on a deep lot is a long walk.

  2. Leaders that run underground

    On a house built under the Town's current drainage rules, rainwater can leave the gutter through a buried leader and pass through on-site pipe, detention and sometimes a pump before it reaches a Town storm drain, a roadside ditch or Atherton Channel. The checklist also keeps roof drainage apart from the subdrains around a foundation, so a backup cannot push roof water into them. Ask the cleaner to run water down each leader at the end and to point out any that back up, since that blockage is below ground, not on the roof.

  3. Working under a heritage oak without cutting it

    A valley, coast live or blue oak with a trunk 15.2 inches across, 48 inches around, at 54 inches above grade is a heritage tree anywhere on an Atherton lot. The Town treats excessive pruning, topping, lion's tailing and even screwing something into the trunk as damage, and its definition reaches a neighbor's heritage tree standing within 15 feet of the property line. Scooping the trough touches none of that. Taking a saw to the limb above it is a different job, for a qualified tree care specialist.

  4. Barrels and planted beds at the end of a downspout

    When a home project creates or replaces 2,500 square feet or more of impervious surface, Atherton's Drainage Criteria require at least one site design measure, and two of the choices begin at a downspout: roof runoff sent into cisterns or rain barrels, or onto vegetated areas, built to the small-project bulletins of the Bay Area stormwater agencies. Atherton applies them as a member of Flows To Bay, the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program. A clean-out is the time to clear a barrel's inlet screen or a silted outlet in a bed.

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Get quotes for gutter cleaning work in Atherton

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To send a request, call or text (415) 449-8213.

Free to request, and you agree the scope and price with the person you hire before work starts. In California, a job over $1,000 in labor and materials, or one that needs a building permit, must be done by a contractor licensed by the CSLB in the right class. Ask for the license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov.

Metal roof gutter running along the bottom of a slate roof, with a downspout outlet dropping into a round drainpipe
Metal roof gutter running along the bottom of a slate roof, with a downspout outlet dropping into a round drainpipe. Photo: Le plombier du désert, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Rebuilt estate houses with their drains under the lawn

The Town's 2019 Green Infrastructure Plan describes Atherton as essentially fully developed yet constantly remodeling: older houses on lots of an acre or more are rebuilt or enlarged, with big setbacks and the heritage oaks kept in place. When that work needs the Town's Grading and Drainage Permit, the checklist for it asks the plans to show every point where a roof drain leader joins the site's storm drainage system, along with downspouts, swales, cleanouts, sub-drains, pumps and bubbler boxes. So on a newer Atherton house the downspout often disappears into the ground, and a clog can sit out of sight somewhere between the gutter and the street, a roadside ditch or the channel.

Part by part

Three parts of town where the job changes

  • Lindenwood

    The Green Infrastructure Plan names lower-lying portions of Lindenwood, along with land close to Atherton Channel, as places where new houses usually get finished floors raised about a foot. Roof water has less fall to work with there, so downspouts that discharge well clear of the foundation, and leaders that drain freely, matter more than on higher ground.

  • South of Atherton Avenue

    Most of the town south of Atherton Avenue lies inside the Atherton Channel Drainage District, formed by the Town in 1958 to build and maintain storm water facilities in the creek's flood plain. The channel rises west of Interstate 280 in Woodside and meets the Bayfront Canal in Redwood City, so leaves rinsed into drains here ride it downstream.

  • Middlefield Road, Ringwood to Marsh

    On the northbound side of Middlefield Road between Ringwood Avenue and Marsh Road, the trees are among the few the Town maintains itself. A branch from one of them over a roof is a matter for the Town, while a tree a few streets away is the property owner's to prune.

Questions

Atherton gutter questions, answered from Town and hauler rules

Our gardener blows out the gutters with a gas blower. Is that still allowed in Atherton?

No. The Town amended Chapter 8.16 of its Municipal Code to ban gas leaf blowers from July 1, 2024, and it ties the change to the state's phase-out of new gas-powered small engines. Electric and battery blowers, or a scoop and bucket, do the same work on gutters and roof valleys, and the state's CORE program helps landscapers buy electric equipment.

The oak over our roof grows on the neighbor's side. Does Atherton's heritage tree chapter still apply?

It can. The chapter's definition of disturbance or damage includes a heritage tree within 15 feet of the property line, so cutting back a neighbor's large valley, coast live or blue oak from your side is not a private decision. Clearing leaves out of your own gutter does not touch the tree. For the limbs, talk with the neighbor and a tree care company, and with the Town Arborist before any heavy cut.

We pay GreenWaste for backyard service. Will they take the green carts from beside the house?

No. GreenWaste's Atherton guide says backyard service picks up only the blue and gray carts; green yard trimmings carts must still be taken to the curb. Each home can have up to two 96-gallon green carts at no extra charge, out by 6:30 a.m. Extra yard trimmings can go beside them in paper bags under 30 pounds, and the first 32 gallons of extra material each year are collected free.

Where can we pick up compost made from Atherton's green carts?

At Holbrook-Palmer Park. The Town keeps a free self-service compost pile across from the historic water tower, before you reach the Jennings Pavilion parking lot, restocked by GreenWaste with compost made from what Atherton puts in its green bins. Residents and their gardeners bring their own containers, shovels and gloves.

Does Atherton's drainage review care where our downspouts end?

On permitted projects, yes. When a standalone home creates or replaces 2,500 square feet or more of impervious surface, the Drainage Criteria require at least one site design measure, such as roof runoff sent to barrels or cisterns or onto planted areas, and the grading checklist asks plans to show where each roof leader connects. For an ordinary clean-out, the practical point is keeping those outlets clear.

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

Before you hire

Before an Atherton gutter crew starts

  • Ask for a battery or electric blower, since gas leaf blowers have been banned in Atherton since July 1, 2024.
  • Ask that every leader be flushed at the end and any that backs up be pointed out, because newer houses pipe roof water underground.
  • Under a heritage oak, ask the crew to leave the limbs alone; topping is banned and heavy pruning needs the Town Arborist's approval first.
  • If you pay for backyard service, decide who rolls the green carts out, because GreenWaste collects those only at the curb.
  • For new gutters, look up the installer's C-43 Sheet Metal license number on the CSLB website before paying a deposit.

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and programs change: confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts, and a contractor's license on the CSLB website.

  • athertonca.gov: Chapter 810 HTO ORDINANCE 2020 FINAL (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: Heritage Tree Preservation Standards and Specification 2023 (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: Arborist Services Tree Protection (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: Electric Leaf Blower Program (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: Reduce Your Waste GreenWaste Recovery (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: GRADING AND DRAINAGE CHECKLIST 061523 (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: 281 (athertonca.gov)
  • athertonca.gov: Green Infrasturcture Plan (athertonca.gov)
  • greenwaste.com: atherton
  • greenwaste.com: Atherton Service Guide web
  • greenwaste.com: WGW Atherton
  • flowstobay.org: member agencies

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