Why Do Gutter Cleaning?
Putting it simply, gutter cleaning is to preserve the value of your home. Or putting it another way it is to prevent insidious degradation of the siding, foundation and landscaping that can be very expensive to restore if allowed to continue.
Water Damage to your Property
Gutters and downspouts are installed to guide rainwater and melting snow off your roof and away from your home’s siding and it’s foundation. If gutters get clogged with leaves, seeds or roofing debris, water can’t drain and will eventually back up and overflow the gutters. When the gutters overflow, the water falls right down against the side of your house and against your foundation walls where it could eventually work its way into your home creating insidious damage to various possible parts of the house. Since gutters catch rain right off the roof they also prevent soil erosion and wear to your home’s fascia board, shingles, siding, windows, window sils etc…. helping to extend their life and your investment! The bottom line is that well-maintained, properly functioning gutters directly protect the overall health of your home, inside and out.
Rot and Mildew
Increased water exposure creates the start to penetrating the water proofing of the house. A wet substrate creates the place for rot and mildew to get started. Then as it is kept wetter than normal the ongoing growth accelerates over time. Paints, finishes, siding, wood and foundations are all designed to be periodically wet and if saturated for longer periods the life span is reduced. Just like a house needs to be repainted a gutter needs to be cleaned when it does not drain well.
Mosquitos
Even if the gutters don’t overflow, water trapped in a gutter provides an ideal spot for mosquito larvae to grow turn into mosquito’s to then bread larvae in the same water if not removed. When cleaning gutters with standing water it not at all unusual to see little squigelly larvee swimming in this water trapped in the gutters. To the naked eye they sort of look like minature shrimp scooting around. Clean the gutters remove blockage from the opening from the gutters to the down spouts allowing the water to drain, then the cycle is broken, larve can not survive and the anoying bites go away and the possible disease they carry also.
Apperance
After looking at homes prior to gutter cleaning it is easy to spot clogged gutters. Sagging gutters, mold on the side of the house, dark oxidation streaks on the gutters. In some cases it is even more obvious with weeds, vines, and trees growing up from the gutters. Organic debris accumulates in gutters, breaks down creating compost that is a great growing medium if kept wet. This gutter goop that turns to compost will support the life of earth worms some times. Poorly drained gutters supply the water retention to do this. Clean the gutters and this goes away. exterior gutter cleaning to remove the mold and black streaks from white aluminum gutters is very easy with the correct products, but close to impossible with out them. So many people replace the perfectly serviceable gutters since they do not know that the out side exposed sections of the gutters can be cleaned and restored to an almost new look.
Function
Back to basics keeping the gutters clean gets the water away from the house with out damaging it or the surrounding area. It is a very basic concept but concidering the surges in volume of water and the amount of leaves and other debris that falls into a guttering system the need for periodic cleaning or covers just does not go away.
Best Gutter Cleaning Tools
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Gutter Cleaning Advice
As a new homeowner you are probably looking for all the advice you can get about how to clean your gutters, so I am happy to share my experience in order to help other new homeowners. However, the best piece of advice that you are going to get is that every house and every situation is different so there are no hard and fast rules. Gutter cleaning is something that you will need to learn as you go along.
The last thing a new homeowner wants to do is buy more equipment, but unfortunately that might be a necessity in order to clean your gutters effectively and safely. I tried to clean out gutters the first time with a borrowed A frame ladder, but found that it was not always sufficient to reach the gutters, and also, not always safe to use on uneven terrain. I ended up buying a Transforma ladder which is an adjustable ladder system. Even though I didn’t want to make any new purchases, I found that this ladder is not only valuable in gutter cleaning, but also all over my home for other chores. In addition to having the right ladder, you also want to have a second person to hold the ladder steady. Not adhering to this important safety tip could mean serious injury.
Most gutter cleaning advice articles will tell you to start with a gutter scoop because it is cheap and easy to use. You use a large curved scoop to rid the gutter of debris. The problem with gutter scoops, as I found, is that they do not remove the really small debris or the slime inside the gutter system and they slow you down because you have to keep moving the ladder. I got tired of the scoop so I switched to a simple garden hose as my gutter cleaning tool. The water stream pushes debris up over the sides of the gutters and can help to strip away slime or mildew. Garden hoses are much faster than scoops, and they get the gutter cleaner.
Even though cleaning gutters with a hose is fast and efficient, there are down sides. The major downside is that a lot of the mess from your gutters ends up on your siding and you need to spend time hosing down the sides of your house. Then, you need to spend time cleaning up the ground around your house. Overall, I probably did not save any time by switching to the hose gutter cleaner method, but at least I didn’t have to keep working on the ladder. Since I do not like height and neither of the methods I tried are something I want to repeat, I will be installing gutter guards in an attempt to avoid gutter cleaning in the future.
Tip #1 : Preparation for Cleaning Gutters
Put it on a flat spot, don’t use the top step, etc. You should also wear work gloves to protect your hands from gutter muck and loose nails, and to maintain a firm grip on the ladder.
Tip #2 : Roof Gutter Cleaning the Easy Way
The easiest, cleanest way to clear out leaves and debris is to scoop it all out with a small trowel and either bag it up or toss it in the yard to rake up later.
Tip #3 : Gutter Inspection
While you have the hose up there, spray water along the gutter and into the gutter downspout to make sure it is flowing properly. If there is any standing water, you’ll need to adjust the angle of your gutters.
Tip #4 : Vowing “Never Again” to Cleaning Gutter
After two hours of gutter cleaning, you might be cursing us for telling you to do it yourself, and looking up those guards ads so you never have to clean your gutters again.
Gutter Cleaning Safety
The risks are ever present when cleaning gutters since you are off the ground, around electrical wires, possibly walking on a slippery roof and dealing with slippery messy stuff from the gutters themselves. Be cautious and vigilant when cleaning gutters. Accidents usually are from lack of attention to the dangers that are present. If the gutters are higher than you are comfortable going up to just don’t do it. Hire some one.
Ladder Safety
Clothing for working on a ladder
Wear hard sole non slip shoes. Try standing on a ladder with bear feet for just a minute will make the point very clearly. Support for your feet when working on a ladder seems basic but slipping or stumbling on a rung as you climb can cause your leg to tangle in the ladder and combined with a fall can create a devestating leg break or worse. Just the fatige factor to your feet should be reason enough to have good work boots on as you both climb and stand on the ladder during the gutter cleaning that can be an hour or more.
Gloves can be the greatest safety device to prevent injuries preventing the ability to do things. Hand injuries are the leading cause of work place down time. Do not let a home project be the same to your hands. Pinch points on ladder when raising and lowering the ladder can do a lot of damage to your hands.
Lose fitting clothing should be avoided. Tangling clothing with the ladder can snag and through you off balance. Or worse yet create a fall or strangulation. If it is cold wear clothing that will be comfortable so you are not rushing and taking chances.
Electrical Wires
Be careful!, look up for wires at all times. Remember to keep ladders, tools, equipment, and yourself and anything connected to you a minimum of 10 feet away from overhead power lines. The looks of electrical power lines going into a home can be deceiving. Over-head power lines are not insulated to prevent electrical shocks. What may appear to be insulation is weatherproofing material. Wires should never be contacted or touched under ANY circumstances. Most ladders are not insulated enough to prevent shocks in all cases. Be carful!
Dizzyness
Especially when cleaning gutters from the roof be careful of getting up too fast. Doing this some times creats dizzyness and if close to the edge this could be fatal. This is just another thing to always have in mind in order to be carefull and safe in cleaning gutters.