Gutters are hard to keep clean. No matter even if you have gutter guards installed, they seem to always get dirt and debree into them. Although there are some good gutter cleaning tools available today.
Mostly, even if you have some sort of gutter guard there will always be leaves, sticks from trees, and shingle grit deposited in your gutters. This debree should be cleaned out of your gutters at least once a year.
Doing this will help you maintain a proper flow of rain water to your downspouts. Upon neglecting to accomplish this will result in the gutters and downspouts becoming clogged. This results in heaviness over time to the gutters.
Then what happens is the gutter nails will begin to pull out of their holes and the gutters begin to get bent out of shape. Sometimes even falling off the house. Making the job even harder.
Not to mention the rainwater will be overflowing instead of going down the downspouts like it should. Basically you have a mess on your hands.
There is Hope
In our article today, I will tell you an effective method to cleaning your gutters. And it's not the usual way your probably thinking. Let me tell you how I used to do it and probably how you did to. First let me say that our new way will work quite inexpensively.
In fact, if you have one of these gutter cleaning tools already, then you have it made!
Now, like most everybody else, when I cleaned my gutters I always got the ladder out to get on the roof. Then dragged my garden hose up there with me and wasted a lot of water cleaning my gutters and downspouts out.
My Problem
I learned the hard way. I always waited for 2 or 3 years to do it. Well you know, I'd be up there cussing and crying because it was a mess. Now, we git-r-done every year. It saves on the idle words, you know.
Today I have an effective way to do it for you that will save you a lot of money on the amount of water you use every time you do it that way. Like everything else, water is getting expensive and we need a better, less expensive way to get it done.
Do Not Forget Safety
The leaf blower is a bit heavier and carries some torque to it. That presents a problem while up there on the roof. Let us talk about the safety aspect of this now.
First of all depending on the pitch of your roof, you should make sure your ladder is tied off to the roof. See my Ladder Safety article here for more on that. This will make sure when your carrying the blower up with you that the ladder remains stable.
If your roof is at a 45 degree pitch it may behoove you to nail down a 2 by 4 to help with your balance. Balance is critical because of the torque of the leaf blower, and being so close to the edge of the roof.
Getting It done
If its been quite some time since you last cleaned your gutters, you may have very clogged downspouts. In this case you will need to use the water hose for that. To loosen up the debree and get them freed up.
Also it will help you to use a broom to loosen up the debree in the gutters before doing the blow out. First if you have anything like mesh gutter guards over the gutters you'll need to remove those.
They are easily removed as they are just tucked under the roof shingles and hanging over the gutters. If you have the plastic guards, these are just snapped on to the gutters and are also easily removed.
After removing these and loosening up the debree, simply use your leaf blower to do the rest of the work. Completely blowing the gutters clean. Congratulations! You have just saved yourself a bunch of money on the cost of water and received just as good a result.
The only other thing I'd add to this project is to be sure that if you have to nail down a 2 by 4 for balance and safety, be sure to move it down the length of the roof as you go along. Re-nailing it each time.
I know it's a bit more work to do, but I don't want to see anybody fall off their roof and get seriously hurt or maybe even killed, just to get their gutters clean.
So be careful!!
In Conclusion
That is a very effective method and inexpensive way to clean your gutters, making sure that the rain water always flows freely off your roof. Not to mention, another good use for that wonderful tool you have called a Leaf Blower.
If you would like to save money on your water bill or the money you would spend by calling outside forces to do the job for you, but you don't have that wonderful tool called a Leaf Blower, your in luck.
Check out my review of a very good quality Makita Leaf Blower, with more than enough power to get your gutter cleaning job done safely, for years to come, right here. You can even purchase yours right through the Review.
Thanks for coming by...
5 comments:
awesome blog, do you have twitter or facebook? i will bookmark this page thanks.
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@Anonymous
Sure do! Upper right hand corner you see "Be Our Fan"....Also "Follow Us" Click those and join us! Thanks for the comment...;)
We need to go to my mom's house and unclog her gutters. I will take the broom and leaf blower! Thanks for the tip -
@Kedron
Ah, yes its always good to take care of Mom. The leaf blower works quite nice with less mess...I think you'll be pleased with the outcome.
But, please remember above all, to be safe.
Glad you liked the article and thank you for the comment......come back.
Kev
Nice blog....Thank you for sharing ..i'll definitely share with others..:)
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