Gutter Cleaning How-To Guide
Contributed By: BAG EditorsGutter cleaning is an important part of exterior home maintenance. Gutters work to guide precipitation (rain and melting snow) that falls on your roof away from your house so that the water does not cause leaks within your home or damage to your home’s building materials. Gutters can only work effectively, however, if they are free from leaves and debris in order to allow a clear path for the water to flow. Although gutter cleaning is not always a fun job, it can be accomplished relatively easy by homeowners that are looking to save money over hiring professional gutter cleaning services.
Gutters run along the roofline of your house, connecting to downspouts that guide the water down the side of the house and away from the home’s foundation. If gutters are clogged with leaves, dirt or other debris, water builds up within the gutters and overflows. This can cause problems to the home. The excess water can run down the side of the house, flooding the interior of the home or causing wood to rot, mold or mildew or rust to collect on the edge of the gutters themselves if they are metal. By periodically performing gutter & downspout cleaning, this problem is easily avoided.
There are many gutter cleaning services available for homeowners that do not wish to tackle rain gutter cleaning on their own. A gutter cleaning service is the easiest way to insure that your gutters remain clean, but it is not the cheapest way. Depending on the gutter cleaning service you use, you can choose a one-time gutter cleaning or can select a gutter clean package where the gutter cleaning business will automatically schedule your gutters to be cleaned on a regular basis, whether you need it quarterly, semi-annually or annually. Most homes are okay with having their gutters cleaned once or twice a year, but if your home has a lot of large trees near it, it may be necessary to provide more frequent gutter cleaning to keep the rain gutters free of leaves.
While most gutter cleaning prices are not exorbitant, the cost of cleaning gutters by hiring a professional company can be saved if you have a few free hours and aren’t afraid to stand on a ladder or to get a little wet or dirty. By doing this, you can bring your gutter cleaning cost to zero, since there are no special gutter cleaning tools or gutter cleaning equipment needed – you can do it all with tools you probably already have around your house.
To get started on cleaning gutter and downspouts, the basic tools you need are a sturdy ladder, a hose, and a narrow garden trowel. If you find that there is a clog in the downspouts, you may also need a snake to unclog it. If there is a lot of debris in the gutters, it is also a good idea to have a large heavy-duty garbage bag to dump the debris into. Another useful gutter cleaning tool, if the collected leaves are dry, is a leaf blower.
Cleaning rain gutters is fairly simple. Here are a few easy steps to do-it-yourself gutter cleaning:
- Set up a ladder securely near the area that you plan to work. This is the most important step in the whole gutter cleaning process. Lean the ladder against the gutters and make sure it is securely planted on the ground. Climb up the ladder but never stand on the top two rungs and do not reach over the sides. You will have to continually move the ladder along the side of the house to clean different areas of the gutters. If you have metal or aluminum gutters, you can protect them from possibly being dented by the ladder by placing a small 2×4” piece of wood inside the gutters where the ladder rests against them.
- Use a small garden trowel or other small object to scoop leaves and debris out of the gutters. It is easiest to do this when they are only slightly wet so they are not too matted down or heavy. If they are dried up and crusted, they may need to be pried out a bit. If the leaves are totally dry, a leaf blower may remove many of the leaves from the gutters, but use care in operating a leaf blower while perched on a ladder.
- You may need to scrape some of the dried and encrusted dirt from the bottom and sides of the gutters and this can usually be accomplished using the edge of the trowel, taking care not to damage the gutter itself. A little bit of water to soften dried debris often makes it easier to remove.
- Once the debris has been cleaned out, use a garden hose with the nozzle on jet stream or high power to push the remaining loose dirt along the gutters and down the downspouts. If you don’t see a steady stream of water coming out, then there may be a clog within the downspout. The clog may sometimes be removed by a forceful spray of water, but if not, you may need to use a plumbers snake to break up the clog in the spout. The process of using the hose to push out the debris can be rather messy, so take care to try to not get the side of the house or yourself too dirty in the process. You will know that you have removed most of the loose debris when the water running out is mostly clear.
If cleaning gutters yourself, be sure to consider safety first. Make sure you have a sturdy and secure ladder and carefully ascend and descend and plant your body steadily while working on the ladder. It is best to have someone else with you to hold the ladder while you work. You should wear heavy work gloves during the gutter cleaning process to protect your hands from sharp objects, screws, twigs and other items that can cause potential injury. Wearing safety glasses is also recommended. You should also wear clothes that are easily washable, since it is likely that you will get a bit dirty and wet during the cleaning process.
How often gutters should be cleaned depends in part on how many trees are near your home and how much debris collects in the gutters. Most homeowners should clean gutters once or twice a year. While the easiest way to have your gutters cleaned is to hire a gutter cleaning service, doing it yourself is not a difficult job (although it is messy) and can save you some hard-earned money in the process. Although gutter cleaning is not a fun job (but then again, many home cleaning tasks aren’t that enjoyable, such as cleaning toilets or even window blinds), it is a necessary task if you are a homeowner. As long as you keep up with it periodically however, the task should not be overwhelming.
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