Cleaning Gutters

[RED333]

Took the advice to start a different topic.

Helped my son clean his gutters, had been a good bit. We are both afraid of heights, helps to have some one there to hold the ladder. He had trees growing, he has an oak tree in the front yard, acorns had started a few saplings. We cleaned both the front and back gutters, took just over a hour. Yall be safe out there.

[gregintenn]

I have an attachment for my leaf blower that'll blow out gutters. It works pretty good if the gutters are dry. It'll give you freckles otherwise.

I usually just drag out the ladder.

[RED333]

1 minute ago, gregintenn said:

I have an attachment for my leaf blower that'll blow out gutters.

My son has one as well, but the saplings had roots locking stuff in.

 

2 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

It'll give you freckles otherwise.

[dralarms]

I just take my leaf blower up on the roof and blow them out, less freckles.  

[rugerla1]

My mom bought an attachment at Lowe’s that goes on the hose. It has a piece on the end that swivels different angles and extends about 6feet (ish). At first I told her that I doubted it would do the job but she asked me to try it on my house to see if it worked. I’ll be danged it worked very nicely. If there are branches and heavy stuff it may have trouble but it blew out years old clogs of leaves and had enough power to blow stuff over the edge of the gutter when you angled it the right way. I was really surprised. 

[MacGyver]

As I’ve gotten older, it seems I’ve gotten much more careful in my use of safety gear - be it eye and ear protection using saws or whatever.  

I put on fall protection gear when I clean my gutters.  Thankfully in my current house I don’t have to do it much. 

[gary_boom]

I can get to my gutters with a 6’ step ladder but I went with 6” gutters ,larger down spouts and some kind of gutter guard screen when I had them replaced. I could clean them before and a hard storm would choke them up. I really like the system I have.

[jpx2rk]

I tried one of those extended (36") watering wands from walmart that has the adjustable spray head, worked ok but if you have lots of stuff in the gutters, not so much.  I had some scrap/left over pvc pipe and made a 48" wand that will attach to a garden hose, a flow control /on/off valve,  has a 90* bend near the top and a short extension with a fitting that one of those "power washer nozzles" will screw onto.  This nozzle is brass and non adjustable, aka a boring nozzle IIRC.  It will push lots and lots of crap down the gutters to the downspout, even the granules knocked off the shingles and those acorns as well.  Reduce the times you have to move the ladder and climb up/down alot.  

[No_0ne]

I hire a local kid to do this.  I offer good advice and supervision ...

[owejia]

No gutters to clean.

[Trekbike]

13 hours ago, No_0ne said:

I hire a local kid to do this.  I offer good advice and supervision ...

Not trying to wish any bad luck on you by hiring help like that, but since accidents happen you open yourself up to for financial responsibility if they get hurt on your property.     If you can prove they did something negligent, you'd probably be okay, but you'd still be out some money in the process if you get sued.       

[Morgan88]

New to the area from Northern Indiana.  We are usually more concerned with snow fence.  Ha!   No more!  I sympathize with many on the leaf  and gutter issue.  I bought and placed a brand called Gutterstuff in the gutters that I could reach relatively easy.  Across the front I was going to pay a contractor to come over clean the gutters and place the stuff.  I guess it was too small a job and never showed up.  My neighbor has the right size and kind of ladder and with him watching and holding the ladder I can probably get it done.  But I sure don't want to.  The same neighbor warned me when the leaves fall around here (Jasper) I will be knee deep in leaves.  

Good luck to all and keep the faith

Morgan88

[hipower]

I've been banned from ladders after a few falls in the last couple years. Not from ladders though, just face plants while trying to walk.

We do have 6" gutters, but with all the trees around here, it doesn't take long for them to fill. I swear that the squirrels are using the gutters for storage. Lots of nuts and hulls washed out during cleaning.

I just hired a neighborhood "handyman" to clean our gutters. He charged me what I thought was a fair price. From what I could see, he did an excellent job. At least we had no overflow issues yesterday with all the heavy rains.

I hate having someone else do my "chores," but it's a necessity as I get older. Still stinks though.