It’s fall again and for all of you homeowners out there, now is the best time to clean your gutters. It may be tedious, disgusting and possibly a dangerous task (one misstep and you’re on your way to the hospital) but someone has to do it.
The things you would need in cleaning your gutters are: a garden hose with normal pressure with a grip trigger spray nozzle, a sturdy ladder, a bucket (for collecting debris), gutter scoop, gloves, protective eyewear, rubber shoes, downsprout chain and gutter guards.
Our first tip is for you to use a garden hose with normal pressure (30-40 psi) and attach a pistol grip trigger spray nozzle into it. You can use just one hand with this type of nozzle, and you can easily hang it on the front edge of the gutter while moving the ladder or using a gutter scoop.
Our second tip is to use a sturdy ladder. We advise against wooden ladders because they are very unstable. We highly recommend that your ladder has a shelf strong enough to hold a 5 gallon bucket to collect gutter debris.
Before going up the ladder to clean your gutters, inspect the ladder for defects and make sure that you set it on firm ground (make sure that there are no holes on the ground). When climb the ladder, always remember the “three point rule”. First point: try to have both hands and legs firmly on the ladder to ensure stability. Second point: never lean out from the ladder and balancing out of one leg to clean the debris. Third point: if possible, let someone hold the ladder base for additional stability.
Our third tip is to use “gutter getter scooper”, which is available in most hardware stores. This tool makes it easy to scoop out the toughest debris because the front scooping edge is very thin.
Our fourth tip is to use gloves and protective eyewear. Gloves protect your hands from dirt and bacteria that you get from all the animal droppings that are trapped in your gutter. Protective eyewear is equally important because you never know what comes out of the downsprout when cleaning your gutters.
Our fifth tip is to use rubber shoes. Rubber soled shoes are the best type of shoes to wear when you are going up the ladder and walking on the roof. It can help prevent you from slipping and falling because it tends to adhere best.
In gutter cleaning, you also need to unclog your downsprouts. Once you have ensured that your downsprouts unclogged (by running the hose down the downsprout at full pressure), Our sixth tip is to use a downsprout chain instead of a traditional downsprout. The rainwater runs down the chain gracefully.
Our last tip is to use quality gutter guards. Using a quality gutter guard can help eliminate the need to clean out gutters often.
We know, this is a lot of work. But, cleaning your gutters is imperative before winter comes. Cleaning your gutters twice a year is actually preferable. But if you don’t have the time to clean your gutters, or see it as such a daunting task, you can always call the professionals at Larsen Window Cleaning Service to the job. Call 626-303-3664 to set an appointment. Winter is around the corner and there is no better time to do it than right now!