Are you planning to clean your gutters?
Installing gutters is not only useful for keeping your home’s landscaping and siding in good condition. They can also protect the foundation of your property.
However, gutters can also damage your house. Clogged drains can cause leaks that can affect your walls and foundation. That’s why it’s necessary to clean your gutters even at least once a year.
Cleaning your gutters is easy. Well, as long as you know what you’re doing. If you don’t know how to clean your gutters properly, we can help you.
In today’s article, we will share with you some expert tips in cleaning gutters.
Wear the Right Clothes
Before you start cleaning your gutters, make sure that you’re wearing the right clothes.
Since cleaning the gutters is a dirty job, wear a long-sleeved shirt, work pants, and rubber gloves. Gloves can prevent your hands from touching animal excrements that are ridden with bacteria, and it can help you avoid getting painful cuts from the torn metal shards of an old, ragged gutter.
Furthermore, use protective eyewear too. No one ever knows what might fly out of the downspout when cleaning gutters.
Use a Safe Ladder
Don’t hurt yourself when cleaning the gutter.
With that said, use a good, sturdy, extendable ladder when you’re cleaning your gutter. Additionally, always place the ladder on a firm surface to make it stable.
Your ladder should also have a small shelf that’s strong enough to hold a five-gallon bucket for the gutter debris you’re collecting.
In case that the surface below your gutters is not even, consider using a ladder stabilizer. Moreover, think about asking someone to help you clean your gutters as well.
Gather the Right Tools
Before you start climbing the ladder, prepare your tools first. Everything you need for cleaning the gutters must be near you so you can finish the job quicker.
There are no special tools needed for cleaning the gutters. You just need a plastic scoop to remove the debris in your gutters.
You can purchase gutter scoops at any hardware store. But you can also use a child’s sandbox shovel or an old plastic kitchen spatula.
After clearing out the debris, use your garden hose to flush the gutters. Doing this will remove the last bits of the debris, and it’s also a good way to check if there are leaks or holes in your gutter.
Don’t Forget to Clean the Downspouts
Clogged downspouts can also cause damages to your property. So make sure to clean them too when you’re clearing out your gutters.
You can check and clean downspouts by flushing the gutters with a strong stream from your hose. If that’s not enough, make use of the plumber’s snake. It’s a thin, flexible auger with a crank handle or motor at one end and a metal wire with a splayed gap between the coils at the other end. Insert the end of the snake into the downspout until you feel resistance. After that, turn the crank and work the snake to clear out the clogs.
Final Thoughts
That’s it! You don’t even have to hire utility services to clean the gutters of your house. Just follow the tips we gave in this article, and you can clean your gutters easily.
But if you find damages in your gutters or roof, make sure to hire a roofing expert. There are many companies that offer roofing specialist Sydney services. They can help you fix the damages on your roof in no time without spending too much.