Get Your Mind Into the Gutter: Cleaning Tips for Homeowners

For many homeowners, cleaning a gutter is as much fun as getting a gutter ball in a bowling alley. Worse yet, this chore is dangerous. Every year, about 500,000 people suffer ladder-related injuries.

Fortunately, you can hire experts to make your gutters spotless. In no time, they’ll be in perfect working order.

The Importance of Gutter Maintenance

It’s a messy fact of life: Leaves and other materials gathered in your gutters. If you don’t clean them out regularly, water won’t flow through the gutters correctly, leading to exterior water damage. Plus, your roof could start to leak, ruining objects inside your home.

In winter, stopped-up gutters can lead to ice dams across your roof. Ice dams often damage siding and cause interior leakages.

Also, rodents and insects could see all the sticks and leaves inside your gutter and think it’s a furnished luxury apartment. Once they settle down in there, those pests might hunt for food inside your home.

To avoid such issues, wipe and rinse your gutters at least two or three times per year. Even covered gutters should be cleaned once every few years — and maybe even once a year.

Spring and autumn are the prime gutter-cleaning seasons. Of course, during those periods, leaves, twigs, berries and maple samaras fall in large numbers.

How to Clean Your Gutters

To begin the gutter-scrubbing process, set a secure ladder, one with a stabilizer, on the ground. Climb the rungs with a garbage bag and a cleaning tool. That tool shouldn’t be metal; instead, use a sand shovel, a vacuuming device or a special pair of tongs.

Give yourself plenty of time to clear away even the smallest things inside those gutters. And make sure that someone with a phone is nearby. Should you fall, that person could call for help.

When you’re done scooping or vacuuming, climb down the ladder, grab your garden hose and go back up to rinse out the gutter.

Don’t forget those pesky downspouts! You can fit a plumber’s snake into each of them and crank it to get rid of whatever’s in there. Flush out your downspouts as well.

On the other hand, you could hire a property service company, one with an excellent reputation like High PSI Pressure Washing. Its friendly pros will show up on time, answer your questions, repair leaks, and clean your gutters thoroughly and efficiently. Afterward, you’ll enjoy peace of mind and sparkling gutters free of pests and debris.