How to Clean Gutters and Their Cost
Clogs in your gutters and downspouts are one of the most common causes of damage to your home’s foundation and interior. Leaves, twigs, animal nests, and other debris can go down your gutter, causing your gutter to clog. Over time, water can weigh down your gutters and cause them to break or damage your home. The best way to prevent clogs is to clean gutters regularly.
How to Clean Gutter?
Gutters and downspouts protect your property from rainwater. Clogs block your gutters, which shortens the life of your gutters and can increase your costs. If you want to avoid these unexpected expenses, take care of it and get it cleaned regularly. Cleaning gutters is a relatively easy job, and cleaning them twice a year should keep them flowing freely, but if you have a lot of trees nearby, you may need to clean them more often. Gutters can generally be cleaned in two ways, one is from the ground itself, and the other is by hand or scoop using a ladder.
How to Clean Gutters from the Ground?
For many homeowners (especially with two-story homes), climbing a ladder to clean the gutter is a major obstacle, while gutter cleaning can be done from the ground using special equipment. Gutter cleaning from the ground works best when the leaves are dry, light, and airy, which can vacuum the leaves or blow them away with air or water. Once the leaves are wet and rotted, they become more difficult to clean from the ground.
There are three ways to clean the gutters from the ground, vacuum the leaves, use a pressure washer, and use a leaf blower.
Clean Gutters by Vacuuming the Leaves
Using a vacuum cleaner to remove leaves and debris from your gutters is very easy. Gutter vacuuming tools can reach up to 40 feet off the ground, so there’s no need for ladders or scaffolding, allowing for quick and safe cleaning. Many hoses fit or snap into place to form a long tube with a curved nozzle at the top, known as a gutter elbow. The bottom of the tube connects to the shop vacuum.
Vacuum cleaners usually only come with small, narrow hoses and are best for light debris like dry leaves and minimal dirt, but twigs and heavy debris can easily clog the vacuum hose and attachment.
Clean Gutters by Using a Pressure Washer
A pressure washer is a great option for heavy dirt and leaf debris and for cleaning clogged downspouts. Pressure washer attachments consist of a series of aluminum tubes that screw or snap together, extending from 9 to 18 feet, depending on the model. At the top is a curved gutter-cleaning elbow. The inlet at the bottom of the pole connects to a pressure washer.
If you start flushing the gutters with a pressure washer that’s full, you’ll spray leaves and dirt all over the roof, which will dirty the siding, windows, and floor in addition to your gutters and fascia. Whatever you spray out of your gutters, you have to clean up afterward. But if you don’t mind cleaning, this might be a good option for you.
Clean Gutters by Using Leaf Blower
Another option for clearing gutters from the ground is a leaf blower attachment. A leaf blower is attached to a long pipe with a curved end, allowing the user to insert the end into the gutter and blow the debris out of the gutter and onto the yard. This method is best for gutters with heavy debris such as twigs, packed leaves, and dirt. A leaf blower allows you to clean 1 to 2 floors from the ground floor itself.
Removing leaves from your gutters with leaf blowers is really effective, but you have to prepare to clean your ground after cleaning the gutters.
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How to Clean Gutters While Standing on a Ladder?
When debris is dry and loose, gutter cleaning is easy from the ground, but when it is wet, it can spoil the beauty of your home or increase the effort of cleaning other areas of your home. If you don’t want to do that, you need to clean it up using a ladder, heavy-duty work gloves, scoop, bucket, garden hose, etc.
Ladders for gutter cleaning are not as safe as cleaning from the ground, as there is always a risk of falling. To reduce this risk, it is essential to use proper ladders.
Remove leaves and debris by hand or with a scoop while wearing heavy-duty work gloves, depositing what you remove in a bucket. When you’re done, flush the gutter and downspout with water until you’re sure both are clear and functioning properly.
Clean Gutters by Using Garden Hose
Using a trigger head on your garden hose will give you enough pressure to remove waste and debris from your gutter and downspouts. Climbing up the ladder, you start flushing the gutters, triggering water where there is dirty debris and waste, and trying to break it up. Start at the end near the downspout, spray the entire length of the channel, and then return to the downspout.
How Much Does Gutter Cleaning Cost?
Gutter cleaning costs between $0.45 and $2.10 per linear foot. The national average cost of gutter cleaning is $0.85 per linear foot, which is $170 for a typical home with 200 feet of gutter. But the more floors a house has, the higher the cost of gutter cleaning.
For a single-story home with 200 linear feet of gutters, the average national cost is in the $80 to $120 range. For a two-story home, it rises from $100 to $225. While for a house with three or more stories, the average cost of gutter cleaning is $170 to $430 or more. Also, cleaning the downspout can add $50 to $100 to the project.
Prevent Leaves from Clogging Gutters
Clearing clogged gutters add a lot of labor and expense to you and shorten the lifespan of your gutters, so you should consider preventative measures. A gutter guard will prevent your gutters from clogging and save your labor and expense.
Like a LeafGuard gutter system, runoff goes directly down the gutters but leaves debris out. This type of system requires professional installation and is drilled out on-site to fit the length of the roof edge, so there are no splices in the guttering.
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How to Clean Your Gutters?
Gutters can generally be cleaned in two ways, one is from the ground itself, and the other is by hand or scoop using a ladder.
How Often Should Gutters Be Cleaned?
Gutters should usually be cleaned twice a year, but if you have a lot of trees, you may need to clean them more often.
How to Clean Gutters Without a Ladder?
There are three ways to clean the gutters from the ground, vacuum the leaves, use a pressure washer, and use a leaf blower.
How Much Does It Cost to Get Your Gutters Cleaned?
It Costs to Get Your Gutters Cleaned between $0.45 and $2.10 per linear foot. The national average cost of gutter cleaning is $0.85 per linear foot, which is $170 for a typical home with 200 feet of gutter. But the more floors a house has, the higher the cost of gutter cleaning.
How to Prevent Leaves from Clogging Gutters?
A gutter guard will prevent your gutters from clogging and save labor and expense. Like a leaf guard gutter system, runoff goes directly down the gutters, but debris is left out.
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