Tips For Cleaning Your Gutters

Cleaning your gutters should be a fairly normal routine and there are really just a few steps to follow. While it’s a job many of us would love to ignore, gutter cleaning is important. When clogged gutters overflow, they can cause ice dams on the roof that force water inside your house. They can also get so heavy that they’ll pull the gutters loose and rot the trim and siding. If you have a lot of trees around your house, you might want to clean your gutters even more frequently.

Cleaning Your Gutters

There are lots of ways to do the cleaning and most involve a ladder. You could use shop vacuums with gutter nozzles to a remote-controlled gutter-running robot. You should wear gloves, a dust mask, and safety goggles. Make sure your ladder is well-footed at all times and use a ladder stabilizer. Scoop the debris then rinse toward the downspout with a high-pressure nozzle on your hose and scrub it clean. Try to avoid spattering the siding in the process. Next, clear the downspouts with a hose or auger. Installing leaf strainers at the drain tops will cut down on the large clogs.

Clean the excess ‘junk’ out of the gutters.

Always check the downspout. If leaves and debris are clogging it, water won’t drain properly.

Check all the spikes

Usually the spike has just worked its way out of the hole over the years. It’s a good idea to invest in new gutter spikes if needed so the gutters are securely fastened.

Check for leaks

See if you notice any holes in the gutters or if the seams have cracked. You can scrape the old caulking and dry the area. Use new bead silicon sealing, this will prevent water from getting down behind the gutters and rotting the boards.

Check out the rivets on the downspout

They may be loose or will have dropped out completely, use rivet gun to secure them.

Once you’ve finished with the mechanics, you can attend to cleaning the gutters. The best way is with a pressure washer. A pressure washer won’t hurt the gutters provided you’ve secured the gutters with screws or new spikes. The real key is to avoid hitting the gutters at too high an angle, you won’t want to blast off any roofing shingles.

They’ve moved to aluminum and vinyl gutters now, and they don’t rust but if you have old rusted gutters you may want to look into replacing them.