Many people give little thought to gutter cleaning in the spring and summer. However, in the fall, people are surprised their gutters are clogged with leaves and debris. Water is overflowing everywhere. If not regularly maintained, your gutter can start to develop other issues that can end up costing thousands in repairs. What can you do to maintain your gutter? Here are some pointers to help your gutter work properly for many years.
Gutter Cleaning Prevent Leaves from Clogging
Every homeowner with trees in their yard hates taking care of leaves. Whether it’s raking and blowing, bagging or burning, it takes forever. It is definitely not an ideal way to spend a weekend. What’s worse than raking leaves? Cleaning them out of your gutters. Therefore, the simplest way to get leaves out is the old-fashioned way: Get out your trusty ladder, grab a five-gallon bucket, put on your gloves, and start digging in. This is going to take some time. If you wait too long, then rotting, slimy leaves will turn into a downspout-clogging nightmare.
If you want to get fancy, you can find several gutter scoops at hardware stores or on amazon. These scoops supposedly make the job go faster but the tried and true method of just sticking your hand in and grabbing the leaves works best. If you are using an extension ladder you need to be careful about marking up the edges of your gutters. At Billy Goat Gutter Cleaning, we have special stabilizers that keep our ladders from touching your gutters while we work.
Downspout clogs
Downspouts clogging is the most annoying problem for gutters. Furthermore, if your gutters are clean and clear, a clogged downspout will still ruin your day. The water will fill up your gutters and create a waterfall off the sides of your house. The weight of the water can cause your gutters to sag and have backflow issues that are very expensive to fix. There are three basic ways to fix a clog:
First, is a leaf blower. This works great on minor clogs. Blow air from the top of the spout and the leaves will blow out with no problem. The second is using a plumbers snake. This method is not ideal, however, it will give you results. The third method, my favorite, is using a pressure washer to blast the leaves out. This will not only get the leaves but also take out anything you have growing in there. Consequently, it is a huge mess too. Be ready to clean your yard. Gutter cleaning is an annoying part of owning a home. On the other hand, it does not have to be.
The Easy Solution
At Billy Goat Gutter Cleaning LLC, we clean gutters the right way so you don’t have to. We have the right tools and experience to get your gutters working as they did when they were brand new. Don’t risk your life or ruin your weekend cleaning your gutters yourself. Give us a call, we will do it for you.