Now that spring is finally here and the temperatures are warming up, homeowners are once again moving outdoors and working on the exterior of their homes. One of those spring time jobs is the cleaning out your gutters. Even if you cleaned out the gutters in the fall of last year you may want to take another look as leaves and debris may have accumulated over the winter months.
Roof Cleaner tips to cleaning gutters:
1) SAFETY FIRST
Proper PPE (personal protection equipment) must be worn and we suggest gloves, safety glasses, long sleeves and hats. Gutters become filled with rotting plant material and can even have animal waste all adding up to a bacteria filled gutter.
2) Wear rubber boots.
While cleaning out the gutters the ladder steps may become wet and slippery and by having the proper footwear you can reduce the chance of slippage on the rungs.
3) Ladder Safety.
Knowing how to correctly position your ladder is a must. We recommend having a ladder standoff attached to your ladder as these devices will help stabilize the ladder. Inspect the ladder before each use to make sure all parts of the ladder are in excellent working order.
4) Use a gutter cleaning tool.
There are many gutter cleaning tools available both at the local big box stores and online and they will help in the clearing of the debris from the gutter. We here at Roof Cleaner only use plastic ones as the metal ones can scratch or damage the gutters.
5) Rinse the gutter.
Once all of the debris has been removed from the gutter, use your garden hose to rinse the inside of the gutter to remove some of the caked on dirt. A normal spray nozzle attachment should provide the pressure that you need. Be careful as you spray. Make sure the downspouts are working properly and are draining away from the home.
6) Outside of gutter.
Once you have the inside of the gutter clean, don’t forget about the outside as it will have gotten very dirt while you were cleaning the inside. Make sure you rinse off any debris that may have stuck to them. If the outside of the gutters are extremely dirty you can purchase some Purple Power cleaner and follow the directions on the container, this will help remove the stains and tiger stripes that make your gutters look old and dirty. We never recommend the use of a pressure washer to clean the outside of the gutters as these machines are designed for the cleaning of heavy equipment – NOT the exterior of homes. Even the toughest of stains will come off the gutters without the use of a pressure washer.
If you would rather leave this job to the professionals, we here at Roof Cleaner do provide this service to residential and commercial property owners in the greater Grand Rapids and Lakeshore areas.