How to Clean Gutters Yourself and Why You Should Avoid It

Gutter cleaning is one of those jobs that nobody ever looks forward to doing, and that’s because it’s a dirty, exhausting, and time-consuming job. There’s a good reason that there are many professional gutter cleaners out there, and that’s because of their services on in demand.

If you have ever spent an afternoon cleaning the gutters on a house then you know just how unpleasant it can be. You know that there are probably a million other things you would much rather be doing. You’d probably rather even go to work than clean your gutters, so then why would you put yourself through it?

Turning to professional gutter cleaners is something that most homeowners end up doing at some point when they realize that the money they spend to do it is not only minimal, it’s also well worth it.

Not only will hiring a professional to clean the leaves, pine needles, and other muck out of your gutters keep you from having to do it yourself, they will also do a better job than you can do yourself. So, hiring professional gutter cleaners saves you a lot of effort, and it gives you superior results. That’s pretty much the definition of a win-win situation.

The Importance of Regular Gutter Cleaning

Rain gutters are one of the most overlooked parts of a home. Even those that are designed to look elegant kind of blend into the background over time and are easily forgotten, and then neglected. This is unfortunate because those rain gutters and downspouts on your home are there for a reason.

That reason is to protect your home from water damage. When it rains all of that water hits your roof, then gravity pulls it down to the ground. On the way to the groundwater follows the path of least resistance and can end up in places in your home that you really don’t want water getting into.

If water gets inside of your home it’s going to activate mold spores because there are mold spores everywhere. Water will cause toxic black mold in a home, it’s unavoidable. Unless of course, you keep water from getting inside of your home in the first place. That’s where rain gutters come in. Rather than letting water pour off of your roof and go wherever it wants to go, rain gutters collect all of that water and then direct it away from your home where it won’t cause any damage.

In addition to possibly causing problems with toxic black mold, if water is allowed to pool at the base of your home it can slowly seep into the ground. Then it could end up seeping into the small cracks in your home’s foundation. If that happens, and temperatures drop below freezing, then that water will expand as it turns into ice. This can easily lead to severe foundation damage.

In either of the above scenarios, you can expect to pay out a lot of money in damages. Mold remediation companies don’t work for cheap, and neither do foundation repair companies. It’s not uncommon to end up with bills in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

Fortunately, if you have rain gutters in a good working condition the chances of you having this type of water damage problem is fairly minimal, which is why it’s so important that you have your gutters cleaned and inspected on a regular basis.

Be Prepared to Spend A Lot of Time and Exert A Lot of Effort Cleaning Your Gutters Yourself

If you are still interested in attempting gutter cleaning yourself, you better be prepared to spend an entire day or longer on the project. Gutter cleaning is a long, arduous, and labor-intensive process. You are going to have to spend hours going up and down a ladder, while carrying a heavy bucket to store the pine needles, leaves, and other debris that you pull out of the gutter.

If you have a home that is more than a single story in height, then you are going to be working at a higher elevation, which only increases the difficulty level of the job. If you decide to attempt to clean your own gutters you will spend a lot of time on the project, and you will be filthy and exhausted when you are done.

Get the Right Equipment to Do the Job the Right Way

One of the main reasons that professional gutter cleaners do a better job is because they have access to the right equipment. No, the right equipment isn’t our garden hose and a chair. If you want to clean your gutters the right way, you are going to need the right equipment. That means a ladder and a power washer.

A power washer is necessary because it enables you to really get all of the muck cleaned out of the gutters that are left over after you have removed most of it by hand. Some people think that a water hose with some type of brass novel on the tip will provide sufficient water pressure to clean gutters, but it really can’t compare to the effectiveness of an actual pressure washer.

Now, if you are still determined to clean your gutters yourself you have one of two options. You can either rent the equipment you need, or you can buy it. Renting it is obviously a lower cost, but it’s going to be a recurring cost. What you need to remember here is that renting the proper equipment to clean your gutters with may end up costing you just as much or even more than simply hiring a professional to clean them for you.

Of course, you could always buy the equipment you need and avoid this recurring cost. But, what happens if you buy the equipment you need and only use it once because you realize that cleaning your gutters yourself is not something you want to do all the time? Then you will have sunk money into equipment that’s probably just going to sit in your garage forever.

Make Sure to Inspect Your Gutters for Problems as You Clean Them

The most important thing to keep in mind when are cleaning your gutters is to ensure that you inspect them, as well as the surrounding areas of your house, for damage. If you can catch a small problem before it becomes a big one, then you can save a lot of money. Small problems are obviously easier to fix than big ones, so the fact that it costs less shouldn’t be a surprise.

The other benefit of catching a small problem with your gutters before it becomes a major problem is that it prevents or reduces secondary damage. What is secondary damage? Simply put, it’s water damage. When you rain gutters aren’t working right then they won’t control the flow of rainwater and keep it from damaging your home.

This can lead to toxic black mold and even foundation damage. So, it’s important to catch gutter problems before these secondary issues arise because it can save you a lot of money.

The main problem that you are going to run into here is that unless you are a trained professional, your ability to spot gutter problems that aren’t exactly obvious will be limited. Anyone can spot a drooping gutter or a gutter that leaks. Not just everyone can spot a small problem that can be causing damage to your home that you aren’t even aware of.

Once again, this is another situation where hiring a professional can be invaluable. Hiring professional gutter cleaners won’t only get your gutters cleaner, it will also give you the added benefit of having a professional closely inspect your gutters for problems. That benefit right there alone is worth the expense of hiring a professional.

The Best Way to Properly Clean Your Gutters

Now that you have the right equipment and understand what you are getting into, and you still haven’t changed your mind, then it’s time to get started. Step one is to set up your ladder. While this is a fairly simple thing to do, it’s essential that you set it up correctly.

The last thing you want is to have an unstable ladder that you are going to be working on, this makes an already dangerous job even more dangerous. Make sure that you only set up your ladder on level ground, and that you never stop on the top step. If you do these things and avoid using your ladder during high wind, you should be okay.

Now comes the fun part, digging out all of the muck that has built up in your gutters since the last time they were cleaned. For this part, you definitely want to wear gloves because you are going to be sticking your hands into some pretty disgusting stuff. It’s also not a bad idea to wear some kind of breather mask since the smell won’t be that pleasant either.

The good news is that this part of the process isn’t overly complicated. You simply reach into the disgusting muck in your gutters, pull a handful out at a time, then deposit into the waste bucket. When the bucket fills up you climb down the ladder, dump it in the trash, then go back up to keep at it. You can expect to do this dozens of times, maybe even hundreds of times while cleaning your gutters. Just in case you were wondering, it is just as exhausting as it sounds.

Once you have finished cleaning as much of the muck out as possible by hand, you then need to take the pressure washer you have either purchased or renting and go back through your gutters spraying them out. This part can get quite messy, so not only will you need to shower when you’re done, you’ll also need to spray down your house and sidewalks. There’s a good chance your downspouts will need to be cleaned out as well, so this is the perfect time to spray them out too.

Hiring A Professional Is Well Worth It

After reading about all that is involved with cleaning out your gutters you may have come to the sensible conclusion that hiring a professional is well worth it. Professional gutter cleaners do a better job, they inspect your gutters while they clean them, and most importantly they prevent you from having to do the job yourself.

Cleaning gutters is really hard work, and it’s more complicated than it looks. That’s why you are always better off hiring a professional, but how do you choose the right professional?

First, only hire a professional gutter cleaning company that is licensed, bonded, and insured. That means that you should never hire a handyman or anyone else that doesn’t have these credentials. Next, take the time to do some homework and find a gutter cleaning company you can trust.

That means looking for a gutter cleaning company that has a history of satisfied customers. While it can be rather time-consuming doing this type of research before hiring a gutter cleaner, it’s always going to be worth the effort.

Clean Pro Gutter Cleaners Is Your Best Option

If you are looking for a professional gutter cleaning company that you can trust, and you don’t want to spend hours trying to find the right one, then you should just contact Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning instead. Of course, they are licensed, bonded, and insured, but their qualifications go well beyond the minimum. They have an outstanding reputation that is well earned, and they have the training, tools, equipment, and experience necessary to provide you with outstanding service.

If you are interested in getting a quote they make the process as easy as possible since you can simply go to their website, fill out some basic information, then be given your quote. So, if you’ve realized that cleaning your gutters yourself is not the best idea, and you are ready to hire a professional you can trust, then contact Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning today.