It is always a good idea to clean out your gutters and downspouts at least once or twice a year, but it should be done more often than that if you have trees close to your house with branches hanging over your gutters. Most people do not give their gutters and downspouts much thought when it comes to home improvement, but by neglecting to clean out their gutters at least once or twice a year they risk the chance of gutters overflowing with water and debris, as well as clogged downspouts, and these things can lead to more costly problems.
Cleaning out your gutters and downspouts is not very time consuming and is not a very hard job to do. You will need a ladder tall enough for you to reach the gutter, something to scoop out the leaves and debris from your gutter, and something to place the leaves and debris in so you do not have to make a pile of leaves and debris on the ground, such as a mop bucket. If you do not clean out your gutters and downspouts on a regular basis and it has been a long time since you last cleaned them out, you will probably need something larger than a mop bucket to hold the leaves and debris, such as a garbage can.
Now that you have gathered everything you will need to complete your gutters and downspouts maintenance you can begin cleaning. Place the ladder at one corner of the gutters and begin scooping out all of the leaves and debris that you can reach, throwing them into your mop bucket or garbage can. Once you have gone as far as you can reach, move the ladder a bit further down and repeat the process, cleaning out all the leaves and debris that you can reach. Continue this process until all of the gutters have been cleaned out. If you are worried that your downspouts might be clogged, you can use a plumber’s snake to go down each downspout clearing away any larger pieces of debris that may be causing the clog.
If you are one of those people who just do not want to take on the task of cleaning out the gutters and downspouts, or if you just aren’t able to climb a ladder to do the work, you can install downspout guards and gutter protectors that help prevent leaves and debris from causing clogs.
Regular gutter and downspout maintenance can prevent foundation and roof damage that can turn into very expensive home repairs. Regular maintenance can also prevent the gutters and downspouts from coming loose and falling off of the house, making it necessary to either nail them back in place or replace them altogether with new gutters and downspouts. This can also become a very expensive home repair project.
Please remember to clean your gutters and downspouts at least once or twice a year to maintain the appearance of your home and to prevent any costly repairs.
Related Articles
Tags: cleaning gutters, gutter, gutter cleaning, outdoor cleaning
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.