Guttering cleaning?

[John Smith]

Hi,

For a few weeks I have been hearing some dripping in the downstairs room that I used as an office but could not find out where it was coming from. A few days ago I noticed a damp patch in a cupboard but, interestingly, nothing in the rooms in the two floors above.

Anyhow, last time it rained I managed to track down the cause. The guttering above the patch was filled with earth and some clumps of grass growing in there. It is right next to a window used by the students next door and, well, their guttering is full of cr*p also. This roof is really high up but I was able, using a long broom handle, to lean out of a window and clean out most of the rubbish - mainly compounded earth. (It looks as if someone has thrown a pot of earth into my guttering.).

However, a couple of stubborn grass clumps remain, can't get the leverage, and it is difficult for me to reach with a ladder not just because of the height but also because of the 'neighbours' so I came up with a plan to buy some weed killer, wait until a few dry days is forecast and pour this down the roof so that it has time to try and kill of the grass before thinking of hiring out a jet pressure washer to clean along the guttering.

Does anyone have thoughts on this or a better idea? Is there some gutter cleaning fluid that exists????

Thanks,

John.

[Peter Scott]

You really need to remove the soil, not just wash it down to the drain. Can't you borrow or hire an extending ladder to get up to the gutter? You might need a stand-off bracket so you can see over the gutter. That's when you can get your long brush and clean properly. Grit your teeth and do your neighbours' as well. They won't I guess?

To get the muck out, use a brush from a dustpan set or a trowel.

You'll also see your neighbourhood from a new perspective.

Peter Scott

[Owain]

"Peter Scott" wrote | You'll also see your neighbourhood from a new perspective.

Get close to the bedroom window and the OP may also see his neighbours from a new perspective :-)

Owain

[Andrew Gabriel]

I made up a gutter cleaner. It consists of two 3 metre lengths of

15mm copper pipe joined together, and joined to a piece which is bent round almost 180º and the end hammered flat but not quite sealed up to make a wide flat jet. This is then hooked over the edge of the gutter from the ground. (You have to carry it held vertically as the copper is not rigid enough to lift that length up from horizonal unsupported.) With a hosepipe feeding it, you slowly pull it along the gutter and it blasts the muck out. It will also blast out the rubber seals at joins if the guttering is falling to pieces;-) You might want to temporarily disconnect the down pipe to stop too much muck going into soakaway.

You will need to wear waterproofs and goggles (or you will end up with much of the muck in your eyes). When you've finished, you will need to hose down the wall of the house, and get someone to hose down you;-)

My neighbours all find this most amusing, but I have clean gutters, and many of them have gutters which overflow when it rains hard.

[Lobster]

Typical students. Why they can't use the loo like anybody else I just don't know.