Cleaning the gutters before the storm (why do I always wait 'till the end)

[Danny D.]

Finally started cleaning the gutters, as I hear we have a storm coming to California. (Why do I always wait 'till the end?).

I presume you guys do it the same way (ladder + hose + snake)?

Here is what the gutters looked like, to start with:

The downspouts were clogged with leaves and debris:

They also had a lot of mud for some reason clogging them up:

The hose didn't work all that well on the down spouts:

But, eventually the hose cleaned out the gutter itself:

It was cumbersome on a ladder, with the gutter in the way, in the wind and rain (my fault for waiting for the storm to build); but what seemed to work best was a 30-foot snake, which only went in about 20 feet:

Unfortunately, all my downspouts are buried so I can't easily get in the other way. I'll have to get back to it after the storm because their is still standing water in the gutters:

BTW, check out this industrial strength weed whacker parked on the side of the road ...

[clare]

I put gutter guards on 4 years ago and have not had to clean a gutter since. They don't fill with ice and tear off any more either (up here in Central Ontario snow country)

[Terry Coombs]

That is not a weed whacker , that sir is a bush hog . That one looks to have the blades pivoted on a reinforced area of the disk . One I worked on recently had a 1" X 4" bar as the member that the blades mounted to , the disc was just to keep debris from the bearing and stuff above . Those will take down a 2" tree and not even blink .

[Danny D.]

Terry Coombs wrote, on Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:36:40 -0600:

I held those two blades in my hand. They're basically two thick rectangles of steel on a pivot pin that swing free.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere near them when they're moving.

[Terry Coombs]

They can fershure sling shit . Most of the roadside mowers up here have "curtains" of short pieces of chain - heavy chain . I've considered fabbing something similar (the blade , not the curtain) for the 46" mower deck that mounts on my little tractor . I don't really have any "lawn" but there's some brushy growth in the orchard that this would work on just dandy .

[Dan Espen]

Nope. Ladder to climb to roof. Use back pack blower and blow all the leaves out.

I never had a tile roof, I suppose you don't want to walk on it.

[Stormin Mormon]

This year I find out that my Mom has a thing about gutters, and I've been on the ladder several times. One time, I got the backs cleared, and the ladder put away. And about that moment she decided to tell me the reason I'm up there is that when it rains, the water pours over the edge, instead of draining. Sigh.

A friend loaned me electric leaf blower, which moved a lot of leaves. I later tried my little electric power washer on the backs, it removed the black rot rather easier than hand scooping.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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[Danny D.]

Dan Espen wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:19:55 -0500:

I have read all about how to walk on the tiles, yet, *every* time I go up there, I break more.

[Danny D.]

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 07:41:49 -0500:

I had thought about using the gas blower or the gas power washer - but - the hose worked reasonably well on the gutters, so, I didn't bring them.

[trader_4]

I just reach in with a gloved hand and put the leaves in a bucket. No hose, no snake. What little debris is left in the bottom, doesn't matter. Never had a leader need snaking either.

[Danny D.]

trader_4 wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 05:34:45 -0800:

I'll snap a picture of my "leaders" but right now it's still dark outside and the Pineapple Express is howling over the mountains facing the Pacific (with gusts, I'm told from 35 to 95 mph). I can hear it but I don't have a measuring tool (other than debris is blowing all over the place).

If it lets up, I'll see if I can get up to the third roof (which is about

30 feet high and I, unfortunately, only have a 28-foot ladder) which, if I pick just the right spot, has about 4 or 6 inches to spare at the gutter.

My leaders seem to be different than the ones I see on the Internet videos, which are usually huge 4-inch wide rectangular corrugated large tubes with huge 4x2-inch openings near the foundation.

Mine seem to be smaller 1.5" diameter circular "pipes" which go into the ground. I'm sure they pop up somewhere, but I don't know where. So I can only snake them from the top, which also is different than most.

Most I've seen on the net have the hole in the BOTTOM of the gutter, whereas mine are all in the side. That means it's harder to get a snake in because the gutter wall is in the way.

[trader_4]

That sounds real bad. I have typical ones, and even on mine, I have to wonder what they were thinking. Some of the openings into the leaders are only about 2.5" wide. Like it would kill them to make them larger so maybe more stuff could go in without them clogging?

I see some parts of CA they are forecasting 8" of rain in 20 hours. Good news is that recent storms are ending the long drought. Bad news is all that water in such a short time brings it;s own problems....

[Stormin Mormon]

If it's working; continue.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

.

[Danny D.]

trader_4 wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 06:55:23 -0800:

I just went outside to snap a picture of the "leaders" for you.

Here is a typical leader, with a rule next to it for size:

The leader comes from the inside side of the gutter and goes into the concrete (there is nothing but ground under the concrete).

They all go into the ground, except the top (3rd) floor, which just spills onto the next roof which then spills into the 2nd floor gutter which goes into the ground (as do the 1st floor gutters).

Sorry for the lousy pictures. Dropped my phone off a cliff last time we were hiking and scrambling down a ravine in the mountains. It was either the kid I was belaying or the phone ... and it was a difficult choice at the time.

[Danny D.]

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 10:19:42 -0500:

The hardest part is that the Werner ladder that I have is only

28 feet long.

That works for most of the gutters, but some are higher than the ladder. If I put the ladder foot on a ledge, I can just about get a few inches over the lip of the gutter, but, the gutter is 30 feet long and so I can only get to one end of it even at that.

Lesson learned: 32 foot ladders are useful, if heavy.

[Danny D.]

Oren wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 09:26:02 -0800:

(a) You probably aren't as fat as I am, and, (b) My tiles are 're-roofing' tiles (not originals).

So, they're especially 'breaky' (unfortunately). I still have to go up and repair some ... sigh.

[Dan Espen]

Good info. I think tile roofs look great. But if you can't walk on them, I don't think I want one.

[Danny D.]

Oren wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 08:51:17 -0800:

I looked at most of the dozen or so spouts, and nary a one has a joint that is accessible anywhere.

Here's one:

And another: And another: And another:

Here are where they go into the ground but from there I don't know:

Here's another one going into the ground (notice the black pipe):

I searched downhill from that black pipe above, and finally found this, after clearing away brush, with a new waterfall digging a new ravine into the side of the hill!

It looked new, to me, that this was spewing water into the steep muddy hillside far down from the house (about 100 feet or so):

So, I threw some scrap sandstone into the hole to protect it a bit:

Do they make something to put at the end of those two pipes to protect the hillside from washing away in the rain from the waterfalls?

[Danny D.]

Oren wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 08:51:17 -0800:

That video was confusing because it didn't seem to be on a garden hose but it seemed to be on a pressure washer wand metal tube.

I do have a pressure washer (a nice Honda from Costco, IIRC) which came with five (colored) tips, one of which will cut a hole through concrete, I swear, while the other end of the spectrum is what I use most, as it alone, even being the softest, will dig a hole through wood.

I rarely use the pressure washer nowadays, mainly because my garden hoses are at 80psi, and they all have brass nozzles (I learned to use the all-brass ones from Ace and to deprecate those composite ones from Lowes, & Home Depot and to deplore the plastic ones from OSH or the single-rubber o-ring Chinese but all-brass ones from Harbor Freight).

Being that I'm sort of a double-o-ring-all-brass-garden-hose nozzle expert by now, I pretty much do most of my cleaning with the garden hose (which I have at least 500 feet of, or more so I can go all over the house with just a single connection).

[Danny D.]

Danny D. wrote, on Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:40:42 +0000:

BTW, this is spewing out on a steep almost-vertical cliff of mud.

I wonder, if, when I have the time/energy/money/inclination, etc., if there is a way to *capture* all that water that is spewing off my roof?

I tasted the water and it's clean and it looks clear, and the roof is tile so it's as clean as can be. If I keep the gutters clean, the water should be drinkable (it's just rainwater, after all).

At the very least, I can use it in the pool (which is a few hundred feet away from this drainage opening).

The pipes look broken, so they look like they still went further, but this is a good 100 feet from the house so it's on a steep hillside of mud.

I wonder if there is an inexpensive holding tank that I can put on the hillside to capture this water for re-use during the dry times (which is 90% of the year)?

Do any of you capture your rainwater for re-use?