Gutter cleaning

Now that I'm almost 70, my wife insisted that I call a guy to clean the gutters.

After a ten month wait, I decided to just do it myself.

Had to do it when my wife was not watching.

I wonder if I should have those leaf guards installed?

Reply to
philo
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I was thinking about that...hard to see why gutters are even needed.

Reply to
philo

My ladder will take me safely as high as the bottom of the gutters but since it's a two story house do not want to risk my life working above the gutters, so would want to hire someone.

There is only one gutter near trees so I would not have to do all of them. Maybe it would not cost a fortune to just do one, ten foot section.

Reply to
philo

Well, they would be a good idea to keep rain from pouring onto your head when you enter and exit. And assuming the water is dealt with correctly, they take water away from the foundation, where it can wind up in the basement, if there is one. Also depends on how much overhang there is. If there isn't much, you have water pouring down on whatever is below and if that has any dirt on it, it can splash back up and dirty the siding. The falling water can erode whatever is below it, so hopefully there is mulch, stone or something there so it doesn't make a hole. I guess it also depends on how much rain you get, AZ or Oregon, etc.

Reply to
trader_4

While I couldn’t have no gutters when I designed and built my house, I would prefer no gutters at all because that had worked well in some of the houses I had lived in previously. Obviously you do need some way to avoid columns of water off the roof across the doors but that’s not hard to do without any gutters.

Since I couldn’t have no gutters at the time I built the house, I have very wide gutters, must be about a foot wide. Very easy to shovel the leaves out using a standard flat ended spade, onto the ground beside the house.

One problem is that the design of the flat roof now doesn’t allow me to easily have no gutters. They arent legally required anymore here.

Reply to
Rod Speed

Yeah, I agree. I have lived in houses with no gutters and that works fine.

I wasn’t legally allowed to have no gutters when I designed and built the house here in the very early 70s, but no gutters are allowed here now.

Reply to
Rod Speed

Gpod for you.

Just did my gutters a few days ago. I climb onto the roof(s) and use the back pack blower. Worst part for me is getting near the edge with a 2 story drop to the driveway. Lower parts of the roof don't bother me. Why does getting older make you more afraid of heights? Might be my imagination.

Still doing gutters myself at 73. When I give up, time to rent.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Yes, but its not hard to ensure that doesn’t happen at the doors without gutters.

I don’t have one and most houses here don’t have them.

But you get that even with gutters.

Yeah, I have one of my gutters falling onto the ground at the corner of the very deep 6' eaves on the sunny side of the house and there is quite hole there in the dirt there.

One of the houses my parents owned had a small pit with stones in it with a chain from the gutter to that pit that the water flowed down. Worked well.

Yeah, that house the parents had was in Brisbane. I have never seen such a downpour anywhere else at times. Very spectacular and you can get cars floating down the road at times there.

Reply to
Rod Speed

Did any of these houses have a basement?

We like to direct water away from the foundation so the basement stays dry.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
angelicapaganelli

My wife is the same and I just did mine on the first floor. I took my time and made sure my center of gravity was good on the ladder. Several years ago a neighbor than my age fell doing his and lost a few teeth.

Last year I had new gutters installed and was told that gutter guards always failed and would cost 3X as much. I had mesh type with large holes self installed and would still have to remove a few pieces to remove particulate that accumulated. I see a micro mesh being advertised and it may work better but probably costs even more. A quick Google shows cheapest at about $25/ft.

I had my top floors gutters cleaned once and it cost about $200. I think the are out of reach of trees around so I will do lower as long as I can and bring out the Gutter Guys every several years.

Reply to
invalid unparseable

Ouch, I'd have gueseds half that. Better to just let them fill up and replace them every few years and come out ahead :)

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Here's a somewhat different approach :

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John T.

Reply to
hubops

That's what we use. My husband didn't refer to Youtube, though. He formed the PVC such that it slots in to the leaf blower just like the part it replaces. We bicker a little bit over who gets to use it, although if it's been raining I always concede.

Our gutters are maybe 9 feet off the ground.

Cindy Hamilton

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
angelicapaganelli

Or maybe the Flip Clean Gutter System.

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From the ground and works on the 2nd story.

Reply to
Oren

I made one of those but it is somewhat heavy and shingles cover nearly half the gutter so gap is not as good as it could be. I tried it before I climbed the ladder and ended up with a lot of wet leaves in my hair. Once they get wet and sit and soak, physical re-movement works best.

Reply to
invalid unparseable

We were discussing ovens in another thread, it is practically impossible to get someone out to the house for less than $100. The oven guy is up to $150 and blames workman's comp insurance cost.

It is possible to avoid that expense but if someone is injured working on your property you may be subject to a law suit. One of our sons in an insurance company lawyer and has some frightening stories of suits he has seen. Homeowners insurance usually does not cover workmen.

Reply to
invalid unparseable

Since my house already has good gutters, might as well leave them. Been here 40 years now.

Reply to
philo

My buddies and I worked our way through school by doing house painting.

I was usually the one up on the 40 foot ladder simply because I was the worst painter and my sloppy work would not be so obvious.

Reply to
philo

9 feet off the ground, no problem
Reply to
philo

Thanks for the info, I'm going to skip the gutter guards then.

This is not a major big deal, even if I have to pay someone to clean them.

Reply to
philo

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