Clearing gutters... any tricks or tools?

There's no substitute to getting a ladder and going up there. Then you notice other problems like the soffits are rotting etc... I got fed up with doing this constantly this time of year as there are 3 large oak trees nearby. I eventually fitted a very good gutter guard :-

I would open a gutter joint down line the blockage, to catch the debris when it's flushed down the pipe to avoid possibility of blocking the underground drain.

I don't think you stand much chance of cleaning them properly while standing on the ground - if that is what you want to do!

You need a decent ladder of an appropriate length - with a stand-off bracket to hold it away from the wall at the top. You need to go up the ladder, armed with a bucket and a stout pair of rubber gloves, and scrape the leaves and other debris into the bucket with your hands. Finally, take a hosepipe up the ladder and swill out the gutters to wash away any remaining muck.

If you prefer, you could swill *all* the muck along and down the downpipes - but you'll then have to clean out the gulleys - and that's an even worse job!

Roger

Hello TonyK

It's a joy, isn't it?

Work has a shtil petrol blower which has an attachment for doing gutters. Complete waste of time and money, it rains black gunge over a huge radius.

Ladder I'm afraid.

Stick hose in at high point. Work your way down with a bucket and hook it out by hand. Use a paintbrush if the access is tight.

A plastic bottle with a handle and a roud/oval cross-section (get one suitably sized for your gutter) makes a good "shovel" for gutters: cut off the bottom of the bottle with a knife, and bevel the rest, leaving the handle and a bit to take the gunge.

Don't know if it's any good at the end of a pole, but it's a good tool the get the composted muck out of gutters, and it's everyone's favourite price...

Thomas Prufer

I actually found a purpose-built gutter "rake" in one of the sheds (Homebase I think) a while ago - bought it, and never got it dirty :-}

Here`s a picture of the end of it, it came on an aluminium pole about 4 foot long

Colin

Exactly what i was thinking of mounting on the end of a long reach pole so I could drag it backwards a bit at a time and then flush through with a hose (somehow).

I'll have a look around of few places.

Tony

I cut a piece of ply to the 1/2 moon profile of our gutters. This was mounted on a length of very light lathe (off cut from ripping timber actually). Using this eliminates a lot of ladder moving as one can reach out to both sides with it and pull the rubbish in before picking it out and dropping into a bucket.

It was lashed up as a temporary measure some years back but still survives.It doesn't have to be very strong as one is pulling and not pushing with it.

Thank heavens we have had some heavy frosts recently as that willl bring down the last of the leaves.

Paul Mc Cann

In message , TonyK writes

I made one out of a length of 1" diameter dowel and a small piece of ply cut to the profile of the gutter, later replaced the ply with an offcut of uvpc.

A ladder and a rubber glove is the only way.

A bucket is optional!

dg

My god. All this trouble. Makes me glad I did what I did..extended the french drains necessary for the thatch right round the tiled section of the house, and eliminated gutters altogether. Now the whole house drips like IMM's nose in the rain, but it all goes underground and vanishes into the pond..and one less regular maintance job to do.

Actually, I had - and still have - a few gutters on the garage.

Hose, or better still pressure washer, gets the muck out in seconds, and flushes the downpipes.

Any muck that ends up on the walls gets hosed away as well afterwards.

Poor guy. I almost feel sorry for him. You already Klargested him in the last day.... ;-)

Thinks. I wonder whether "to Klargest" could enter the language in the same way as "to Hoover".......??

.andy

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