House cleaning normally refers to the interior of the home. One area that people often forget to clean is the gutters. Ignoring your gutters can cause damage to multiple components of your home. Clogged gutters will overflow, letting the water seep onto your roof and pour over your siding. Rainwater can also pool up around the foundation or destroy landscaping if not directed away from the home. Learn how to clean gutters and complete this task at least twice a year.
Get the Right Equipment
Start your cleaning process with a stable ladder. Put it on solid ground where it won’t shift. Next, you’ll need to gather some basic tools and cleaning equipment. You’ll want a good pair of gloves, a garden hose with a nozzle, and a small garden spade. Have someone else at home while you are cleaning the gutters. Someone holding the ladder makes the job safer.
Plan How to Clean Gutters
Before you head up the ladder, think about how you’ll approach the job. Start on one end of the gutter and work around the perimeter of the house. You’ll need somewhere to place the debris so it doesn’t get thrown all over the yard. Hook a bucket to the top of the ladder or spread out a tarp at the bottom of it. Either way protects the landscaping around your foundation from falling mud, sticks, and leaves.
Clean Gutters Carefully
Climb carefully to the top of your ladder. Use a gloved hand or trowel to dig out the accumulated dirt, leaves, twigs, and shingle granules. Toss the debris onto a tarp on the ground or into a bucket hanging from the ladder. Clean as far as you can safely reach in each direction, then climb down the ladder and move it over. Once you’ve worked the whole length of the gutter, return to your first position with the garden hose and spray the entire gutter out.
Finish With the Downspout
It can be easy to overlook the downspout as you clean gutters, but a clogged downspout causes trouble. Sometimes leaves accumulate on the screws that attach it to the gutter. Replace them with shorter ones if that’s a problem. Then direct your garden hose into the top of the downspout to see if water flows freely out the bottom.
Clean Up
After the gutters are clean on the inside, it’s time for a quick once-over of the outside. Spray the outside of the gutters and downspouts. Throw all the debris in the compost pile, if you have one.
These simple steps are all it takes to clean gutters. Add this task to your spring and fall cleaning lists to keep water flowing away from your home.
HomeVantage Home Inspections provides home inspections to northern New Jersey. Contact us to schedule an appointment.