The Best Way To Clean Your Rain Gutters

Gutters exist for one reason and one reason only: to take the rain that falls on your roof and redirect it away from the house.

When your gutters get clogged, that rain floods over the lip of your gutters and down the side of your house. This is bad. Your siding will start to rot, and even worse your foundation might start to shift, and that’s thousands of dollars waiting to be drained out of your bank account.

The only way to make sure you avoid damaging overflows from your gutters is to clean them regularly. It’s good practice to clean them once or twice a year, and more often if your house is near a lot of leafy trees.

How to Clean your Gutters

1. Find the right ladder.

For gutters on the first story of a house, you’ll likely only need a standard step ladder with four legs. It’s ideal to have someone else around to hold the ladder and make sure you don’t fall, but if you’re going it alone, make sure you don’t step any higher than you need to.

2. Hose down the roof before you start clearing the gutter.

The majority of junk that ends up in your gutters got there because it washed down from your roof. Do yourself a favor and spray down the roof to run all the debris down into the gutters so you can clean it all out at once.

3. Use a plastic scoop to remove the leaves and debris.

Make sure you’re wearing thick gloves for this part. Loose metal in the gutters can cut you, not to mention all sorts of bacteria and not-so-clean things mixed in among the leaves. Gloves keep your hands clean and protected.

You can scoop the debris into a bucket that you keep on the ladder. Alternatively, set out a tarp on the lawn to collect it all and keep your yard protected. The decayed leaves can make a good mulch for your garden if you don’t want to throw it all in the garbage.

There’s nothing complicated about cleaning your gutters, but many people ignore them altogether or clean them without keeping safety in mind. Follow these steps and you’ll save yourself a world of hurt during the next big rainstorm.

If your roof or gutters are damaged during a big storm, give us a call at 417-869-0444 and we’ll come take a look at the damage and get it fixed up.