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Let’s talk the best way to clean gutters. To some, cleaning your gutters is an annoying chore. While to others it’s just a monthly expense. However, how much do you really know about how important it is? Whether you have done it yourself or hired someone, let’s look at the best way to clean gutters. Keeping your gutters clean is important for the quality of your home and your property. It’s also important to know the warning signs and when to act.
Clogged gutters will overflow and damage your home. The purpose of gutters is to guide water from your roof to the ground while keeping it away from your house. The problem is that water is never the only thing that ends up in your gutter. Leaves, debris, shingle grit, even animals can find their way in there and when they get stuck your gutters can clog causing some serious damage to your home which means some serious damage to your wallet.
There are some obvious signs that your gutters need to be cleaned out like if your gutters are leaking or overflowing, but there are less subtle signs as well. If you have a downspout that leads to an underground drain and the area around that drain is wet then it is most likely clogged. Clogged gutters can cause rainwater to soak into your facia board and rot it, which can cause water to leak into your attic, ceiling, etc. Similarly if your downspout and drain are clogged water can leak into your basement or foundation and that’s not only costly to fix but can be extremely dangerous causing mold and mildew.
If you clean your gutters yourself, or even if you hire a landscaper to do it, odds are you or the landscaper are only cleaning out the gutter and neglecting the downspout and outlet, which as you now know is just as important. Another important factor is the age and condition of your existing gutters, which you and the landscaper are probably not taking into account. Not to mention that a landscaper’s ladder will only allow him to get 10 ft off the ground and your home most likely has gutters out of that reach. Properly maintained gutters can last 20 or more years (depending on the material). The older your gutters are, the more in depth and careful the cleaning needs to be. Unprotected gutters, regardless of age, should be cleaned 2-4 times a year.
Hire the pros!! When you hire Brothers Gutters to clean your gutters you can be confident we take the above into practice. I recently sat in on one of their weekly Crew Leader meetings where the installers, Field Supervisor and often Ryan and Ken meet to discuss various things with the intent of improving the skill and quality of our installers. This week one of the topics was gutter cleanings. The Field Supervisor wanted to talk about it with the Senior and Junior Head Installers so that the Installer Assistants and Apprentices could get a better understanding of what is expected when they do a gutter cleaning; especially since this is the busiest cleaning season with Fall about to begin.
The field supervisor took a few photos of various images of gutters in need of cleaning. Lets look at the different things that could happen if your gutters aren’t cleaned regularly. We have our installers use a checklist. The pros don’t just clean the gutters out with a leaf blower. They clean out all debris out of the gutter, take the elbows apart and get the debris out of the downspout. In addition, they clear the roof of any debris that will inevitably end up in the gutter soon. If they notice any minor repairs while they are there, they will take care of them then. This will eliminate you needing to call in the future to fix them. Attention to every crack and crevice your gutters have even if you didn’t know about them.
Finding the best way to clean gutters with or without guards is imperative for your gutter system to work efficiently. Now no matter how well anyone cleans your gutters, you’re still going to have to clean uncovered gutters 2-4 times a year. This will allow them to keep working at their best. Another option that we suggest is to look into getting gutter guards. Click here to read our last blog about picking the best gutter guard or click here to look at our website and learn more about our cleanings and maybe schedule one for yourself before Fall is in full swing.