Cleaning your gutters is probably not the most exciting thing that you have on your to-do list. However, ensuring that your gutters are free and clear of debris is vital to protecting your home. Gutters function to drain rainwater and keep your walls, roofing, and foundation dry, by dumping the rain away from your home. Gutters extend the life of your roof and prevent water damage that could potentially impact your home and destroy your belongings. While it would be easy to stick a pressure washer in there to flush out any debris and call it a day, that’s not the best way to move forward, and you can cause more damage by attempting to clean your gutters this way. Here we’ve put together tips on the best way to clean your gutters.
Choose the Right Ladder For Pressure Washing
When your gutters become clogged, they aren’t able to drain out water, will be unable to support the weight of the pooling water, and will eventually give way to ruin your home and flood your basement. These reasons point to why it’s essential to keep your gutters clean and make sure that they’re in top shape throughout the year. Unless you’re obscenely tall, you’re going to need a ladder to get on your roof to access your gutters. You should only choose a gutter friendly ladder that rests on your roof and not your actual gutter. Not only is it safer than leaning on your gutters, which aren’t meant to support that kind of weight, you’ll also avoid denting or causing any damage to your gutters at the same time.
Remove Any Debris By Hand Before Pressure Washing
After climbing up your gutter-safe ladder, you’ll want to remove by hand any debris. This includes any pine needles and leaves, acorns, and other vegetation that will clog up your drainage. It’s essential to remove this by hand. While a pressure washer might be your first idea, and it’ll blow out all the debris without having to worry about climbing up and doing it by hand, you can cause more damage to your gutters with it. Pressure washers are also extremely dangerous to use while you’re on a ladder because if you’re not ready for the pressure to come out, you can quickly lose your balance and fall.
Use a Lower-Pressure Garden Hose to Check Drainage Before Pressure Washing
After clearing out all the debris from your gutters, you should now test the drainage by using a regular garden hose. Spray your gutters on the roof to validate that the water drains through the downspout, away from your foundation. You may find that there’s a clog in the downspout at this point. Access the downspout and clog by removing the elbows that attach the gutters to the downspout. From the ground, where your feet are firmly planted, you can then use a pressure washer to push out the clog.
Cleaning your gutters is not the most glamorous job that you have as a homeowner, but it’s necessary to protect the integrity of your home from water damage. Instead of taking it on by yourself and risking doing damage to your gutters that will affect the integrity of your home, hire a professional. The folks at Squeegee Squad provide gutter cleaning services and use gutter-safe ladders to hand-clean your gutters of all debris and clogs, and validates that your drainage system is up to par. They’ll also bag up all the waste that they cleaned out and haul it away with them. Lighten your load and get a professional to make sure that your gutters are in the best shape to protect your home by getting your quote today!