Clean rain gutters are very important to have. Overly full gutters can cause damage to your roof and to your home. Luckily, this isn’t a job that needs to be done every week. You should clean your gutters about once or twice a year. This is plenty to ensure good upkeep of your home. There are several different methods to take when you want to clean your rain gutters. Here’s how to properly clean rain gutters to protect your home from damage.
How to Clean Rain Gutters
Wear Proper Attire
You should always wear a long sleeve shirt and gloves to clean rain gutters. There is usually a lot of gunk and grime in rain gutters and gloves will protect your hands from all of it. It will also protect your hands from getting hurt or injured from sharp objects or sharp edges of the gutter. Long sleeves will protect your arms from twigs, branches, and other things that could poke you. Wearing the proper attire will save you from a lot of pain later. You’ll protect your skin from any infections too because all that dirt and grime won’t be able to get inside your cut.
Select an Appropriate Ladder
You will need an appropriate ladder to have clean rain gutters. Never try to clean your gutters by sitting on the roof and leaning over to clean them. This is very unsafe and could result in serious injury if you fell off the roof. A stable ladder will help keep you safe. The best ladder for cleaning gutters would be one with horns. Horns allow the weight of the ladder to rest on the roof of your house instead of on the gutters. This will prevent any rain gutter damage.
Start Cleaning
Now that you have the right attire and ladder, it’s time to start to work on having clean rain gutters. Some kind of scoop will work best to remove any debris. There are rain gutter scoops that make it easy to clean your gutters. However, you can use a small shovel or spade to get the job done well. Clean as thoroughly as you can so that you don’t have to clean again for a long time.
Fill Trash Bags
Put all the leaves, dirt, and debris in large trash bags. Some people like to throw the debris down on their lawn but that might damage your lawn by leaving yellow spots where the debris sat. Filling trash bags will save your lawn and create less of a mess to clean up afterward. No one wants to try to clean gunk off of their lawn after they’ve cleaned out all of their rain gutters. It might be a little extra work to fill up trash bags instead of just throwing the debris overboard, but it’ll be better in the long run.
The Final Cleaning Touch
To finish off all the hard work you’ve done, use a hose to flush out any remaining dirt. This will really give you clean rain gutters. Use a long hose and put the end of it at the beginning of your rain gutters. Then turn on the hose fairly high so that it can wash down all the remaining dirt. This is also a great way to see if there are any cracks or leaks in your rain gutters. Pay attention to if water is leaking out somewhere.
Summing Up
Clean rain gutters are important. It can be a long, hard job but it will be better for your house. Make sure you work really hard to do a good job so that you won’t have to be back up there cleaning again soon. Clean gutters will protect your home from damage.
