6 Tools that Make Gutter Maintenance Easier
Maintaining your gutters can feel like a never-ending task. Believe us, as gutter professionals, we know! The idea of spending your weekend on a ladder scooping sludge out of your gutters is appealing to very few homeowners. With our experience, Gutterworks professionals have learned a few tricks and we’ve seen just about every product out there designed to make gutter cleaning projects easier. In this blog, we’ll tell you about six tools you could utilize to make you dread gutter cleaning a little bit less.
1) Simple Scoops
Sometimes, the most effective tool is the simplest! Using a scoop designed for gutter cleaning can make hours’ difference when it comes to clearing your gutters. Further, a simple gutter scoop costs less than $5, making it an inexpensive option for making your life easier. Using a scoop to scoop out debris protects your hands from any sharp sticks that can poke you, and it allows you to remove more at once than if you used your hands. It’s much less messy and easier to control than using your hands. When you’re working from a ladder, simplicity is better.
2) Telescopic tools
Telescopic tools help you access your gutters from the ground. Ladders can be a pain to drag out and can add an element of danger to your project. With telescopic tools, you can expand the length of a tool’s shaft to reach your gutters while you stand comfortably from the ground. Many of the tools we identify here have telescopic options. For example, this highly-rated telescoping hose wand allows you to flush your gutters with your hose from the ground effectively. This telescoping grabber tool can help you remove large pieces of debris to bring to the ground.
3) Pressure washer and hose accessories
Using your hose or pressure washer is a major element in gutter cleaning and maintenance. The telescoping tools above are great options for being able to complete the steps of gutter maintenance involving water. Once larger debris has been cleared, a pressure washer or hose attachment like this one can clear out the material that is too small to gather effectively with your scoop.
Different types of attachments can do different things. A wand attachment helps you reach out-of-reach areas, while something like this Water Rocket can clear a downspout or a gutter with high-pressure water.
4) Vacuum Kits
A kit for your wet/dry vacuum can help you remove debris from your gutters and dispose of it all in the same step. Standing atop a ladder at your gutters as you scoop and try to contain debris is risky business. Further, vacuuming up debris is far less messy than disposing of it by hand. If you have a shop vac, this relatively inexpensive kit might be helpful when you need to clean your gutters. This kit is telescoping which allows you to extend the vacuum hose further, and it prevents you from having to juggle a vacuum hose and ladder. Ultimately, the most effective gutter cleaning is done at the gutter level, but this, like other telescoping tools, can be a good option for a homeowner doing routine maintenance.
5) Gutter Guards
Prevention is the best tool when it comes to gutter maintenance. With effective gutter guards, maintenance is instantly simplified and reduced to simple periodic cleaning and inspection. Cleaning for gutters with guards is less frequent and less intense. There is no scooping and no requirement to unclog your downspouts when you have effective gutter guards installed. The gutter guards we recommend at Gutterworks have micro-perforations that don’t let debris reach your gutters. You can brush debris off easily with a tool like this, or use hose attachments to rinse it off. Some people even use leaf blowers to remove debris that comes to rest on their guards.
No matter what method homeowners choose to clear their gutter guards, the guards make life much easier. If you’re interested in gutter guard installation, reach out and we can help you with your options.
6) Professional Help
We have seen too many homeowners let their gutter system maintenance get away from them. If you don’t stay on top of gutter debris, it piles up very quickly. Even homeowners with a cache of fancy specialized tools end up calling us for help on their gutter cleaning projects. There’s simply no substitute for the know-how and experience of a professional on the job, and some jobs are too big to tackle on your own. If you don’t have the time (or the desire) to take on a gutter cleaning project, you know who to call! Call our experts so we can come out and do the messy stuff for you. Meanwhile, we can check out your gutter system and make recommendations for easier maintenance down the road.
Gutters are our business, and there is no one better than one of our gutter experts to help you with your gutter needs. Call us today at (304)848-9870!