Your gutters have probably accumulated more debris during the autumn season. There’s no doubt you’d want to clean your gutters before the winter approaches. However, safety is critical when cleaning your gutters, so you must look for safer options.
You probably don’t have a ladder, or you consider ladders unsafe, and therefore, looking for other ways in which you can clean your gutter. Good news because this post will walk you through how you can clean your gutters without a ladder.
Ready, let’s cut to the chase.
Table of Contents
1. Vacuum Your Gutters
Manufacturers now sell gutter cleaning attachments, thanks to the advancement in technology. These attachments are suited to fit the ordinary shop vacuums with ‘reverse functions.’ They are C-shaped so that users can hook them into their gutters from the ground. Once you hook them from the ground, slip the attachment and start cleaning your gutters.
Gutter cleaning attachment will cost you between $30 and $100, and you can find its accessories at your nearby store or home improvement hardware. However, if you need one for the short term, feel free to rent a gutter cleaning attachment at around $20 per day. Finally, you’d want to connect your extension to one or even more extension wands, depending on the heights of your house gutters.
There are also chances that you are on a limited budget and cannot afford to either buy or rent a gutter cleaning accessory. Not to worry, you can still make one for yourself. The first step is to fit your wet or dry vacuum with one or two extension wands to increase your reach—next, tape two duct elbows and then tape the contraption to your nozzle.
To ensure that your attachment is strong enough, be sure to use a robust tape, such as the Gorilla tape.
You can get the aluminum duct elbows at your local store for $5 per piece. That means that you can trim down your costs by up to $20 if you choose to make your attachments.
Once you have made your attachment, go in front of the gutter section. Lift your vacuum attachment, such that your open end is on the gutter bottom. When ready to start cleaning your gutters, switch on your vacuum. Also, make sure that you are standing far back from the gutter to avoid debris from falling on you as you clean.
Additionally, it would help if you walked slowly from one end of your gutter to the next to avoid the attachment slipping. Move to the next section when you finish cleaning one side of your gutter. To make sure that you remove the dry or loose debris, you will need a strong leaf blower.
Don’t pull your gutter with a hook-like attachment. This is because tugging too hard could damage your gutter instead. However, you will get better results using gutter flusher, if your gutter contains soggy clumps.
2. Using a Gutter Flusher
The second way you can clean your gutters without using a ladder is to use a gutter flusher. Gutter flushers are relatively cheap and they could cost between $25 and $50, depending on where you purchase it.
Sometimes, when buying a gutter flusher, it may not come with an extended handle. In some cases, it could come with an extended handle, but too short to reach your gutters. If this is the case, buy another separate flow-through extension to supplement it. Flow-through extensions cost around $20 to $30.
If you don’t wish to wrangle your hose each time you want to clean your gutters, then gutters with quick-couple to the nozzles could be a perfect match.
Meanwhile, there are those gutter flushers that will slip into an ordinary hose nozzle, while others require to be screwed to fit into place. Depending on the model that you prefer, it would help if you use a separate latch to guarantee your safety. Also, it is essential that you go through the instructions that come with the gutter flusher you just bought to the basics across.
Even though I have only featured a single nozzle in this post, a couple of gutter flushers produce freshening steam that ensures that the equipment gets the job done even if it is not in a perfect position.
Hold down your device’s trigger and release steam if you run the gutter flusher via a pressure washer. Also, take note that gutter flushers consume large quantities of water, so don’t get surprised if your water bills shoot during the period you used it.
The steam emitted should break up or wash all the clumps and debris present on your gutter. It is also important that you flush each section of your gutter at a time before you can move to the next section of your gutter. Finally, gutter flushers will do an excellent job to clean gutters with a lot of debris than vacuum attachments.
3. Manual Removal
Maybe you want to do it the old school way – the manual removal technique. And you probably don’t want to use a ladder, so you are thinking of other available options. There are home improvement tools you can purchase and clean your gutters manually.
For example, you can purchase a rake attachment or a pair of tongs at around $15 to $20 and $30, respectively. Both of the tools above can attach to an extension pole, so you should expect to spend a bit more – $10-$20.
Once you have your tools, it’s time to start cleaning your gutters. Hold your rake, such that the head is facing away from you, then raise it to match the height of your gutter. Once you get there, pull the pole and start dragging the leaves and debris on your gutter gently. Continue with this process until you can affirm that all the debris and leaves are pulled down.
Wear a facemask to protect you from the debris and leaves. This is probably the cheapest way to clean your gutters, but it is time-consuming, so be sure to take breaks and cool off before you embark on it again.
If you choose to go with a pair of tongs, This is the process you should follow in cleaning your gutters. Start by elevating your tongs and position them above your gutters, ensuring that their arms are open. Clamp the tongs by pulling the string located at the attachment base. Repeat until all the debris and leaves are cleared from your gutter.
Just like when using a rake, you also should wear a facemask or put on your sunglasses to protect your eyes and nose from the falling debris and leaves. If you wish to pick up the debris and leaves you have cleared from your gutter, it will help to concentrate them in the same place to make your work more manageable when you retire to collecting them.
Once you finish cleaning your gutters, be sure to shovel the debris or leaves into a bag and throw it into a bin. Alternatively, use a wheelbarrow to take them to your garden to decompose and improve your garden soil fertility.
Other Techniques
4. Rotary Gutter Cleaning Equipment
The rotary gutter cleaning equipment is almost similar to the gutter flusher and can get into the crannies of your gutters. The best of all is that this equipment has a mountable bracket that can enable you to position your camera as you clean your gutters. So, if you wish to give a tutorial on how to clean gutters without using a ladder, this tool will be your best fit.
5. Using Water
This technique combines two of the previously discussed methods – manual removal and vacuuming. However, you won’t need any of the equipment we used earlier, except for water, but don’t stress yourself if you don’t have a hose. You can still use your bucket to run water on your gutters to clear all the debris and leaves on them. However, this will require you to sweep away all the leaves and debris on the gutter.
6. Leaf Guard
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of manually cleaning your gutters, a leaf guard will save you from the nightmare.
When you install a leaf guard, you will remove all the debris and leaves simultaneously. The leaf guard will trap all the debris and leaves, and you can then remove them without a hassle. Leaf guards are mostly found on story buildings, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use them in your home.
Bottom Line
There you go; you have a ton of options you can choose from if you don’t want to use a ladder to clean your gutters. All these techniques are great and proven to get results. You need to try out a few and see what works best for you. Remember, your safety comes first and that there are a couple of techniques that will either require you to put on your facemask or wear your sunglasses.
