Keeping your gutters clean can help you get many more years of life out them. But like most other household choices, it can also prove hazardous if you do it wrong — and not doing it at all can actually be hazardous to your home as well. Here are three things to keep in mind when cleaning those gutters.
1. Your Life Depends on Your Ladder
The greatest danger in gutter cleaning stems from inadequate ladders and improper ladder usage. Use a fiberglass or aluminum ladder, since wooden ladders can deteriorate over time. Have a second person on hand to steady the ladder and watch out for your safety. Keep one hand and both feet on the ladder for maximum stability. If uneven soil seems to be unbalancing the ladder, try placing a sturdy, flat board underneath it.
2. Other Tools Matter Too
Choosing the right gutter cleaning tools will help ensure both the gutter’s well being and your own. To scoop debris out of the gutter, avoid using metal scoops, which can damage the gutter surface and promote rust. Instead, use a child’s toy scoop or another plastic scoop specially designed for gutter cleaning. An extension pole will allow you to manipulate the scoop without constantly resetting the ladder or stretching dangerously. Wear thick protective gloves to keep your hands from getting cut, scratched, and/or contaminated by whatever’s up there. Protective goggles will save your eyes or your glasses from other unhappy surprises as you work.
3. It’s a Must — Even if You Have Traditional Gutter Guards
The time, effort, and safety considerations involved in gutter cleaning may tempt you to put off the job or even forget about it entirely. Unfortunately, you really can’t do that unless you want to pay an even bigger price down the road. When gutter debris traps water, the water can pool onto your roof, eroding the shingles and rotting the wooden beams. If that water is allowed to freeze up there, then the accumulated ice can act as a wedge that opens up entryways for air and moisture. The ice can also harden into sets of heavy icicles known as ice dams, which not only endanger anyone passing by but can also cause the gutter to tear away from the roof’s edge.
Many people assume that they can simply put up some some gutter guards from the home improvement store and then forget about gutter cleaning entirely. But these perforated caps can’t catch everything, and in many cases the leaves and dirt will just pile up on top of them, robbing them of whatever filtering ability they once possessed.
If keeping your gutters clean sounds like a bothersome chore and potential safety hazard you’d rather remove from your “to do” list, then there’s only one way you can do so without risking long-term damage to your home — and that’s by purchasing a Moonworks Gutter Helmet. These products provide a solid lip that extends over the edge of your roof, allowing only water to drip into the gutters. The safest way to clean your gutters is by not getting them dirty in the first place, so contact Moonworks at1-800-975-6666 and solve the problem for good!