Of course if you have the time and energy to clean your rain gutters the cost savings over having a professional do it can be significant.

Gutter cleaning is a very simple task to perform provided your home is one level and the ground surrounding the home is flat and stable. However when your gutters are second story gutters on pitched roofs with dormers etc. it can become quite a headache as well as a safety hazard.

According to the National Safety Council, falls are the No. 1 cause of accidental death and injury at home. Falls cause over 6,500 deaths each year and over TWO MILLION hospital-related injuries every year. What is most interesting is that a large percentage of the injuries are from ladder falls that occur 4ft or less off the ground.

If you do decide to clean the gutters  yourself be sure to purchase the correct equipment and tools for the job at hand. Make certain that you use a sturdy ladder. Ladders have a rating system that designates the weight capacity of who uses it. Many inexpensive ladders can be rated for household and are rated at 200lbs. This type of ladder is less rigid that the higher rated ones which are 250lbs to 300lbs and they can be a bit on the shaky side. We recommend a minimum of 250lb rating and preferably a fiberglass model if you are working around electrical wires. If you are using extension ladders you should seriously consider using ladder standoffs such as the LadderMax stabilizer that mounts on the ladder rungs and can be used as a wall or roof standoff. This not only provides excellent stability but when cleaning gutters allows you to stabilize your ladder on the roof which prevents your ladder from leaning against your gutter which eliminates gutter damage. Multi position ladders like the Little Giant or Werner multi function ladders are very stable and provide maximum versatility. Every home should have one. By the way we are not promoting or selling ladders here, however we use these ladders and accessories in our gutter and gutter cover installation business on a daily basis and believe they are excellent products.

Once you’ve climbed the ladder up to the gutter line do not reach too far to the side. This is one of the leading causes of falls. keep your hips square over the ladder to maintain your balance. You should never lean away on either side of the ladder. Make more moves with the ladder rather than risk a fall. This is the most common mistake homeowners make as they get in too big of a hurry to finish cleaning so they can get back to that Football Game on TV or some other more desirable task. This can spell disaster when you least expect it.

The other “safety” device to use is a painter’s bucket hook. This lets you bring up a 5 gallon bucket hook it to the ladder and have your hands free to hold on to the ladder and put material into the bucket. We recommend hand cleaning as scoop cleaning takes longer.

If you decide to clean the gutters from the roof, use a safety harness for protection from falling. Sometimes standing up quickly causes problems too, if you are prone to dizziness when you do stand up stay away from the edge even on a very flat roof. Many times if you must work from the roof the sit and scoot method is preferable. When working on the roof or climbing a ladder it is a good idea to wear non-slip shoes like sneakers or work boots. You should wear flexible heavy duty rubber gloves that will let you grab the gutter debris but not tire out your hands. Rubber gloves helps to keep your hands from getting soaking wet, and getting cut on metal edges etc. If you must work around power lines using a fiberglass ladder is a must as not all lines are well insulated so use extreme caution in these areas.

If you have taller shrubs or bushes around the perimeter of your home a good ladder choice is an “apple pickers or orchard ladder” these have a hinged pole on one side and a wide stance ladder on the other. They allow you to slip the pole down through the shrubs without damaging them, and they are extremely stable.

Following the above tips when cleaning your gutters will ensure you will do it safely as safety is the most important thing you can do when preparing to do this type of work. If you are not comfortable with doing this or you do not have the right equipment you should contact a professional to clean your gutters for you and leave the ladder climbing to them.

Using a Professional Cleaning Service

If you are going to pay a professional to clean your gutters be sure to check their credentials such as Liability Insurance, Workman’s Compensation Insurance etc. ask for proof that their insurances are current and in force. Did you know that you may be liable if the person or company does not carry proper coverage and someone gets hurt while cleaning your gutters? Some folks will allow anyone who knocks on the door to get on their roof and do cleanings with no thought as to what would happen if they got hurt. Protect yourself, only allow professionals that are licensed, bonded, and insured perform such tasks. Those professionals will provide a reasonable price that will reflect the true cost of hiring a professional service. On the surface it is really tempting to go with the lowest price, but should something go wrong you will probably wish you had paid the professional in the first place.  Another thing to consider, professional services usually carry a guarantee of cleanliness and will provide proof via digital photos of their work. If you hire the neighborhood guy you will probably have to shimmy up the ladder to check his work.

Installing Gutter Protection or Covers

Gutter covers if carefully selected for your application and installed properly can end your gutter debris problems once and for all. They will provide the first line defense to keep the debris that causes gutter clogs and flow problems from ever happening in the first place. Depending on the type of debris surrounding your home, specific rain patterns, the amount of dust and or pollen dust that your gutters receive if you have done your research correctly and you select the product that works best for those conditions, your gutter cleaning problems can become a thing of the past.

I won’t go into proper selection in this article but will provide you a series of articles that will assist you in making the correct gutter cover selection for your application. It is our desire to educate you on the selection process by offering informative articles that make this tedious process make sense. Please feel free to chime in anytime and ask questions with the reply box provided below.