How to Clean Your Gutters
Gutters are a very important part of any building for more than one reason. For one, they prevent the build up of water around your house, since they guide the water towards the drain. Secondly, they keep the walls and roof of the building protected, which is also a very important aspect of maintaining a building.
Gutters need to be cleaned on a regular basis. This is because over time, your gutters can stop functioning the way they are supposed to. Dirt, dust, leaves and any other remains carried by birds can fill up the gutters, which can cause trapped water to accumulate in the gutters. This can cause damage to your roof as well as the walls.
You can very easily hire someone to come in and clean the gutters for you, but this is not going to come free, which is why many people neglect their gutters all together. Some people wish to clean their own gutters but have no idea how to go about it. This article will highlight the correct procedure for cleaning your own gutters, allowing you to save some money whilst maintaining your beautiful home, office or any other building.
Before you even start to think about cleaning, you need to ensure that you can get access to the roof. If you do not have a ladder that is long enough, always ask around or see if you can hire or purchase one. You want to be able to access the gutter easily without having to exert yourself. Make sure that you set the ladder up correctly and always have someone supporting the ladder at the bottom.
Once you get to the top, you should be able to see what exactly is clogging the drain up. Manually remove and large leaves, twigs, moss etc. which should come off quite easily. If you are using your hands, you may wish to wear a pair of gloves. If using your hands does not sound appealing to you, you can choose to use a small gardening shovel or even a trowel if you have one.
Ensure that you do not simply throw all of the dirt down onto the floor. Take a bucket or black bag up with you and keep it on the roof. Place all waste in the bucket or bag, meaning that you do not have to clean up after yourself, thus saving you time and energy.
Once you have removed all the major debris you will notice that some dirt has actually stuck to the gutters. This needs to be removed as well to prevent to build up of dirt and so on. Simply wet the dirt and scrape it off using a gutter scoop ideally, or a coarse sponge will do.
Using a garden hose, add some water to the downspouts to ensure that they are not clogged or blocked. If they are blocked, simply use a hose to unclog them (or a plumber’s snake if you can get a hold of one). Stay safe and avoid damage to your household items.
Finally, it is time to give your gutters a good rinse. Simply use your hose and allow the water to run through your gutters for a short period pf time. Not only is this going to clean up any missed out dirt and debris, but it will also give you the chance to check for any leaks or breakages, which will need to be mended as soon as possible in order to avoid more leaks and damage to both your gutter and your building.
A Guest Post from: http://www.london-cleaners.org.uk/house-cleaners/
About Vince Sandri
Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.
