Cleaning gutters during the fall is the norm to prepare your home for the snowy or rainy season. While it is easy to hire a company that does window cleaning Melbourne to carry out annual roof maintenance, of which gutter cleaning is a part. However, if you are a die-hard DIY practitioner and have gutter cleaning service skills safely, you can save money on the project while ensuring quality cleaning. Gutters are an integral part of the roofing system and critical for maintaining a healthy roof by providing proper draining of rainwater through the downspout.
Having the right skills in gutter cleaning is essential. Still, you must have the proper knowledge about doing the job systematically and safely by knowing the safe-working techniques at a height. Roof work is prone to dangers, and you must have the right equipment and tools to do satisfactory work. Knowing what you are doing should make things easy for you. The proper preparation by knowing the laid-down procedure for safe gutter cleaning should ensure that you can safely do the job by avoiding accidents and injuries that DIY enthusiasts often encounter.
Here is how you can go about when cleaning the gutters of your home.
Be familiar with using ladders safely
Although you would be working alone, keep others in the house informed about your plan for cleaning gutters by climbing to the roof by using a ladder. Use a sturdy and safe ladder and a small shelf strong enough to a bucket of 5 gallons secured with a lanyard to collect the debris from the gutters. For a single-story structure, you can use a four-legged ladder and use an extension ladder for scaling higher structures.
Avoid using an orchard ladder as the three legs can make it lose balance. Wooden ladders are wobbly and best avoided. Choose a sturdy ladder but light so that you can carry it around to cover the entire house. The choice is between fibreglass and aluminium ladders as the former is heavy and the latter is light but equally sturdy.
Inspect the ladder closely before use to ensure that it is safe to use and if you are using a step ladder, provide proper locking of the extension.
Use a garden hose
Use a garden hose with a spray nozzle with a pistol grip trigger that you can operate with one hand, and it is easy to hang it over the gutter’s front edge while you are doing some other work like scooping the debris or moving the ladder.
Use a scoop
The best way to clean debris from gutters is to scoop it out with a plastic scooping tool available at the nearest hardware store. Plastic scoops have the right design for cleaning gutters because the thin front edge can smoothly pass through the gutter’s bottom, making it easy to scoop out all kinds of debris collected in the gutter, including the toughest ones. Do not use metal scoops that can damage the gutter and seams by scratching against it. Scrap the bottom of steel gutters to remove any rust and take some measures to lie painting to prevent further rusting.
Protect your hands and eyes
Use thick suede hand gloves to protect your hands when scooping debris from the gutters as it not only protects against the dirty debris and prevents the chances of cuts from torn or damaged metals in old gutters. Avoid using leather gloves as these are not easy to maneuver, and cotton gloves can get wet and soggy and cause discomfort. Rubber gloves might tear or puncture when working with sharp metal edges.
Use goggles to protect your eyes from flying debris when cleaning gutters. There are chances of insects like bees and wasps and even birds and frogs emerging from the debris and darting towards you, which can damage your eyes.
Wear rubber shoes
Wearing rubber-soled shoes will ensure safe movements on the roof, which might be necessary when cleaning gutters. Rubber-soled have good adhesion and prevents slip and fall accidents. Access the roof when the sun is above the head so that the roof surface is dry and there are no chances of slipping.
Clean the downspouts, too, or else your efforts will go waste.
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Eric Reyes is a passionate thought leader having been featured in 50 distinguished online and offline platforms. His passion and knowledge in Finance and Business made him a sought after contributor providing valuable insights to his readers. You can find him reading a book and discussing current events in his spare time.