If you have made the brave decision to clean your own gutters rather than hire a professional gutter cleaning service, then you might be looking for some advice about what kind of gutter cleaning tools are most important and some gutter cleaning tips that will make the job easier. This article will attempt to introduce some of the more important types of gutter cleaning tools and help you in you in your endeavors.
The first classification of gutter cleaning equipment that you need to assemble is your gutter cleaning safety equipment. You will need the right kind of ladder, some protection for your hands and face, and a partner. Choosing the right variety of ladder will help to prevent accidents. If the ground next to your home is level and you only need to climb one story, an A frame ladder is the best bet. If the ground is uneven or if you need to go higher, then you should use an extension ladder. The mold and mildew that grows in gutters can be toxic so that is why you want a good pair of gloves and a face mask for respiratory protection. The second individual is there mainly to hold the ladder and help in case of an emergency.
After your safety tools are in line, the next classification of gutter cleaning tools is the actual cleaning items. You may use a gutter scoop, a gutter cleaning wand, a gutter brush, or a combination of any of these. Gutter scoops are probably the most common gutter cleaning tool because their purpose is to scoop out the debris that is clogging the gutter parts. There are gutter scoops that you can buy in a hardware store, or you could make your own out of an empty milk or juice container. The only rule is that it must be comfortable to hold and have high sides so that you can hold as much debris as possible in each scoop.
If you want a less labor intensive way of cleaning your gutters then you might choose a gutter wand. A gutter cleaning wand is a tool that you attach to the end of your garden hose. It has an adjustable nozzle that allows you to direct a high pressure stream of water into your gutters in order to spray out the clogs. The telescoping nature of most gutter cleaning wands means that you can clean your gutters from the ground instead of working on a ladder which could be dangerous.
Whether you remove the bulk of the debris with a gutter scoop or a gutter wand, you will still have to scrub the inside of your gutter system to get rid of mold and mildew. That is where a gutter cleaning brush comes in. The round brushes are designed so that you scrub both the floor and the sides of the gutter system at the same time.
The last type of gutter cleaning tool that we will discuss is preventative gutter maintenance products. If you use the right products from this category, you may be able to avoid needing heavy duty cleaning like gutter wands and gutter scoops altogether. The most useful gutter maintenance product is a gutter guard. Gutter guards are ways to prevent debris from ever making its way into your gutter system. The most basic type of gutter guard is a gutter screen. Gutter screens are mesh that covers the opening to your gutters so that rain water and melt water can still get in, but debris is blocked. The main problem with this type of defense is that the holes in the gutter screen can get clogged or covered by debris and then the water will not get into the gutters and the entire point of having gutters goes out the window.
If you have problems with clogging of gutter screens then you might want to try another type of Amerimax gutter guards that works on the principle of water adhesion. The Amerimax gutter guard is not the only one that works this way. The concept is that the water with debris mixed in will run over a gutter cover and at the very edge of the cover there is a small slit on the side leading into the gutter system. The debris is carried off the edge of the house due to its momentum, but the water adheres to the edge for just a fraction longer allowing the water to fall into the slit.
