Clean gutters are safe gutters, but this is true in more ways than you might think.
Here are our top five reasons why having your gutters professionally Gutter-Vac cleaned can improve the safety of your home, and reduce risk to you and your family:
- PROPER EQUIPMENT.
Without the proper equipment – including roof ladders, cherry pickers and our famous Gutter-Vac – cleaning gutters can be risky and even damage your roof. Ladders that are too short, unsteady or incorrectly used can make you job hard, but can also make your gutter cleaning result in a painful fall and a trip to the emergency room.
Even with tough gardening gloves, jagged gutter edges or foreign objects, including sharp sticks, metal or glass, can lead to cuts and injuries if cleaning your gutters by hand. - PROTECTING YOUR PROPERTY.
As above, if you don’t have the right gear, you’ll take unnecessary risks. Leaning a ladder against your guttering is not only unsafe, it can also lead to gutter damage, denting or even causing them to be torn from your property. Depending on your roof, without a proper roof ladder, clambering around up top can cause damage to tiling, panelling or roof sheeting. You might even put a foot wrong, leading to a hole in your roof, or a big drop for you. - KEEPING YOU SAFE.
As mentioned above, lack of proper equipment can lead to personal injury, but the positioning of your gutters can also be dangerous. Over-reaching not only puts you off-balance, it can also put a lot of strain on your body. This can simply result in a few aches the next day, but in some circumstances, it might even cause muscle or joint damage. - FIRE RISK.
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again! Full gutters are fire hazards. It’s obvious that dry leaves catch fire very easily, but if you leave them for a long time and they mulch and then dry out, this dense compost can also lead to slow-burn danger. The embers can stay alight inside the mulch, so even though it may be damp on the outside and no flames will be visible, these embers may reignite hours after you think the danger has passed. - BEYOND YOUR GUTTERS.
These are all dangers associated with the gutters themselves, but over-spill from full gutters can also be hazardous. If not managed, it can cause a build-up of mould or algae, leading to slippery pavers and other ground surfaces. Even after you’ve fixed your gutters, without thoroughly scrubbing the ground below, this dangerous, slippery surface will remain. It may dry out and seem fine, but the next time it rains you’ll have an ice rink to deal with again. Even without the mould, glazed tiles can be slippery in the wet, and excess water can cause your lawn to turn into a muddy mess, again leading to possible slide-outs.
Some things just aren’t worth the risk! An appointment with Gutter-Vac not only saves you time, it also protects you and your home from injury and damage.
