We often get asked the reason why we vacuum clean gutters… wouldn’t it be easier just to blow them out with a blower or pull them out by hand or simply hose the stuff out of the gutters? It may appear to be easier, but it is certainly not better. Let’s look at the different ways to clean your gutters and the sometimes unseen issues with that method.
Hand Cleaning
This may seem like the simplest approach, go up a ladder with a bucket and simply scoop out the debris in your gutters by hand, but although simply, it really isn’t very safe or effective.
Safety is a big issue with cleaning gutters by hand. When most people fall from a height, it is actually more often than not a fall off a ladder rather than a roof. Ladders need to be secured to a property when working on or off them, placed on a flat and stable surface and then when cleaning gutters from the top of a ladder, you will be reaching out – sometimes beyond a safe reach – which will change your centre of gravity, make you unstable on the ladder and sometimes simply ‘push’ the ladder away from you, causing you to fall. There are so many safety concerns with working off a ladder to clean your gutters by hand.
But cleaning by hand is also inefficient and ineffective to clean gutters. There is simply not just leaves in your gutters that would appear to be easy to scoop out, but there is also a break- down of debris that causes a muddy sludge that sometimes can be impossible, or at the very least extremely messy, to scoop out of your gutters and it is this sludge that causes the most problems in your gutters.
Also remember that other things live or end up in gutters from spiders to syringes to snakes. None of which you would want to place your hand on!
Blower Cleaning
Sure this is a fast way of getting the leaves out of a gutter, but it is also a really messy way of doing it. You don’t have a lot of control on a blower so anything you blow up and out of your gutters is likely to leave all over your yard. Also remember that the muddy sludge at the bottom of your gutter is also not simply blown out with a blower. Not really possible and if by some chance it is, then this muddy sludge is deposited all over your home.
Remember also that when blowing, leaves are often blown up and under the soffit of your home and sometimes there is even a little gap where they can get stuck. Not only messy, but potentially hazardous for your home, especially if you live in a bushfire area.
Hose Wash/Pressure Wash Gutters
Another idea people have to clean their gutters is to simply hose them out or use a pressure cleaning wand to high pressure wash the debris out of your gutters. So firstly, much like a blower, you are going to create an awful mess with leaves and sludge sprayed out of the gutters into your yard or all over your property.
The second thing that happens is you simply “push” the debris down the gutters and into your downpipes. If your gutters are full of debris and possible blockages, image that same debris getting blocked in your downpipes. This is a real problem because no matter how clean your gutters are, if the downpipe is also blocked, then your gutters will continue to overflow.
Vacuum Clean
We can get all the debris, take all the debris away so no mess left behind. It can be done safely and more importantly, if actually gets your gutters cleaned.
That’s why we recommend getting your gutters vacuum cleaned. Clean, Safe, Easy.
