Just cleaned out our gutters for less than half the cost of hiring someone!

[jeromedawg]

Hi all,

So it rained pretty heavily the past couple weeks here in SoCal. I think the bulk of the last big storm has passed but we'll probably get more. The last downpour, rainwater was spilling over the sides of the *new* gutters we just had put up - I was able to unclog one section that's reachable by ladder but the remaining majority of gutters are like 20' up - we don't have a ladder that long and even then there's no way I'd want to be climbing up that high for something like this.
Anyway, I think a combination of old debris that had been washed down into the gutters and disturbance from some work done on the roof (solar panel installation) a while after the gutters were put up contributed to the downspouts getting clogged.

Over the weekend I woke up in the middle of the night while it was pouring and got into semi-panic mode hearing the water pouring down and also the sound of the water spilling over the side of the gutter onto the concrete outside. Of course, I went online and started looking for ways to clean gutters that are high off the groudnd. I know there are several ways you can go about this: build your own long PVC vacuum/blower tube or look for a pressure washer extension. I started looking into the PVC method but using regular 3" sch40 would be way too heavy - I have torn ligaments in my left wrist so there's no way I was going to try to deal with that on top of the extra time needed to procure the materials, cut to size, and assemble everything. There is another solution out there that uses central vacuum tubing, which isn't going to be as heavy as sch40 but the problem is that it's difficult to find around me (at least, I couldn't figure out where the closest place was where they aren't ripping you off) and I didn't want to spend more time trying to research that (in addition to still having to cut to size, assemble, etc). The other solution I knew of was to use a pressure washer (and long reach attachment/wand) to clean out the gutters. I ended up looking around on Amazon and found a few different products, one of which is a 20' reach pressure washer telescoping extension pole, and it just so happened to be on sale for $60 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086JQ3NMH - currently it's $200 but there are comparable ones [probably the same factor] going for $100... I think I just saw one used for $75). The additional attachment I bought has a two way head that shoots water out on both sides (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0824J49L4). I also picked up a slightly more expensive two-way head (https://www.amazon.com/RIDGE-WASHER-Attachment-Pressure-Disconnect/dp/B0892BP85F) just to try and I think I'm going to return that one because the one mentioned before works just as well and has quick-change tips which makes it more versatile.

Given that it has been sunny/clear skies, I figured I'd give this thing a try today. It was a bit tedious to use but I got a cadence down, and it wasn't too bad on the wrists (I put a brace on halfway through). I was also able to clamp a GoPro onto part of the pole to check progress after running it across. Man this thing works well - I got a ton of crud, leaves, twigs... mostly anything and everything that was blocking the flow of water and/or the downspout out (or at least flushed down into the drains...which may be something else I'll have to deal with removing at a later time - I have a sewer jetter attachment for the pressure washer as well so not too concerned about this)!
All in all, I'll have spent $85 after tax on the setup (already had the pressure washer, which was also acquired on sale for $73 a year ago and was already using to clear drains, wash the car, clean off concrete, etc). Considering I spent over $200 to clean our old gutters (before learning that we just needed to replace them), I'd say this is a pretty good buy and definitely worth the time spent... I got a pretty good workout hoisting this thing up and moving it around to clean over 100' of gutters. If you have high gutters, IMO it's definitely worth getting something like this or building your own with PVC or central vacuum tubing if you're so inclined to. Mostly because the risk of injuring yourself is very low as you don't need to get on a ladder.

BTW: the bastards from the solar company threw a plastic water bottle in our front gutter... >:T  Fortunately the pressure washer was able to blow it out after trying a few different angles. I'm not sure if the vacuum or blower would have been able to remove it.

 

[Sibley]

Interesting. How much strength is needed? I have a 2 story house and am not good on ladders. And is there a minimum psi needed? I have one of the weaker electric pressure washers.

[jeromedawg]

Interesting. How much strength is needed? I have a 2 story house and am not good on ladders. And is there a minimum psi needed? I have one of the weaker electric pressure washers.

The pressure washer I have is a Ryobi rated at 1600 or 1800psi - it's a small unit. It was plenty strong enough to blast out a majority of the crud in the gutters. The red nozzles are going to be the strongest in terms of blasting power as those are 0-degrees, so basically a straight line of pressurized water. I'm guessing your pressure washer is probably the same rating as mine.

[cool7hand]

Impressive!

[Sandi_k]

Love the pic! DH figured out a way to rig up something similar, using his shop vac.

As he likes to say, "My rig blows *and* sucks!"

;)

[Car Jack]

I built something with a leftover vinyl downspout tube with 3" aluminum elbows like for a dryer vent to turn the air around about 180 degrees.  I screwed in at the joints and duct tape over it all to keep it structurally stable and air tight.  I take my backpack Echo leave blower and stick it in the end, hit the throttle to full and then guide the end over the gutter, then pull it along as it blows out everything.  It's only going to the first story gutters.  On the back of the house, we have a flat roof that I can walk on to get 2nd story shed dormer gutters.  I won't do a ladder more than about 6 feet for anything anymore because I had a 24 foot ladder slip out and I fell 20 feet fracturing 3 vertebrae. 

[HipGnosis]

I did something similar;
I made a pole saw for trimming trees.   Renting one is crazy expensive and they cost way more than what their parts would cost...
I cut a notch in the end of a 3/4" PVC to fit the handle of a (folding) pruning saw.  I drilled a couple holes for releasable zip-ties (so many uses for such little cost!) to hold the saw handle in the PVC.
First try revealed that the PVC is to flexible - so I put a (screw off) broom handle into it and held it in with a piece of duct tape.
I gave the bottom portion of the PVC a few swipes of rough sand paper to make it easier to hold - to keep the teeth of the saw against the branches.
Worked "a treat".

[sonofsven]

I just use a ladder, but I have lots of ladders and I use ladders at work often and I am quite comfortable on a ladder.
None of my ladders are telescoping or little giants (which seem like a great way to  mash your fingers). I dump debris into a wheelbarrow.
Some rules I follow for ladders:

If you're setting your ladder against the gutter place it centered on a gutter spike to avoid crushing the gutter.
 
When carrying ladders I lift the end, move under the center and balance it on my shoulder, carry it this way with the narrow upper section closest to my head, then set the feet directly on the ground approximately where I want them, hold the ladder straight up and lift the fly (upper) section of the ladder to the needed height and lean it in to the roof/wall/gutter. The lower section is closest to the house, the upper section closest to you. If you have it backwards the rungs won't be flat.

If the ground is uneven I have small pieces of 2x or plywood to put under the foot as needed. You can also position one or both feet with the spikes down into soft grass or dirt for more traction and to stabilize the ladder. The flat foot position of the ladder foot will sit a few inches lower than the spike  down position.

With the ladder leaning against the house, stand facing the ladder with your feet at the base and reach your arm straight out. You want to be just touching the ladder. This will be a good safe angle for the ladder. If your angle is too steep it will be hard to climb and apt to slide up top; too shallow and you will have too much weight up top and the bottom is prone to slide backwards.

On all my ladders I buy the little rubber covers (condoms) for the top of the ladder where it contacts the siding. This will give more stability at the top as it will slide less. This rarely works against gutters because the top is generally higher than the gutters.

If using a ladder to get onto a roof have the top four to five feet above the roof. This will help as you transition to  descend the ladder. Also, place roof jacks and 2x6 toe boards for anything steeper than a 5/12 pitch.

Don't lean sideways from the ladder, keep your body weight centered. Always keep one hand on the ladder. Yes, this makes some work difficult from a ladder. I don't do much work on a ladder, i generally use planks and ladder jacks or pump jacks for carpentry, the ladder is just to get up there.

Safety first, last, and always.

[MgoSam]

Nice! I'm scared of heights, I can't remember how much he charged but one of my friends did them for a very low fee. My neighbor wanted to know his rate and I just gave her his number because I didn't want to quote a fee as he gave me a friends rate.

[jeromedawg]

Awesome hearing what everyone else is doing. I researched this like crazy over the past year before pulling the trigger. I probably could have built a custom tubing system with adapters for my leaf blower and and shopvac and possibly for a little less, but figured with the recent heavy rains we had, it was worth spending a bit more for the telescoping gutter attachment for the pressure washer just to take care of it ASAP. I was able to borrow a friend's drone to do a follow-up check on things and the sewer jetter seemed to have done a pretty decent job but there is quite a bit of silt still up there that I'm going to need to try to get out. As a side, using a drone along with this kind of work is extremely useful - I will probably end up buying a drone if there's a really good sale on one in the future. They are invaluable tools for inspecting your roof and gutters on a second story (or higher) home.