Gutter Inspection and Cleaning Without Ladders

Gutter Cleanup without a ladder!

Spring brings that great weather once again, and it feels “Soo good” to get outside to enjoy the warmth. There is that migration draw of humans to focus on outdoor chores with the warmer weather. That sounds awful but necessary! We are not trying to be the spoiler alert to pile on a mountain of maintenance chores. So, we will try to apply some humorous features in creating a to-do list to make your home’s inspection and maintenance more entertaining, hopefully!

We request that you have these tools on hand to help with inspections and services on your home through our series of maintenance tips. This set of instructions is based on helping the novice homeowner to do the work. These materials and tools can be picked up from your local hardware, Lowes, or Amazon. I provide the link on where to purchase this equipment.

List of Equipment and Tools

We provided Links on where you can purchase most of the equipment listed

1. 1. iPhone or remote camera
2. 2. Bicycle phone holder
3. 3. Leaf blower with above 400 Cubic Feet / Minute airflow
4. 4. Drain Auger Plunger (25 foot length)
5. 5. One of the following devices
   • Janz 24 Foot Pressure Waster Telescoping Lance
   • Guttermaster Telescopic system. (Editor choice)
6. 6. PVC Misc items as needed.
7. 7. ½ in Garden Hose
8. 8. Power washer
9. 9. Hammer
10. 10. Ladder
11. 11. Garden tools (Trowel, cultivator)
12. 12. Battery power drill

Tool to clean out your gutter

Book this page on your Browser because we will add it to this equipment list to help you service your home. Spring and Fall inspections will make your gutter water overflow disappear. There are many problems that can happen on your roof that can cause serious issues. We are listing the Gutter inspection as the first issue to inspect because in a new or older home if the gutters or downspouts clog, water can back up into the house quickly. So we want this to be a top priority activity for you. During the winter and summer, debris can build up in your gutter. It can slowly build up in the snow and snowmelt into the downspout. If there is a blockage, hard rainwater can back up and spill into the soffit and interior of your home. This can cause considerable water damage to the home and will first show up as watermarks on the drywall. We want to note that we prefer that your inspection occurs during dry weather where the debris is dry.

Time to look skyward. Let’s start checking out your gutters and roof before you start any work on them. This process assumes that you never inspected your gutters prior.

Fine-Print: If you are a great outdoors climber and can haul out that 10 to 30-foot latter and forge to the top like a Halo “Master Chief” with your Gravity Hammer then skip this section and inspect your gutters and downspouts like a mission. More power to you, “Per Mare, Per Terram” and be safe.  

For all you latter novices who only want to inspect without the climb, gather the equipment listed and build or use the devices for the telescoping pole so you can mount your cell phone holder from your bike. Make sure it pivots on an angle to view down on the gutter. You may want to enclose your phone in a plastic bag.

• If you need to extend your access height, you could duct tape an additional 10-foot PVC pole-pipe to reach 20 feet. If you are thinking of working at a height above 20 feet, you need to assess whether you have any trees around the house that can drop leaves or debris into the gutter. If the gutters and downspouts from this area seem to always flow properly without restrictions, you may be good to go. You could call a contractor in your area to check this out at the end of the season or use your buddy’s drone to check it out. If the drone doesn’t show any debris, then that is great.With me so far! cool, strap on your iPhone and call a friend to Facetime an inspection jam. Move the phone along the gutters to determine if there is any build-up of debris. Together, you can talk about this innovative inspection tool for roof inspection while reviewing the roof. You could tune up “Ground Control to Major Tom” by David Bowie; it seems appropriate for this part of the project.During the inspection, having your friend on your property with you will improve the inspection document where the problems are found. Mark the issues found on a simple diagram you can make.Things to note while inspecting a roof:
  1. 1. 1. Check for downspout strainer. See the notes on what these items look like.
        2. Check where the debris is in the gutters. Sketch the locations of this build-up.
        3. Look over the Fascia (where the gutter is mounted to the home) for rotted wood or issues like sagging gutters and loose brackets.
        4. Check for missing or loose trim molding
        5. Check if you have any areas that have Algae/mold build-up.
        6. Look for missing, curled, or loose shingles.
        7. Vent Pipe Seal inspection. It will be hard to look all around the vent pipes or other protruding vents with just an iPhone inspection from the ground. If you see any cracks or deformation just have them replaced.

  Make sure you keep a recording of the Facetime so that you review the issues or if necessary you can forward it to a local contractor for review.

  So now you have your mission list, and you can now start to work through the list.

  
  
   

  Downspout strainers: will look like the above, and if you follow these processes, you will want to remove them during the cleanout.

  For each downspout around the home, check the outlets if there is debris protruding out of the end. Try to remove the debris while determining if it is compacted in the tube. If it is, use your knuckle or small stick and tap on the outside to determine if the pitch changes as you move up the spout. Most debris clogs occur in the first 2 to 3-feet of leaving the gutter at the elbows, so having the stick will help reach this area. If you did not find debris hanging out at the end of your gutter, continue the knuckle tap test to see if anything is clogging the spout.

  Here is the corny part; you could tap to the rhythm of “All the leaves are brown” from California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and The Papas. If you find that the pitch becomes hollow on the way up or down, you could use a simple drain auger to dill and pull out the debris or use your leaf blower to assist with the blow-out of the debris. Just remember that if you have downspout strainers, they should be removed first.

  Now that you have the debris in the spout area loosened use a simple ½ inch garden hose with a small straight nozzle and push it up the downspout to clean the rest of the debris. If you have the means to soak a rag around the hose nozzle end with Downy dish soap, it will help remove dirt in the downspout.

  Fine-Print: if your home’s downspout is connected to an underground drain, then do the knuckle test first to determine if there is debris stuck in it. If there is, then remove this connection to clean this out manually. Don’t just push all the waste down the drain into the ground. 

  It could cause problems in an extensive rainstorm where water can collect around the foundation. This will not be entertaining work at all. 

  Using the Guttermaster, remove the iPhone and attach the garden hose. Fill the downspout to flush out the remaining debris. You should have good water flow through the downspout before moving on.

  Now use the Guttermaster Telescopic system or your homemade device to work backward, moving away from the downspout. Clean in increments of 2 feet, 4 feet, and farther to remove the debris in the gutter.

  

  If there are twigs or sticks or last year’s baseball stuck in the gutter, you need to push these items out of the gutter before it hits the downspout. In this instance, you will want to work in the opposite direction pushing the debris away from the downspout.  You can do this with a different brush attachment to the Guttermaster. If the amount of junk is caked on like in the picture below you need to attach (duct tape) a Trowel to the Guttermaster and dig out the dirt, leaves, and debris. Be careful not to pull off any gutter brackets. With the Trowel, push, lift, and angle grind the grim over the gutter’s edge to the ground, working away from the downspout.

  

  Once you have the heavy debris removed you can work with Guttermaster and water in two-foot increments moving again away from the downspouts. Use Dawn dish soap to presoak the gutter area so that it is easier to loosen and clean compacted debris in the gutter with a brush attachment on the Guttermaster and water. Again, make sure that the volume of debris and water continues to flow out of the downspout. If not, then you will need to clear new clog formations. If you determine that there is missing flashing, broken gutter mounts, or bad facias wood on the home and you are not experienced with this type of service, give your roofing contractor a call to determine what it will take to correct this. Continue this process until all your gutter areas are cleaned out. Re-attach the iPhone and do one final inspection. If the gutters and downspouts are all clean, you have successfully completed your mission—time to enjoy the rest of the day. GOOD JOB. If you have a power washer then you could remove the hand controller and nozzle and just push the pressure side hose up the downspout to clean out any clogs. There are also products like this from Janz that is a 24 foot pressure washer telescoping lance that can attach to your power washer for a more aggressive way to gutter clean.