The process of cleaning out a gutter, which may seem quite simple on the surface, can often be anything but. There are a multitude of factors to take into consideration: roof height, pitch, gutter width, patio covers, valleys, tile hang and more. All of these factors can make doing a thorough job all the more difficult. The ‘how’ of cleaning your gutters then, can make a huge difference.
There are mostly 4 key ways to clean a gutter:
- By Hand (the old bucket method)
- Using a blower
- Pressure washing (using water-based method)
- Using a gutter vacuum (whether from the roof or on the ground)
While all these have their place, generally speaking, the most effective will be vacuum gutter cleaning. There are several reasons why.
Pole options such as those produced by Skyvac open up all sorts of possibilities when cleaning hard to reach gutters.
1. Accessibility of Vacuum Gutter Cleaning
It’s rarely the case that you get wide, uniform gutters right around an entire property. Tiles overhang corners, patios cover nearly the entire gutter and strange angles can make cleaning difficult. This is where the vacuum system really stands out. Not only can you often simply suck all the muck out of these tight spots, there are generally attachments that are designed to wedge into these small spaces and remove the debris. The only competition can be pressure washing, though it rarely works as well, especially if you have to move debris around corners.
Accessibility can also be an issue when you have steep pitched, tin roofs or spots on the house without ladder access. It’s nearly impossible to work from the roof and you can’t access the gutters via ladder. Many gutter vacuum cleaning systems have long poles that can be used to clean from either the ground or a ladder, where the gutter is not otherwise accessible. Incredibly useful and effective option. Often an option that often allows for more competitive pricing.
Sometimes roofs will also have very delicate tiles or some other factor that makes walking on them less than ideal. Once again, the vacuum poles come in handy for that situation.
Vacuum gutter cleaning nozzles such as the one above allow us to get into smaller crevices it would extremely difficult to get a hand in (at least without it hurting a lot!)
2. Thoroughness
When cleaning gutters it can be extremely difficult to fully remove all debris. When the gutters may contain sand or mud, it becomes near impossible. Pressure washers can be effective, though generally only when there is a direct downspout that the water and debris can flow straight down. Cleaning by hand only is going to leave a lot of the finer debris sitting in the bottom of the gutter. A blower is going to send mud flying in all directions.
With a gutter vacuum system, practically all debris is removed: leaves, moss, mud, sand, dust and anything else you may find (including water). This makes it the most thorough system for fully cleaning your gutters and ensuring they are functioning effectively.
3. Efficiency
Compared to traditional hand and bucket gutter cleaning, a vacuum gutter cleaning method is not only more effective but more efficient as well. It generally takes less time, meaning we are off your roof and out of the way much quicker. I don’t know anyone that enjoys having tradespeople at their homes for longer than they need to be, so this is of course a desirable trait.
In addition, it is mostly less taxing on us as gutter cleaners, meaning we are less likely to get tired, complacent and make a mistake (or not complete the job properly). It also means we can fit more work in, meaning we can get to your gutters sooner rather than later.
4. Cleanliness
In addition to the internal gutter being far cleaner than other methods, vacuum gutter cleaning is also far less messy on other aspects of your property. When hand cleaning, it’s difficult not to drop debris on the roof, house or ground, particularly when the contents of the gutter is muddy. This is also the case with pressure washing or using a blower vac; it’s impossible to contain the debris to the gutters alone.
Using a blower especially pushes the debris out of the gutters, onto the ground. Not ideal for the cleanliness of your property. We are asked at least a couple of times a month if we use a blower. Once we mention we don’t, the client is relieved and mentions the last service made a mess everywhere (including pushing debris into the roof cavity).
Using a gutter vac also means all the debris is stored in one of the drums connected to the machine. All the leaves, mud and water is then easily gathered and removed from site.
5. Safety
Another major benefit to vacuum gutter cleaning, is the safety aspect. Firstly, as mentioned above- if a roof is too steep or dangerous to work from, we can use high reach vacuum poles to clean the gutters from the ground. We don’t even need to get on a ladder (though we always do to check the gutters after vacuuming). We don’t want to be falling off roofs and I’m quite confident you don’t want us doing so either! Using water only heightens the danger of slipping, which is why we tend to avoid using the hose on tin roofs where possible.
Gutters collect absolutely everything that finds it’s way onto the roof, sometimes even things that prove hazards to touch. In this case, the vacuum prevents us from sticking our hands into sharp or dangerous objects that would best be avoided. That can also include sharp edges from flashing or roof valleys. When cleaning by hand, we generally always come away with a few cuts and scrapes.
What Do We Use?
It’s pretty clear that the gutter vacuum system (we use the Gutter Master and the Endurovac) is our preferred method for clearing out most gutters. That being said, we do still use other methods from time to time. If there is clumpy debris in only some parts of the gutters, or if they are mostly full of tile and larger objects, we’ll still clean them by hand. If they are full of loose mud and sand, we’ll often wash them out with a low powered pressure cleaning system (or simply a garden hose).
We aim to customised our methods to get the best results for our clients property, whatever that may be. 90%+ of the time however, that will be the gutter vacuum, it’s just that much better.
If you need your gutters vacuum cleaned around Perth, get in touch for a free quote!
