Gutter cleaning is an extremely important household chore and this article will discuss some of the basic knowledge that everyone who owns or cares for a home should know.
If there is one thing that you understand about gutter cleaning it should be how important it is to the welfare of your house. The water that runs off the edges of your roof, without a gutter system, would saturate the ground directly next to and under your home\'s foundation. That can lead to some serious problems like water entering your basement through crack in the foundation or a sink hole developing underneath your home where the whole structure could collapse. A gutter system takes that dangerous water and redirects it to downspouts which deliver the rain and melt water runoff a safe distance from your foundation. If your gutters are clogged they cannot catch this water and dispose of it properly so it is as if you have no gutters at all. That is why gutter cleaning is so important.
The next thing you should know about gutter cleaning is what kinds of gutter cleaning tools you should use. The first category of gutter cleaning tools is gutter scoops. A gutter scoop can be something as primitive as your gloved hand or a piece of gutter cleaning equipment made especially for the purpose of scooping large amounts of debris out of gutters. The scoop will have high sides and a large capacity. The second category of gutter cleaning equipment is a gutter wand. Gutter wands attach to the end of a garden hose and a nozzle directs the water in a high pressure stream to push debris out of the gutters. Most gutter cleaning wands are telescoping so you can use them from the ground.
It is also important to understand what safety equipment is necessary to clean gutters. Everyone knows that you need a ladder, but it is safer if you have a transformable ladder rather than just A frame ladders so that you can have a secure base on a wide variety of terrains. You want to wear gloves when cleaning out your gutters so that your skin does not come into contact with any bacteria and to avoid cuts and scrapes from debris. Finally, you should wear a face mask to protect your respiratory tract from the possible inhalation of mold spores or other allergens.
Hiring a gutter cleaning service is one way to take care of your gutters, but if you do you need to make sure that the company you hire has both workers compensation insurance and is bonded. The insurance will cover any injuries that happen to the personnel of the gutter cleaning company so that you are not liable. They also need to be bonded in case they do bad work and there is any subsequent damage to your home or gutter system. A company without these credentials is not credible and should not be hired.
Finally, you should know about the benefits of gutter guard systems. There are two varieties of gutter guards that you can install, but the point of both is to prevent debris from entering the gutter system at all and thus eliminate the need for gutter cleaning. Gutter screens or gutter mesh is a way to let water and very small pieces of debris in but to exclude large pieces of debris like leaves and twigs. You will still need to clean the gutters occasionally with this kind of gutter guard, but nearly as much. There is another type of gutter guard that uses the principle of water adhesion to allow water run off to enter the gutter system through a small slit just on the front of the solid gutter cover. The solid cover prevents all debris from entering the system and essentially eliminates the need for gutter cleaning.
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