Cleaning out gutters - any advice?

[Jaffakake]

Hello,

Just bought a new house - a small tree appears to be growing out of the gutter on the front of the house so I though I should look at getting them cleaned!
We share the gutters with the 2 adjoing houses and although I want to clean them out I also don't want to break other peoples gutters!
Any advice as to how one should go about cleaning a gutter. Products/ methos etc.
How much would it cost to get a professional to do it? It's a very small house.
Cheers.

 

[Thermo]

how high up are the gutters and what are they made of?

 

[breezer]

i cleaned my own gutters out, with a garden trowel and a bucket

 

[Jaffakake]

Thermo:
I guess they're made of plastic as the house is only 7 years old.
The house isn't that high - I think basic ladders from B&Q would cover it.

 

[Thermo]

if you use a ladder make sure its up at a 1:4 ratio and that theres somewhere there to foot it. Put the top of the ladder just below the gutters and as said before, a small trowel and a bucket will do the trick.
if you are not used to ladders be careful and do NOT overstrech to the sides for the sake of moving the ladder

 

[breezer]

i dsagree with

Put the top of the ladder just below the gutters

ideally the ladder should be 3 rungs above

by having the ladder below the gutter, tell mee how is he going to see what he is doing, you could do it if you lean

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. thump

 

[Thermo]

providing hes not got a large overhanging soffit then its not a problem, and it avoids any danger of damaging the gutter, however if it is a large overhanging soffit then yes i agree with you, it should go above it.

 

[shaggy]

Agree with breezer, but a ladder stay is what you need as well. The one I've got is a slightly different design and has rubber pads which touch the wall so ladder is less likely to slip sideways. The ladder should never rest on the gutter.

 

[Thermo]

point i was trying to make, but lets not start a bun fight!

 

[shaggy]

No chance, I've run out of buns!

 

[breezer]

here

food fight !

 

[masona]

The way I've done mine is to modify the downpipe at the ground level and fix a hopper with a mesh, then no need for a ladder and collect the leaves at the bottom !

Very similar to this.