Cleaning Gutters with Telescoping Wands

 

If you are a homeowner and would like to save money by cleaning gutters by yourself, instead of hiring an outside pressure washing company, consider a cart power washer. If you plan on cleaning the entire house once a year, deck and patio 2 or 3 times a year you need to purchase a stronger unit such as the Honda power washer. This pressure washer will clean your house, deck, fence and patio faster and better. More pounds per square inch brings greater "punch" to the surface and you become more efficient. If you operate a pressure washing company you will find out that hot water machines will complete such jobs easier and much faster saving you so much important - labor time. For the pressure washing contractors we recommend the following hot water power washer. The advantage of having such machine with you is that jobs such as oil, fuel and grease removal will become just an ordinary cleaning jobs. In addition, hot water machine can serve as hot and cold water power washers just by turning the burner into on or off position.

Cleaning gutters will help you avoid costly repairs and water damage to your home. Clogged gutters hold in water and debris, which add weight to the system, and cause the gutters to loosen themselves. Gutters are actually designed to carry water away from your home, so when they are overflowing the debris will come into contact with roof surfaces. Also, if you are not periodically cleaning gutters and gutter spouts, water will not be able to clear through the downspout, it will back up onto the roof and can seep under the shingles and into your walls through ridge vents and windows.

Today, power washers are the most effective tools for cleaning gutters. Keep in mind though, that a gutter power washer can be a poor choice if the temperatures are near freezing. Pressure washing businesses can imagine the liability of covering an entire property in ice. The best time for gutter cleaning (on the inside) is spring, late summer or fall (unless you live in the Sunshine State of Florida!). Since you have already decided to clean gutters by yourself, why not consider doing the entire house wash? You are by now equipped with a superior tool called a pressure washer, and totally prepared for becoming wet, so why not put in just a little bit more effort and do the entire outside of the house. For tips and advice on how to clean sidings go to house pressure washing page.

Sometimes cleaning gutters require two people on the job. One person putting the water down the spout while another listening at the bottom to be certain it’s clear. You must be ready to take any steps necessary to clear it if it is clogged; considering working with a plumbing snake and even dismantling the spout if necessary. If the clog is in an underground pipe, a sewer-jetting attachment on your power washer can take care of that problem.

The majority of the time gutters are clogged with 25% of the debris at the bottom of the gutter (covering the hole), 60% of the debris on the top, and 15% inside the down spouts. Pine trees surround a major number of houses, in Eastern and Central States. Those trees have terrible pine needles that always get stuck inside the spouts. The only way to get them out is by using the high-pressure machine with high water volume (2.5 GPM or higher). When cleaning gutters you should start at the downspout for two reasons:

1) If there is not too much debris in the gutter, it will all be washed down towards the spout, and you will only have to spray water from the top once.
2) If the gutter happens to be full of water, you can unplug the downspout and let the majority of it drain prior to cleaning the rest of the gutter (less mess).

One of the best tools ever created for cleaning gutters is the telescoping wand. These extension polls are designed to spray water as high as 24 feet in the air. The great advantage of using one of them is that you do not have to go up on the top of the roof or climb dangerously high lathers. Just attach the gutter cleaner extension to the tip of the telescoping wand, connect the pressure hose to the inlet side of the wand’s gun and the dirty gutters will become history. We also advise you to get one of the wand belts, which will support 2/3 of the weight of your telescoping wand.

As you take the debris out of the gutter, put it in a plastic bag. After you scooped the majority of it you will need to get your pressure washer ready. Since the outside of the gutter is now dirty, caused by the person cleaning it (this is especially visible if the gutters are white), you will now need to clean this muck and grime that has inevitably run over the outside and inside of the gutter. If a downspout is still clogged, pouring just a small amount of water down isn't going to let you know if it is really clogged up or not. That is why you will need to use higher GPM volume. If you do not see any water or just small amounts of it coming out of the down spouts, you will need to increase the pressure. More pressure combined with the higher water volume will finally clear the way through the gutter. Last step in cleaning gutters is to rinse the gutter by spraying the clean water from the top of the gutter. Here again we advise you to use the telescoping wand. This will make sure that the gutters are dirt free and functional. After all, cleaning gutters is not a heavy duty job and can be done in one short afternoon.

For pressure washing businesses: some homeowners will ask you to haul away debris and others will let you find a location somewhere to leave it on-site so it will degrade. At single homes, if there is no appropriate place to dump them, bag them and leave them for the trash. If the homeowners are home, ask them if they would like you to put the trash by the curb.

 

The publisher of these pages is in no way responsible for any damage caused to you, your pressure washer, anyone else, your property, or anyone else's property by trying to implement or by successfully implementing the above-mentioned performance and services.