Since 2008 I have been working on cleaning out gutters for a lot of customers. As a full-time landscaper come I always had plenty of work to do in the spring summer and fall, but I didn't really have a lot to do in the winter. So that is when I started cleaning out gutters. I have probably cleaned out over 500 gutters in the last few years. Every time I do the job it seems to get easier because I become more adept and because I keep buying better tools.
There are two tools that I like to use that are not very expensive. I highly recommend these tools to you how is specially if you like to get the job done faster and you don't want to spend a lot of money to do the job right. The first tool is a gutter rake.
The first time that I bought this tool, a little skeptical. I thought maybe it was just a lot-it wasn't not help out very much. But then I started using it, and I was surprised at how much faster and easier it was to clean gutters around the house by using a gutter rake. I quickly discovered that the standard 5 foot pole that they give you at the rake isn't enough. So I went to Lowe's and I bought a 15 foot extension pole. I think I paid $30 for it, and at the time I thought man I am just using up with the money here. Soon however, I realize that having a 15 foot extension pole could save me a lot of time, especially on the houses that were not that bad. The way most houses work is that there is usually one of the four side that is really bad, and the other three are not. Most of the time, it is the side on the back of the house that gives you the most trouble. By using a gutter rake an extension point was actually able to clean the front and sides of the house twice as quickly. The reason why save so much time was because I didn't have to go up and down the ladder once for every 6 feet of gutter. Rather, I only have a go up and down the ladder once for every 30 feet of gutter. It really made a huge difference.
Another tool that I actually liked, I borrowed from a customer the first time I used it. It is called a gutters scoop. This tool only cost like three dollars, and it was definitely worth it. It really only saves a few minutes per house versus cleaning out the gutters by hand, but it keeps your hands from getting gross and covered in muck. Another advantage is that it also keeps your hands dry, which is a really good thing when it is wet and cold outside. I would definitely recommend a gutters scoop to anyone who has gutters to clean on a regular basis. There is a yellow scooper and a red one, the yellow one is really just a waste of money, you want to buy the red gutter scooper because it is much wider and works better on 80% of the houses. I have really enjoyed using a gutters do and a gutter rake to help me clean a lot of gutters.
