Why are there not very many old people cleaning gutters? The whole time I was cleaning gutters, I only saw one or two people that work older than me, and I am a pretty young guy. This is why I think there were not a lot of them:
1. Old people don't clean gutters because people have a tendency to get more intelligence as
they go through life.(or at least rule out dumb choices) I started cleaning gutters when I was very young.
2. If I was not as young as I was, I never would have cleaned out some of the roofs that I did. It takes a lots of gusto to put forth the effort to risk your life to make only $150. When I worked as a gutter cleaner, I cleaned gutters in Portland Oregon. This is probably the most dangerous place in the world to clean gutters. It rained about 95% of the time. A lot of the roofs were covered with wet slippery moss. Not very much fun, but at the end of the day I feel like I had accomplished some great task.
3. Old people will get hurt a lot easier. During the last few years I have only fallen off of two roofs. But man do they hurt. At least I was using my safety line the first time. It caught me about halfway down and then slammed into the side of the house. Then I let go of my line and tell another 9 feet. It was not very much fun. I learned that even if the roof doesn't look icy on the south side, it doesn't mean that it isn't icy on the north side.
4. I also think that a lot of people who are daredevils, (and you have to be a daredevil to
clean out gutters,) don't have a very high life expectancy. I vividly remember two jobs I went to where the owners took time to point out me where the previous guys had fallen off the roof. For a minute I felt relieved that I wasn't the only one dumb enough to fall off a roof. Then I started thinking about how I needed to increase my life insurance just in case. While I am not one to be easily daunted by a hard task, I received a lot of extra encouragement from my wife and from my inner self to improve my life by starting a blog rather than spending all day cleaning out gutters. Now I am grateful that I made the change even though the first years of life cleaning gutters and blogging were actually very hard and difficult.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Gutter Cleaning Tips - Start to Finish
Here are a few steps to make your gutter cleaning process easier from start to finish:
If you are a know how to clean gutters, great, this article will only help you to improve your skills that you already have.
As a professional gutter cleaner, I have cleaned out hundreds of gutters every year. Each time I clean out a gutter, I try and focus on how to do it faster and how to do a better job. I have found that it is normally best to start with clean gutters in the front of the house. This is because these gutters are the easiest most of the time. And you can feel great because you'll be moving quickly as you make an effort to clean that. If your house is only one story, and your wrist is not very steep, you can clean them simply by sitting on top of your roof and bending down and cleaning them out with your hand or with a gutters. You want to bring a bucket up along with you so you have some place but the degree that you do from the gutters. If your house is two stories, you'll be best to do it with a ladder. When I buy a ladder for gutter cleaning, I usually like by a 24 foot ladder with just all lakes. This will allow me to lease to the top of any two-story house. And it will also allow me to have a steady ladder as I climb up to clean them. Another tool that I have found helps me out immensely, is to have a small gutter snake, or toilet snake. This allows me to complete and effortlessly unclog all of the downspouts. A third tool which I like to use is a better rate. I put my gutter rate on the end of a 12 foot extension pole, and it does a great job at cleaning out gutters, especially those that are not completely full. By being able to clean out 12 feet on either side of the latter, I don't have to go up and down the ladder quite as many times, and I can still get the job done fairly quickly. If the roof is more than three stories, you will probably want to go back to cleaning it from on top of the roof. Only now, you'll want to make sure that you have a safety line and a safety harness. As you reach over the edge of the roof and clean out the gutters, make sure that you are safely anchored to the top of the roof. Safety, is your number one priority. Please be careful not to go on groups that have ice on them. Also be extremely careful when Bruce are slippery, or when you are cleaning the gutters on the corners of the house. As a general rule, a ladder that is less than 30 feet is safer than the root. When you are using a 30 foot ladder, make sure that you have a spotter that will help you put the ladder up, because if you are not used to it, you may be lacking in strength and balance.
If you are a know how to clean gutters, great, this article will only help you to improve your skills that you already have.
As a professional gutter cleaner, I have cleaned out hundreds of gutters every year. Each time I clean out a gutter, I try and focus on how to do it faster and how to do a better job. I have found that it is normally best to start with clean gutters in the front of the house. This is because these gutters are the easiest most of the time. And you can feel great because you'll be moving quickly as you make an effort to clean that. If your house is only one story, and your wrist is not very steep, you can clean them simply by sitting on top of your roof and bending down and cleaning them out with your hand or with a gutters. You want to bring a bucket up along with you so you have some place but the degree that you do from the gutters. If your house is two stories, you'll be best to do it with a ladder. When I buy a ladder for gutter cleaning, I usually like by a 24 foot ladder with just all lakes. This will allow me to lease to the top of any two-story house. And it will also allow me to have a steady ladder as I climb up to clean them. Another tool that I have found helps me out immensely, is to have a small gutter snake, or toilet snake. This allows me to complete and effortlessly unclog all of the downspouts. A third tool which I like to use is a better rate. I put my gutter rate on the end of a 12 foot extension pole, and it does a great job at cleaning out gutters, especially those that are not completely full. By being able to clean out 12 feet on either side of the latter, I don't have to go up and down the ladder quite as many times, and I can still get the job done fairly quickly. If the roof is more than three stories, you will probably want to go back to cleaning it from on top of the roof. Only now, you'll want to make sure that you have a safety line and a safety harness. As you reach over the edge of the roof and clean out the gutters, make sure that you are safely anchored to the top of the roof. Safety, is your number one priority. Please be careful not to go on groups that have ice on them. Also be extremely careful when Bruce are slippery, or when you are cleaning the gutters on the corners of the house. As a general rule, a ladder that is less than 30 feet is safer than the root. When you are using a 30 foot ladder, make sure that you have a spotter that will help you put the ladder up, because if you are not used to it, you may be lacking in strength and balance.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
How to Clean Gutters in the Winter?
If you are cleaning your gutters in the winter, then I definitely feel sorry for you. For two years, I cleaned gutters for a living, and I would be busy from about the middle of September until the middle of April. Clean gutters in the winter was one of the hardest parts of my job. When there is snow on the roof, you typically do not want to clean gutters, and you definitely do not want to go on the roof. It is possible however to clean them. To do this, you will want to use a hammer and break up the chunks of guys that are in the gutter. With the hammer you need to be very careful that you do not accidentally hit the gutter. You can dance or permanently damaged the gutter very easily when you are swinging a hammer into it. I suggest that you hack away at the ice with a 45 to 50° angle. This way most of the impact, is going sideways instead of straight down, and you are less likely to damage your gutters.
After you break the chunks out pull them out of the gutter and let them fall to the ground or else put them in a bucket and bring them down your ladder. Do not attempt to get on the roof to clean out your gutters. It is much too dangerous once there is snow and ice on them. You will have to do it from a ladder. If the ice is not very thick, you may be able to remove it in about twice the time it would take you to think out and ordinary gutter. If the ice is thick, you may want to wait until the sun has a chance to melt the gutters or at least melt the edges so that you can just pull out the chunks of ice floating in the water. In order to unclog a downspout that is full of lies, you'll want to remove the downspout from the house, and then you want to run hot water through it until you are able to remove all of the ice that is clogging it. This can take you three or four times longer to do then when you are cleaning them under good circumstances. Gutter cleaning is a lot better to do in the fall or in the spring. Cleaning gutters in the winter when there is snow on the roof and when the gutters are full of ice can take you five or six hours just to clean the gutters on an ordinary house. The average time it takes to clean out gutters is two hours or less.
After you break the chunks out pull them out of the gutter and let them fall to the ground or else put them in a bucket and bring them down your ladder. Do not attempt to get on the roof to clean out your gutters. It is much too dangerous once there is snow and ice on them. You will have to do it from a ladder. If the ice is not very thick, you may be able to remove it in about twice the time it would take you to think out and ordinary gutter. If the ice is thick, you may want to wait until the sun has a chance to melt the gutters or at least melt the edges so that you can just pull out the chunks of ice floating in the water. In order to unclog a downspout that is full of lies, you'll want to remove the downspout from the house, and then you want to run hot water through it until you are able to remove all of the ice that is clogging it. This can take you three or four times longer to do then when you are cleaning them under good circumstances. Gutter cleaning is a lot better to do in the fall or in the spring. Cleaning gutters in the winter when there is snow on the roof and when the gutters are full of ice can take you five or six hours just to clean the gutters on an ordinary house. The average time it takes to clean out gutters is two hours or less.
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