Can I Clean My Gutters Myself?

By High Five Gutters on October 27, 2021

Many homeowners choose to clean their home gutters on their own rather than hiring a professional. It’s a rather easy process, assuming you aren’t afraid of heights and are aware of basic ladder safety. Cleaning your own gutters can be very effective with the right tools and the right technique.

The entire process can be broken down using a simple acronym – LASS.

L: Ladder

We include ladder first for a few reasons. First being safety. Before you set foot on a ladder, make sure you are familiar with ladder usage and safety. If anything about the process of ascending and descending a ladder makes you uncomfortable, please reach out to a professional to assist with your gutter cleaning. We would be happy to help with an estimate and cleaning.

If you are able to safely scale your ladder, make sure you’re starting on the the side of your house opposite of your dominant hand. If you’re right handed, setup your ladder on the left side. This allows you to hold onto the ladder with your left hand and use your right to collect any debris. The opposite would apply if you were left handed. We’ve found this to be the most common and safest method of maintaining ladder safety.

A: Assess

Now that you’re on top of your ladder and looking into your gutters, it’s time for some assessment. How much debris is present in your gutters? Is it wet or dry? Overflowing or just collected at the bottom?

Read: How to Clean Gutters with Vinegar

These questions will help you decide how to proceed with your scooping strategy. Hopefully your gutters were cleaning within the last 12 months or so and aren’t in too bad of shape. This is also a great time to assess the condition if your gutters. Do you see any sagging or pulling away from the fascia boards? If so, if may be a good time to reach out about repair or replacement.

S: Scoop

So it looks like the gutters and fascias are in good shape. It’s time to get to cleaning. Have your bucket nearby and use your gutter scoop to grab as much of the wet gunk as possible. If you have dry leaves and debris visible, use your gloves to remove as much as possible. Place everything into your bucket and continue collecting until your bucket is full.

When you’re ready to empty the bucket, either climbs down the ladder and dump into a yard waste bin, or dump the bucket while still at the top of the ladder onto the ground. Be careful however, as this may cause additional mess of your to clean up. The gunk from inside your gutters is surprisingly messy and will get all over everything below.

Read: How Do You Remove Black Stains From Gutters

Continue to scoop and shift your ladder down the side of your house until you’ve reached and cleaned every linear foot of your gutters. They gutters do not need to be spotless, only need to have the majority of the large debris and chunks removed. A bit of sludge or a few leaves remaining is perfectly acceptable.

S: Spray

Now that all of the gutters have been scooped and are mostly cleaned, it’s time to spray. Spraying our your gutters is what removes the last bits of gunk and leaves. But before you do this, you need to ensure that your downspouts are free from blocking debris. Spray your hose straight down each downspout and make sure that you see water flowing easily out of the bottom of the spout. If there is a decent volume of water coming out, your spouts are clear of debris and you’re ok to proceed to spraying the gutters themselves.

Begin back on the left or right side of the house, depending on your dominant hand. Spray your hose down the gutter, towards the downspout. Try and hit each chunk of debris to make sure it flows continues to flow down the gutter and down the downspout.

This process should be much quicker than the scooping process and will leave your gutters looking clean and fresh. You should be gone with the cleaning once you’ve sprayed the entire length of your gutters. The only thing remaining is to walk around the perimeter of your home and clean up any gunk that may have splashed out onto landscaping, cars, or chairs.

Congratulations, you’ve now completed your gutter cleaning for the year.