Cleaning gutters

What do you guys pay to clean gutters? I know, I know, do it yourself. Let me explain.

Our yard has a very, very thick canopy of Live Oaks--like, you can't see our roof on Google Earth. Most of our house is either two stories up or has a very steep roof.

Last time I paid someone to do the gutters, I'm pretty sure it was $75. For that money, fine, let someone else climb up there and walk around with a leaf blower. Otherwise I'm doing it bit by bit with a ladder and a trowel.

The other day I mentioned to my neighbor that it was time to call the gutter guy. I told her the price. "Oh, that's way too much. I'll have my guy do it. He'll be out here anyway."

I came home yesterday and found my gutters empty, my roof blown clean, my yard raked, and my driveway free of leaves. She said I owed her guy $65.

Bonus points: The guy looks like Danzig.

I usually get freaked out, because the peoe the landlord pays often show up around dusk, and I see them out my bedroom window.

Why don't you get some kind of leaf guard/screen installed on your gutters? I have a big silver maple tree in my neighbors back yard that is just 25 ft from my house. In the spring the spinning seed pods can fill and clog the gutters. I installed screens that keep most of then out and the ones that do get past the screen will usually get washed out by the rain. I don't have problems with the leaves at all with these screens in place.

Awesome price. It's $129 in my neck of the woods. That doesn't include getting leaves off roof, yard raked or driveway free of leaves. Those cost extra.

My neighborhood is full of work crews that do it for a few Jacksons. The real professional services all run around a hundred bucks but they claim to be bonded and include clearing troublesome downspout clogs (top, bottom, both) plus limited repairs.

If the gutters are attached to a second story, it's worth paying someone else to do the work. On a single story its' worth considering an extension ladder purchase and DIYing it. A good ladder has many uses beyond an annual gutter clean.

I got lucky this year, the high ones filled with ice and fell off so there will be little pesky cleaning this spring.

Doesn't cost me much... besides a future college education. Isn't that a job for the kids? my 10yo begs to do it.

I live in a wooded area. There is a nature preserve behind the houses across the street, and the trees pretty much carry into the neighborhood. This means gutters are constantly in need of clearing.

I'm too cheap to pay anyone, so I built a device out of scrap lumber the previous owners of the house left behind. Its basically a pole, with a u-bend on the end of it. When the downspouts clog and the gutter starts to overflow, I take it outside, line it up, and push the u-bend into the downspout. This clears the clog, and all the water thats in the gutter tends to wash everything clear. Sometimes it will reclog quickly while I'm still outside, so I just do it again. Looks funny, but it keeps me off the roof.

Its not a perfect solution. I still need to climb up on the roof at least twice a year. Usually once in late spring, and once in late fall.

I do have a U-shaped attachment for a hose someone got me years gao, but I've never used it yet. It would need some modification, since its way to short for the front gutter on my house, but should work great on a 1 story.

We replaced the gutters when we did the roof. The roofing company wouldn't install gutter guards, saying that the oak leaves would just clog the gutters and cause bigger problems. The guy who actually did the install said the same thing. (By the way, one guy hung all of our gutters by himself, including the ones up on the second story.)

I climb up on the roof with a power washer.

I hate heights.

I have, shall we say, a healthy respect for heights. I clean my gutters the old-fashioned way with my gloved hands and a ladder. It is not one of my favorite jobs, but I usually combine it with hanging Christmas lights, so I'm killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

That said, if I owned a 2-story house and could persuade someone else to clean the gutters for $65, I'd be all over that like a pit bull on a porkchop.

If you pay somebody, be sure they're insured. The last thing you want is to be paying somebody's medical bills after they fall off of your house.

I have this tube-like attachment that fits on my leaf blower and I can clean my gutters from the safety of the ground. I have a wooded lot and have to clean the gutters about once a month. Takes less than an hour including getting all the equipment out.

I have alot of trees and used to have the screen type gutter covers, which were worthless. Pine needles and other stuff still found their way under the covers. I took them off as it was easier to clean the gutters. I may try some of the flat type covers which some locals have had pretty good luck with.

I set my trees on fire......well, partially kidding. My house also has larger gutters/downspouts than most, so I rarely have to clean them. Something about massive water flow or something something.

When I had a new roof put on a few years back, I had the roofing company install new gutters from http://www.leafguard.com/ They've worked out great; I have a lot of big trees so cleaning out leaves on a regular basis used to be a big job, but these things stay absolutely clean without any maintenance at all. I don't have any evergreens, so I can't say how well they resist needles.

I don't do gutters anymore!!

Since it is a one story house I got a gutter cleaning end for my pressure washer.

I put the gutter guards with the small circular holes/mesh screen the second year we were here. They work. I just couldn't bring myself to pay someone to clean them for me...

I still climb the ladder and do our second story gutters, but I am not a fan. I am also too cheap to pay someone else to do it.

I did my own for 20 years. Year before last, I got almost to the top of the ladder before saying "screw this noise" and calling someone else to do it. Two and a half storey house, it's a long way up.

gutter guards here … haven't cleaned gutters in 5 yrs

Ladder and a leaf blower. I work from the roof, not the ladder.

If the downspout is clogged, the leaf blower makes short work of that also.

Are these:

http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-58996-Telescoping-Gutter-Cleaner/dp/B001B36H84

worth a damn? They go on a garden hose.

I saw my neighbor using that hose hook thingy. It seemed to do what you'd think.

RossD wrote: I saw my neighbor using that hose hook thingy. It seemed to do what you'd think.

Soak the user with water, rotten leaves and bugs?