Gutter Cleaning Safety Tips: 4 Things to Keep in Mind

As we head toward spring, you might be tempted to get up on your roof and clean out the gutters. Before you start climbing, however, you should take a look at these gutter cleaning safety tips. A little prevention and gutter guards can save you a lot of pain and hassle during your spring cleaning.

1. Use Ladder Safety

Even when ladders are properly stored, they can still pose a safety risk to you. Rust could make the ladder more likely to collapse or fail once you put weight on it. When you plan to climb up on your roof, select a sturdy ladder that is long enough for you to reach the roof with ease. Carefully inspect the ladder for defects or damage, even if you used it many times in the fall without a problem. Place the ladder in a spot where it is not likely to move, whether you are climbing up or preparing to climb back down.

2. Wear Gloves

Sticking your bare hands into a dirty gutter that is full of leaves is the stuff of horror movies. You have no idea what hides beneath the debris. There could be rodents building nests, rusty metal to cut your hands, or simply harmful bacteria. You can prevent a lot of these problems by wearing proper gloves. We suggest wearing gloves of thick suede, to keep any sharp, broken pieces of gutter from piercing through the material and into your skin.

3. Protect Your Eyes

If your gutters are particularly full of muck as you clean through them, you may be at a greater risk of splash-back. No one wants to get a face full of filthy rainwater while they are cleaning. If you think that bacteria on your hands might be a problem, your eyes need even greater protection. Consider putting on protective eyewear before you head up the ladder to help you see clearly through the whole process.

4. Install Gutter Guards

You could avoid a lot of work for this task by installing gutter guards in your gutters. Gutters are designed to give a place for rainwater or melted ice and snow to run off your home and out to the ground, instead of simply falling off the roof in sheets that can freeze and cause damage. The trouble is that everything else wants to fall into the gutters as well, and only some of it will come out the downspouts. Putting in Gutter Rx lets the water pass through without providing space for rodents to build a home, or for leaves and debris to accumulate.

To better maintain your roof and gutters, contact us for more information about Gutter Rx.