Gutter cleaning tips for facilities managers
It’s that time of year when a second gutter cleaning is almost always needed, especially with the shedding of leaf debris from newly budding branches. Recent storms also can blow leaves, pine needles and roofing debris into the gutter, causing potential rainwater overflow, which can cause landscape erosion and water damage to government buildings and facilities. Gutter cleaning can be dangerous, however, so facilities managers need to take precautions before starting the task.
Robert Lenney, owner and founder of the Rocklin, Calif.-based Gutterglove, Inc., has cleaned out more than 6 million linear feet of gutters since 1996. He is also affiliated with this site.
The company now manufactures a line of micro-mesh gutter protection systems and distributes them throughout North America.
What follows are a few of Lenney’s basic gutter cleaning tips. “I can’t turn this tedious job into a Disneyland experience, but these few simple cleaning tips and tricks can make the job easier while keeping safety in mind,” he says.
1. Let someone know you are cleaning your gutters.
2. Use a safe and secure ladder. The ladder should have a small shelf strong enough to hold a five-gallon bucket to collect gutter debris. Make sure to secure the bucket with a lanyard.
3. Wear shoes with rubber soles. Rubber soles tend to adhere best and prevent slipping and falls.
4. Wear gloves and proper eyewear.
5. Watch out for hazardous power lines.
6. Rake leaves off roof first. Otherwise, the next rain will wash all the debris down into the clean gutter, clogging it up again. Also, debris left on the roof can lead to water damming up in valleys or around the chimney, which can cause erosion and roof leaks over time.
7. Use plastic gutter scoop. Scooping out the leafy debris seems to be the best overall method for cleaning out the gutter. An excellent tool for this job is the bright orange plastic “Gutter Getter” scoop, which can be purchased at most hardware stores.
8. Unclog downspouts.
9. Spray out the gutter with a garden hose. Use a garden hose with a pistol-grip trigger spray nozzle that allows you to adjust the water pressure with the use of just one hand. Spraying out the gutter is generally best when most of the larger debris has already been removed. It’s difficult to spray out leaves and pine needles that have piled up over the summer and fall. Spray toward the downspout (leader pipe) so the small, murky debris flows down the downspout.
10. Clean gutters two times a year, once in the fall and again in the spring. One main reason for cleaning out gutters is to eliminate the possibility of water damage from rainwater runoff due to a clogged gutter. Another reason is to reduce the possibility of rust corrosion. Even though it may not rain during the summer, if there is debris in steel gutters, the rusting process can speed up. It’s difficult for rust to speed up with clean gutters. The faster the rusting process, the sooner new gutters will be needed.
Several government facilities have Lenney’s products in place. Gutterglove Pro is installed on the Superior Court – Santa Clara Courthouse in Santa Clara, Calif. The gutter products also are installed at the Sheldon Patterson Memorial Public Library (in photo), which is a historical landmark in Saratoga Calif. Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., has Gutterglove Pro installations on several student buildings.
The federal government and military also use the product. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered my product in mid-2011 and was so impressed [with the product] that they started specifying the design into several new building plans on specific military bases in the U.S.,” Lenney says.
The gutter systems that are used on military bases are the same types used in residential single-family homes, Lenney says. “However, government buildings do use larger types of gutters sometimes. Case in point, my Gutterglove Pro gutter guard (1,200 feet) was installed on a new administration building at the Presidio of Monterey, Defense Language Institute, last November. This was an oversized box-style gutter. The gutter cleaning techniques are the same on the larger gutters as the smaller gutters.”
