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Cleaning Your Own Gutters? Avoid These Costly Mistakes

It’s springtime again, and you know what that means. It’s time to open up the windows, sweep out the dust that has accumulated over the winter, and it embark on a deep spring cleaning projects that believe your home sparkling, fresh, and ready for the warm summer months ahead.

And if you live in an area with any kind of real winter, it’s also time to clean out those gutters. Debris has been accumulating there for months, probably going all the way back to falling leaves from the previous autumn. Then came the snow, which froze and thawed in cycles, leaving even more junk and debris in the gutter system. When the spring thaw finally came, the melting snow on the roof might not have anywhere to go on account of clogged gutters.
Indeed, cleaning your gutters in the springtime is a satisfying experience for many homeowners. It’s a chance to troubleshoot and problem solve—and when you get your gutters working properly again, it’s a great feeling.
There are, however, a number of common mistakes people make when cleaning their gutters during the spring, and while they may seem insignificant at first, they can have a negative affect on your finances when you look at the big picture.

1. Reaching too far

Most people use a ladder to clean the gutters, which means the ladder has to be repositioned any number of times before the job is complete. People often try to “minimize” the number of times they have to move the ladder by reaching as far as they can. For obvious reasons, this is a safety hazard and not worth it.

2. Forgetting the protect yourself

Gutter cleaning is a gritty business. It’s possible to encounter hidden, sharp objects. You may even be contending with wasps or bees. So take the job seriously and wear protective gear. Heavy duty gloves are a must, and protective eye shields are highly recommended.

3. Ignoring important maintenance issues

It’s easy to rush through the job of cleaning the gutters without really paying attention to the problems and weaknesses in the gutters themselves. DIY gutter cleaners often ignore cracks, leaks and other structural problems that will affect the functionality of the gutters over time. When you clean your gutters, take the opportunity to check for things that look weak or out of place. Better yet, call in a gutter specialist for annual cleaning and maintenance. This is a great way to keep your gutters at peak performance throughout the year.

Putting your gutters in someone else’s hands?

Gutter repair and maintenance is something that many homeowners wish to tackle on their own. But there are also a lot of people out there who would rather leave it to a trained professional who knows exactly what they’re doing and has all of the appropriate tools, as well as the correct techniques, to perform gutter maintenance safely and effectively – and to make sure that any minor issues are resolved before they can develop into costly and frustrating long-term gutter problems.