No-ladder rain gutter cleaning

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 22 Jun 2025, 10:21

I hate getting up on a ladder to clean gutters, so I devised a solution. Why not make removable gutters? I got my first 10' section installed and it seems to be functioning as planned. It takes maybe 2 minutes to remove and 2 minutes to reinstall. My roof is about 29' 6" so 3 gutters will cover it. They're not as sleek as the 1 piece gutters but it's a small price to pay to avoid the ER. The house is very near 100 years old anyway.
The downspout is not fixed to the gutter, it hooks to the gutter and clips to the siding. CAD skills and a 3D printer would be good to make more esthetic hardware, but those are skills I don't possess. In addition, I might just be a kook.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 22 Jun 2025, 11:53

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Water Cleaning

Depending on height you can use 3/4" rigid PVC tubing with proper ends attached to a water hose with a U at the other end. Hook the U on the gutter so the pressure of the hose doesn't push the length of tubing left or right depending on which way it's facing. Just angle to the side you want the water to flow.

Air Cleaning

I purchased 3 sets years ago on eBay for $10 or so. It had the long tubing and U tip but not the attachments to the blower. I use a length of 4" plastic flex dryer hose from the blower end to the tube. The dryer hose is cut and reduced to fit wrap around the tube. With a strap around the blower I have it slung on my shoulder and use both hands to control the tubing. Due to the extended height it does come crashing down if not controlled well and it also need to be hung on the gutter pointing in the direction of downspout. Most of the dry leaves however fly out everywhere so I usually start in the middle and go both ways.
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https://www.worx.com/gutter-cleaning-kit-wa4092.html
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: Leaf Blower Gutter Tool.png (1.47 MiB) Viewed 2395 times

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SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 22 Jun 2025, 13:52

I have trees around the house and get a lot of debris from those. Sticks, leaves, seeds. That stuff gets into the gutter outlet then the downspout and plugs up quickly. So, I decided to do the removable gutter.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 22 Jun 2025, 15:37

SOURDOUGHJIM wrote: ↑22 Jun 2025, 13:52 I have trees around the house and get a lot of debris from those. Sticks, leaves, seeds. That stuff gets into the gutter outlet then the downspout and plugs up quickly. So, I decided to do the removable gutter.

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The single story is good with the removable gutter. Since our home is on a grade the gutters on the second story is over 30' due to the crawl space. On a thunderstorm down pour a couple of years ago the gutters were overflowing right away. During a lull I decided to unhook the flex hose that unions the down tube where it meets the in ground tubing. Put the blower into the down tube and water came gushing down all over me

. Glad I had a rain coat on and the hood was up. Regardless, took a bath. Only will do that when it's been dry for sometime.
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SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 23 Jun 2025, 07:30

Another idea that I may employ if downspouts continue getting plugged up. Cut a 7/8" slot on the top side of the downspouts 45° run. Use a filler strip snapped into the slot that can be easily removed to access the 2nd elbow. The filler strip would be made for unistrut which is used in commercial electrical installations. Unistrut could also be used for the bracket-to-house mounting and would facilitate mounting D-rings for ladder tie-offs in case a roofer needs to get up there. Unistrut is versatile stuff and is sold in 10' lengths same as the gutters.

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 23 Jun 2025, 07:50

My other unistrut install... mailbox post, covered by 2x2 vinyl downspout.