How to Clean Gutters from the Ground, the Easy Way
It’s a dirty job, but once a year you’ll need to get your home’s gutters cleaned. Let’s learn how to clean gutters from the ground, safely.
Written by Matt Terzi
Reviewed by Melanie Reiff
Cleaning gutters from the ground involves buying affordable attachments for your garden hose, leafblower, wet/dry vacuum, or power washer. It is important for any homeowner to know how to clean gutters from the ground safely and routinely.
Cleaning gutters using a ladder results in lots of injuries every year, almost always because someone didn’t take ladder safety seriously. What’s worse, you don’t even need to use a ladder for a lot of those chores, including cleaning gutters.
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Why do you need to clean gutters, anyway?
Your home’s gutters will be relatively maintenance-free—you can just forget they exist most of the year without any problems. However, if you don’t clean your gutters at least once per year, you can end up with expensive (and entirely avoidable) home repair bills.
Gutters catch all of the water that runs off from your roof, channeling it through vertical “downspouts” that carry the water safely to the ground and away from your home.
Without gutters, that water could end up causing water damage to your basement, as well as your windows. In the winter months, freezing and thawing water can cause ice chunks that can rip up your gutter or even tear it away from the roof.
We recommend cleaning your gutters at least once each fall. If you have the time (and if you invest in some of the cheap gutter-cleaning technology we’re about to discuss), you could do it a second time in the spring, too.
Here’s a fun option: create an Autumn Day family tradition each November where you gather everyone for a day of yard work, including cleaning the gutters, rounding up leaves, and general cleaning. And you can make it fun by adding pie, hot cocoa, pumpkin spice lattes, and some activities. Oh, and why not break out that grill one last time, too?
Key Takeaway Gutters should be cleaned at least once every fall to prevent damage in the colder winter months.
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The best way to clean gutters from the ground
Depending on what tools you have at home already (or what you’re willing to invest in), there are a few options to help you clean your gutters from the ground, without needing to step a single foot on your ladder. Best of all, these options are mostly cheap and affordable, too.
Option A: Use a garden hose attachment
Most homeowners already have a garden hose, so let’s start there. This option works if your gutters have just a normal, moderate amount of debris. You’ll need a more heavy-duty option if your gutters haven’t been cleaned in years or if you can already tell they’re super messy.
You’ll want to buy a gutter cleaning tool, which simply attaches to your garden hose and allows you to work from the ground. Gutter cleaning tools can range in price anywhere from $20 to $200, but you can often find high-quality ones in the $40 to $100 range.
It’s suggested you start at a downspout and then slowly work the gutter cleaning tool in the opposite direction. When you reach the far end, keep the hose blasting for a few seconds, and work your way back toward the downspout. If you see a bunch of debris flying, stop for a second to make sure you break through whatever buildup exists.
Option B: Get an attachment for your wet/dry vacuum
If the buildup is too severe for your garden hose’s gutter cleaning tool, and if you own a wet/dry vacuum or know someone who can lend you one, you might want to try a vacuum attachment instead.
If you shop around a little, you’ll find attachments for your vacuum that are built for cleaning gutters from the ground. These work great for clearing large chunks of debris that a garden hose with a gutter cleaning tool would struggle to break up.
We still recommend giving the gutter a once-over with a garden hose attachment afterward, just to clear out the dirtiness and muck that builds up in gutters over time. Shop-vac attachments are great for bigger jobs, but they aren’t terribly useful for more routine cleaning.
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Option C: Use a leaf blower attachment
You may not have a wet/dry vacuum, but more and more families are investing in leaf blowers these days. Good news—there are attachments you can use with leaf blowers that will clear out your gutters, too.
Like the wet/dry vacuum option, your leaf blower will be exceptional at clearing away heavier buildups in your gutters, and they’ll arguably do a better job at cleaning up some of the typical messiness, too.
It’s still always a good idea to give your gutters another spray with your garden hose—just for good measure.
Option D: Use a power washer attachment
This is the most powerful option available, and the best choice if you already own a power washer, because a power washer attachment will make very short work of your dirty gutters, without needing to rinse them after with a garden hose attachment.
We strongly recommend using a low setting at first, and gradually working your way up to higher settings only as needed. Chances are, your lowest setting will get the job done with minimal fuss.
You’ll still need to have your garden hose on hand, but not to clean the gutters. Instead, you’ll want to clean the side of your home and the roof. Power washers are quite strong and debris gets blasted all over the place while you’re cleaning your gutters with them.
Save yourself the trouble and install gutter guards
Unless you happen to own a camera-equipped drone, it’s difficult to really tell if your gutters are clean without climbing up a ladder. Unless you’re using a power washer, anyway—not much is going to stay in your gutters after a healthy clean from that!
Of course, you don’t have to clean your gutters at all if you install gutter guards. Gutter guards are meshed screens that allow water to pour into the gutter while serving as a sort of club bouncer with a “no debris allowed” policy that sends leaves and twigs packing.
Your gutters still will get dirty and lightly muddy from the elements over time, but it won’t be anything your standard garden hose attachment can’t take care of occasionally.
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Need to clean your gutters with a ladder? Please be safe!
Cleaning gutters while standing on a ladder is dangerous. More than
500,000 people
are injured using ladders every year.There just isn’t a good reason to clean gutters with a ladder. Not a one. The reward is meager savings and needlessly dangerous tedium. With such a wide range of affordable tools on the market, it doesn’t make much sense to keep climbing that ladder year after year.
But, if you absolutely must keep climbing your ladder to clean your gutters for whatever reason, please be extra safe and follow a few safety rules:
- NEVER use a step ladder. Always use an extension ladder with stabilizers and have someone at the base of the ladder holding it steady
- Both you and your ladder helper need to stay focused on the job at hand, with zero distractions. If something else needs your attention, climb down from the ladder first, and then deal with whatever it is
- If you can’t reach something, climb down and move the ladder. Do not attempt to reach out dangerously beyond your reach. If your neck is out past either side of the ladder, you’re trying too hard. Move the ladder
- Make sure your phone is charged and in your pocket. If you fall and your helper is also injured, one of you needs to be able to call for help
- Don’t wear headphones while cleaning gutters using a ladder, and make sure your helper isn’t either. You’ll both need to be able to get each other’s attention quickly if there’s an emergency
Don’t let homeowners insurance clean out your wallet
Luckily, the methods of cleaning gutters from the ground involve relatively cheap investments that will last you for many, many years. You can clean out your gutters without also cleaning out your wallet. If only homeowners insurance were like that too, right?
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How do I clean rain gutters from the ground?
The best option is to use a power washer attachment if you have a power washer. You can alternatively use an attachment for a wet/dry vacuum or one for a leafblower. Even a simple garden hose attachment will suffice, though the garden hose won’t break through tough build-ups.
How often should you clean gutters? And when should you clean gutters?
You should make sure you’re cleaning your gutters at least once per year, though some homeowners prefer to clean them twice.
It’s recommended you wait until late fall or early winter to clean your gutters. You’ll want to shoot for that sweet spot between the leaves falling and temperatures reaching freezing—usually somewhere between late October and mid-November.
Can I clean my gutters from the roof?
Climbing onto your roof is extremely dangerous and can lead to severe injuries. If your gutters need that degree of deep cleaning you should hire experienced, professional, and insured experts to take care of it.
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