Greetings! Can y’all believe It’s early October, already? For some, the start of autumn means putting out their Halloween decorations which is so fun to see. Some of my neighbors go all out and I love looking at what they’ve crafted for their yards on my walks around the neighborhood. Here are some of my favorites.
Aside from Halloween, this time of year, my mind is in the gutter. By that, I mean that I start weekly to bi-weekly gutter cleanings. That may sound like a lot of maintenance, but it is really quite simple since I live in a daylight ranch so it is a pretty easy reach for me.
I leave my ladder out under the awning for easy access in the fall and it stays out there until late spring. We don’t have too many trees near the house, so I don’t have to clean all of them all that often. There is just one gutter that gets hit with the leaves, so that is the one that I target weekly and it’s not too high for me to access. I typically put on a pair of kitchen gloves and I grab a family member to hold the ladder for me. I have a leaf scoop, but I prefer to use my hands. It takes about 5 minutes and gives me such gratification.
The other gutters I have cleaned once a year by the contractor who also treats my roof for moss. If your gutters are high, leave it to the professionals. You can also consider replacing some of your gutters with closed systems. Lowe’s sells filters that snap on to your existing system. If you want to go this route, measure your gutters’ width before heading to the store. If you call a gutter company, especially a national brand, please be mindful that the salespeople may try to sell you a closed system for your whole house which can be quite expensive and quite frankly, overkill. You may benefit from a closed system on a portion of your gutters. These national companies are very expensive and often sub out the work. As always, read reviews and see if you can find a local gutter filter company.
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