Spring is in the air, time for the age old ritual of spring cleaning to begin. In many cases this chore is limited to the inside of the house; don’t let this be, the outside needs a cleaning as well. It is easy to see the debris that is left in the yard by the ravages of winter; broken limbs from an ice storm and piles of leaves blown by the wind into the corners of the yard. One thing that is not so evident, and is very important, is the gutters of your home.
Your gutters in Anne Arundel County should be cleaned as soon as you can definitely say that spring has arrived. During the winter months, the leaves and debris that you see in the yard also have fallen on the roof and into the gutters. Before the hard spring rains come, the gutters must be cleaned properly otherwise there will be problems with water getting up under the shingles and into the house interior. Water running over the edge of gutters is also one of the things which cause erosion around the foundation of the house, allowing water to seep down the walls and into the basement.
To clean your gutters in Anne Arundel County pick the first nice day that comes along. Arm yourself with a ladder to gain access to the gutters, a trowel or garden hand spade, a hand operated leaf blower if available, otherwise a rake and personal protection including gloves and goggles.
Make sure the ladder is on a flat surface and is secure; make sure it will not slide out from under you. Once you reach the gutter, use the trowel or small hand held rake to loosen the accumulation of debris from the gutter. There will be a layer of rotted leaves, twigs and dirt. Be careful not to scrape too hard, it takes little to damage a gutter. Use the hand held blower to dislodge as much of the debris as possible. Continue with this process all around the house, cleaning all the gutters paying particular attention to the entry into the downspouts. Debris will gather at these points more than elsewhere.
While you have the ladder out, check to see if any trees around the house have limbs which have grown out close to the roof, if there are limbs, they should be cut as they could damage the roof in a storm, plus they are the source of more leaves.
