The most effective tools for gutter cleaning are hand trowels and hand shovels, garden hoses, leaf rakes, and leaf blowers. While a number of high-tech tools are available, hand cleaning for gutters and downspouts remains the most efficient manner.

In addition to these hand tools, gutter cleaning requires one or more ladders (typically an extension ladder up to 20 feet and a 10 to 12 foot step ladder), buckets, trash bags, gloves, eye protection, screw or nut drivers, and landscape coverings.

In This Article:

Gutter Cleaning Tools
What Gets Stuck In The Gutters?
How Do You Clean Out Dirt and Debris?
What Are The Best Gutter Cleaning Tools
Our Gutter Cleaning Services

What Gets Stuck in the Gutters?

To understand what kind of tools you’ll need for the job, you first need to know what you’ll be cleaning out of your gutters. On the bottom of your gutters, you’ll most likely find a small layer of silt. This is made up of small dirt particles, fine dust particles, and sandy particles. The silt layer collects underneath everything else and creates a thin layering on the bottom of the gutters, building up over time.

On top of the silt, you can find a lot of organic materials from plants around your area. If you have trees around, it’s very likely you’ll discover leaves or pine needles inside the gutters. Seeds from various plants may accumulate inside the gutters and start to sprout in the silt if they’re left long enough. Twigs and small sticks get caught up in the leaves as well. Organic materials cause most of the clogs in gutters.

Beyond the normal organic materials, you may find inorganic materials like tennis balls or toys. This is more likely if you have kids in your household or around the neighborhood. Otherwise, you can also find bug nests, animals’ nests, and roofing materials from a failing roof.

How Do You Clean Out Dirt and Debris?

To get rid of each of the types of dirt and debris caught in your gutters, you’ll need different types of gutter cleaning tools. For the silt layer, you’ll want something that can scoop it up and breaks up the dirt layers, so that the rest can be easily washed down. For other, larger materials, a claw-type tool is useful for working out large piles of debris.