Whilst reading the local paper The Hills Shire Times this week – I came across an all too familiar story. A gentleman in Kenshurst had just fallen from his roof whilst attempting to clean his gutters.
It’s like the car crash stories that make you think “Not again, when will people learn?” It’s one of those situations that you look back on and think ‘Why did I do that?”
How many times have you or a family member climbed onto the roof to clean the gutters? (not often enough I hear some of you groan). Like with most jobs, it’s best to leave it to the professionals.
So I thought I would put together a few reasons why cleaning your own gutters can lead to mishap – just some food for thought before you jump onto the roof this Autumn.

? Gutters are always up high and if you have never been onto a roof before, it can be quite unsettling to look down and see the ground below.
? To reach a gutter you need to approach it from either a ladder or from standing on the roof itself.

Essential ladder tips.

1. The ladder needs to be on a straight firm ground and secured to the roof. Winds, animals and nerves from heights can all lead to a shaky and falling ladder
2. As you finish each section of gutter you will need to unsecure the ladder, get down, move the ladder and begin the process again (and again) until you have completed the entire roof

? Gutters that do not have a quality gutter guard, such as The Leaf Man Gutter Guard will be full of decomposing material – leaves, twigs, debris and yes spiders and often vermin
? To clear valleys and other difficult to reach areas you will need to be on your roof – which requires the appropriate harnessing. Or more likely than not you will fall off the roof
? The weight of most adults will break roofs tiles – so you need to know where precisely to walk
? The roof is very slippery. Morning dew or rain will make the roof tiles impossible to walk on
The most cost effective way to keep your gutters clean and low maintenance is to have The Leaf Man Gutter Guard installed – and then you won’t have to worry about falling off the ladder!
Our best wishes to the gentleman in Kenshurst and to all of you with past gutter cleaning injuries.

Tags: clean your gutters, gutter guard, the leaf man australia

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 12:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.