Easy Way to Clean Gutters

Intro: Easy Way to Clean Gutters

We have a lot of trees on our property, and I've grown weary of having to get out my ladder each spring and clean the leaves from my live oaks out of the gutters. This year I had a brainstorm, and this brainstorm and $9 worth of plumbing parts has made this chore much easier. I decided to make an extension to my leaf blower, and in this Instructable are the steps needed to build such an extension.

STEP 1: Make Adapter for Blower Nozzle

There were two plumbing elbows in the kit I bought and I only needed one. I took the extra elbow, sawed off one end (leaving 1.5 inches of straight pipe). I heated this end (the sawed off portion) and squeezed it in my vice until its shape matched the nozzle of the blower's nozzle. It took about three tries to get it to match, but it was not difficult. I would heat the entire end, squeeze it in the vice until cool, then heat each side independently and squeeze them until I had a good fit.

STEP 2: Assemble Extension

Assembling the extension was easy. I simply inserted the straight pipe into the remaining elbow and used the included collar to tighten them together.

STEP 3: Attach Adapter to Blower

My original plan was to simply duct tape the adapter to the blower. Well, that was an amazingly bad idea! I quickly realized I needed a more firm way to put this together.

I took two pieces of aluminum flats from my scrap pile and attached them to the front and back of the blower tube using machine screws and nuts. You want to make sure there is no space between the adapter and the blower tube. You can see on the 3rd photo that I had to use needle nose pliers to insert the screws inside the blower tube.

I did this on both the front and the back, then attached the metal pieces to the adapter (photos 4 & 5). I inserted the machine screws from the inside, because when I want to use the blower for general yard duty, I can remove the adapter and simply leave the screws (and nuts) in place for the next time it needs to do gutter duty.

STEP 4: Attach Extension to Adapter

The final step was to attach the assembled extension to the adapter. Because of the screws in the adapter, I couldn't insert the extension fully into the adapter (it would only go in about an inch). I glued these parts together, then added 4 sheet metal screws to insure it would stay solidly together.

STEP 5: The Final Product

This extension to my blower has worked like a charm. It is easy to use, works great, and is solid. I originally thought I might need to use duct tape where the adapter joins the blower tube, but it has been unnecessary. I also thought I might need to make a nozzle at the end of the extension, but so far I don't think it is needed.

This was not a difficult project, and it is easy to change from a regular landscape blower to a gutter blower.

Comments

[spiritwalker6153]

I think this is a great idea. However, I do not possess a leaf blower. Can this be adapted to use a garden hose? Thanks.

[ruggiero.michael.sr]

Did something similar but connected to shop vac. I could suck up the debris or blow it out. Usually did both.

[dwieland]

That would make a soggy mess of any leaves not immediately knocked out of the gutter. A corded leaf blower on sale is pretty cheap and a very useful homeowner tool.

[MrsWilson46]

Not sure about the 'soggy mess' of which you speak! My shop vac can either suck or blow, depending on where you attach the hose. If you set it to blow, it's the functional equivalent of a leaf blower.

[dwieland]

Spirit walker asked about using a garden hose, i.e. using water instead of air. I've had a shop vac with a blower function, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as a true leaf blower.

[CharlesD82]

If you don't want to invest in a leaf blower, you can use a shop vacuum.

[charlessenf-gm]

There are several integrations of a metal pipe that has a 'high pressure' tip on one end and a female garden hose fitting on the other. Of course, the 'high' in 'High Pressure' depends upon the pressure at your hose bib. The one end of these devices is curved. Given the cost of the materials and fittings required buy one!
However, to get the highest in high pressure gutter washing wands you'll want a pressure washer.
There are some really interesting attachments I found googol'ing the phrase "garden hose gutter cleaning attachment" try it, you'll be impressed!
I was!

[leshemeli]

Very creative! Why am I climbing the ladder?

[Ron47Walker]

I have a "Vacuum/ Blower" unit - I think I will try this with the vacuum mode so I don't keep chasing the same leaves over the low-sloped roof. Thanks for the inspiration.
Love the image in step 3 of the snap-knife kept in the "Band Aid" tin.

[Matthew Yang]

You can also make an extension for your dyson cordless stick vacuum using a spare extender stick.

[MrsWilson46]

Great Idea! Can't wait to try it. I also have gutters on the second floor, but I think using this extension from a 12' ladder beats climbing the 20' ladder!

[darknician]

My gutters are on the second story... This idea becomes a bit unwieldy with an extra 11 feet added... But I love it!

[RobertP231]

This is a great idea, but it occurs to me that it should also work equally well with a leaf vacuum which would mulch and bag all the leaves instead of blowing them all over the lawn.

[tailsnz]

my second floor gutters are 20ft high and a pain in the rear to access on the one side where the neighbours trees are. i made an extension of plumbing interior waste pipe which i can attach to my shop vac to vaccuum the mess out of the gutters. we have a very large kowhai tree over shadowing and the seed pods get stuck and are not easily flushed or blown. they do jam the opening of the pipe but i lift the pipe out of the gutter and disconnect the suction and it falls out and ready to go again.

[JohnW51]

This is a great idea, but unless you have a blower you want to commit to this use only, you need some sort of quick-release mechanism to detach the adapter when not using it.
All of my gutters except the one built into my patio cover have screens over them. The one on the patio cover is very narrow and hard to clean out. I may try to adapt this idea to that one gutter if I can come up with a quick-release solution.

[ghostie222]

Genius idea! A BIG THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS PROJECT!!!

After 2 knee replacements and getting older, climbing ladders is not a fun thing to do, not to mention the chance of falling.

[RandyPerson]

I did make the water variety for tall second story gutters. I used a 10 foot length of 3/4 pvc, to gain some rigidity over 1/2. At the hose end, use a glue-on female hose fitting, and a simple ball valve. A comfortable way up, cut in a tee and add a short, capped pipe for a handle. This really helps control it. Now for the secret.

At the top, I heated the pipe and wrapped it around a bucket to make a smooth curve to allow the tip to get into the gutter easily. Then, glue on a tee, capping each end with a male hose fitting. I found a nice little hose nozzle at Home Depot, which can be adjusted for a strong jet stream. Not sure the brand, but it's only a couple inches long. Fasten the nozzle to the end of the tee pointing the way you like, and put a standard cap (like from a soaker hose) on the other end. This way, the water shoots right down the gutter, blasting the big stuff out, and washing the small debris down the line. To go the other direction, swap the nozzle and cap.

Yes, you'll want to wear a raincoat. But I can only guess at what comes drifting down from the blower version! Hope this helps.

[ncwoods]

Thank you, thank you. I'm so tired of climbing around on my roof to clean gutters. The leaf blower kits for gutters are so expensive and this is the answer to that. I have most of the materials on your list in my shop. Terrific idea.

[charlessenf-gm]

Great trick!
One thought was to begin at the ROUND portion of your blower and use a PVC (reducer) fitting with an ID slightly smaller then the OD of the blower tube. Heating it with a hair dryer or similar device to allow it to 'slip fit' tightly over the blower tube.
Also like your old metal band-aid box recycle!

[dwieland]

I made a similar version for a two story house and used "whole house" vacuum tubing. It works, but maneuvering it along the gutter isn't as easy as your much shorter version.