Tips for Maintaining Your Guttering – Part 2
Before proceeding with the maintenance of your guttering, you will ideally have read Gutter Maintenance Tips – Part 1 so you undertake the gutter maintenance in a safe manner.
It’s always worth keeping in mind that on average, 1331 Emergency Department presentations are from ladder falls with the peak age group being males between 55 and 59 years of age (Monash University, Injury Research Institiute, Report on the Reduction of Major Trauma and Injury from Ladder Falls, 31 October, 2014).
So, let’s assume you’ve got your ladder safely in place and you’re ready to start. BlueScope Steel suggests the following procedure.
Tips for Maintaining Your Guttering – Part 2
- Use a stiff, soft bristled brush to sweep debris into a pile. Bluescope do not use hand shovels or other hard tools because these implements could scrath or damage the guttering which can lead to rust developing.
- Place the debris into a bucket and lower to the ground.
- Wash down the expose fascia (that’s the timber or metal panel that runs behind the gutter) with a hose. Don’t forget to include in this process any rain heads, water spouts and overflow locations.
- If you’re doing this work in summer and are planning to use sunblock to protect your skin, be sure to only use sunblocks that do not contain titanium oxide and zinc oxide as these products can accelerate the degradation the Colorbond coating (BlueScope Technical Bulleting TB-13). Potentially you will leave fingerprints that can never be removed…
Of course, you may want to check what the local government water restrictions are and work within the bounds of current enforceable restrictions.
Cleaning Downpipes
This is one area that is often neglected and one in which the Roofrite team often find to be a source of water ingress when the winter rains arrive.
The inside of downpipes can be cleaned by using a pressure water hose. The hose. Once you’ve done this, feed the hose from the top to the bottom to ensure no obstructions remain. Any blockages should be removed to avoid water backing up into the gutters in heavy downpours.
