The gutter cleaning at Woodhaven today went surprisingly well. Two long metal rods in the Woodhaven garage proved to be exactly the tools needed for a fast gutter and roof debris cleaning job. The gutters only took about an hour so I spent another hour raking the paths and finished just as the heavy rain started so Woodhaven is in good shape for the winter. There is one little six foot section of 2nd story gutter left. Normally that is only reachable by a 20 foot ladder but while finishing up another church member walked up and related to me his sad tale of a ladder fall injury that resulted in an infection from the wound which is absolutely a concern when you are mucking around in rotted leaf mold! But after a discussion we brainstormed some ideas about how to reach that final gutter area with either a telescoping rod or perhaps a long stretch of flexible 1/4 inch PVC pipe. Perhaps with a tool attached to the end. You'll see in the pictures that having long, thin metal rods are just dandy for knocking roof debris down a roof into the gutter where it can be flipped out with the rods. Hard to describe in text but once you see how to do it you'll see how quick a gutter job can go, especially on the steeper angles of some of the Woodhaven slopes.
So, here are the pictures!
And so it begins. Note the rope keeping the ladder from falling. Taking that last step up on the roof will often kick the ladder down. That little bit of rope keeping the ladder upright when you step off it can save your leg/back/dignity! Also, note the two long thin metal rods. Those are the fastest way to get debris down a roof valley or flipped out of a gutter.
See the roof valley filled with debris above the short little second story gutter on the back of Woodhaven? With the thin little metal rods that is easily taken care of.
Run the metal rods up and down that valley and the debris comes tumbling down. Gravity is your friend! :)
You need to get the debris off the roof seams as well as the gutters. Wet debris will sit there and rot the shakes.
It is amazing just how much debris can come off a roof with gutters:
Clean gutters are a thing of beauty!
Now it's a rain gutter again.
The thin metal rods are just about six feet too short to get this stretch of gutter. Normally you would use the 20 foot ladder (a two person job at least). Inventive minds are working on a solution here. You need a rod with enough length but flexible enough to shake and flip debris out of the gutter.
The gazabo roof needs cleaning too:
The paths were overgrown so since the gutter cleaning went so fast I raked the paths as well. Looking good.
I noticed the path debris had blocked one of the gates so I dug it out so it opens again.
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