The gutters are indispensable to any household as they circulate and protect your roof from heavy rainfall.
However, it’s inadvisable to leave the clogs, and dust builds up in the drains.
The gutters will get clogged and slowly wear down, posing many threats to the homeowner when they suddenly collapse. Therefore, cleaning the gutters is not a task that you can overlook.
I will instruct you on how to clean gutters with a pressure washer in the simplest way. Keep scrolling down, and you will find that it’s just a piece of cake.
Can You Clean Gutters With a Pressure Washer?
The answer is yes, but not all pressure washers can be applicable for this task.
The advantage of a pressure washer is the ease of cleaning, allowing you to clean the gutter outside without using a ladder.
It can effectively wipe out the dirt and debris building up on the soffit’s surface.
Therefore if the gutters are too hard to reach and you want more convenience, this pressure washer is much more effortless and easier.
However, the soffits are designed to hold the water flow, not to endure powerful airflow from these pressure washers. If your pressure washer is too powerful, you may risk damaging or wearing down the soffits.
For this reason, you must use washers with around 1500-2000 PSI in power to avoid unwanted damage. Also, you have to put on the right equipment and safety gear to protect yourself from potential falling-off objects.
Why Should You Clean The Gutters?
Cleaning your gutters is an essential house maintenance chore when you decide to install them. If you don’t clean your drain habitually, the gutters will get clogged, and you will have to pay expensive cleaning costs.
So why do you keep your gutters clean? Regularly cleaning these gadgets will retain their appearance and increase their endurance in any extreme weather conditions like the scorching sun or rainy days.
In addition, your gutters will have a higher capacity to withstand external environmental impacts like cuts and corrosion. If you leave the debris and dust to accumulate over time, it becomes much harder to clean the gutters.
They will form the big clogs that hinder the water flow or may even damage your gutters. During the long-hour rains, the extra weight from stains and debris combined with clogged water will quickly wear down the drain.
This added up weight can diminish the gutters’ quality and even break them immediately when a hurricane or flood happens. In addition, fascias, soffits, and walls may take more damage from runoff from water from the gutters’ sides.
Similarly, the additional weight could cause the gutters to collapse when debris freezes during cold and snowy winter months.
And once spring finally arrived, where would the water from the melted snow drain to? Nowhere!
When Should You Pressure Wash Your Gutters?
Of course, there’s no need to suffer all the hustles and bustles when your home’s gutters are completely clean. Busy people don’t have much time for these cleaning chores, so it’s critical to pick the right time.
In residential areas with average rainfall, you should clean the drainers at least once every six months.
However, if it’s the dry season without frequent rain, you don’t need to wash the gutters if they’re still clean.
You should use this pressure washer when the ladder is unavailable, or it’s too hard to reach the drain’s position. However, the high-pressure airflow can only discard the dirt and debris, not heavy and big objects.
If there are objects stuck inside your drain, then using a pressure washer won’t help much. In this case, the only solution is to remove the objects with your bare hand.
How To Clean Gutters With Pressure Washer?
In general, there are eight steps to clean gutters effectively, and each step requires specific criteria.
You should follow the instructions carefully to achieve the best cleaning result while keeping yourself safe from unwanted accidents.
Step 1: Preparations For The Cleaning
You should remove outdoor objects from the gutter, including vegetation, plants, and flower pots. It’s essential to have a clean route for walking while cleaning.
Equip yourself with gloves, anti-slippery boots, and suitable cleaning clothing. Check this pressure washer carefully before cleaning to ensure they are ready to work.
During the cleaning process, you will concentrate on cleaning while gazing up and not paying attention to any objects on the pathway. This is highly dangerous as you can encounter trips and slip hazards or get stuck with outdoor things,
In addition, dust and debris will fall onto the garden after cleaning the gutter. They will fall on the pathway, and you don’t want them to slip on and smudge everything around you.
Therefore, you should remove the surrounding objects first to avoid the time-consuming process once again.
When the preparation is finished, you may quickly pressure wash the ground to remove the gutter-related debris without much effort. You will need a tool to clean stubborn stains, and I believe a trowel is perfect for cleaning them.
Step 2: Put On Safe Glasses
Don’t forget to put on the safety glasses. As I mentioned above, dust and debris will fall on pathways during the cleaning process and potentially on your head. The safety glasses will prevent debris from getting in your eyes.
You can comfortably clean the gutter without worrying about any potential damage. The safety glasses can protect your eyes from the sun’s bright glare.
Step 3: Don’t Use A Ladder
It’s necessary to put a telescopic or extension wand on your pressure washer hose. These appliances will increase the water pressure of the washer, allowing you to reach up to high positions on the gutter without using a ladder.
It’s not safe to use pressure washers while standing on the ladders. Ladders are ideal for cleaning gutters with bare hands. Since the standard pressure washers possess a high-intense force that will cause the wand to recoil.
A ladder on slippery surfaces or a pathway with many objects like flower pots or plants won’t ensure a secure standing posture. It can easily slip and throw you off easily due to the recoil.
Step 4: Choose Your Suitable Wand Attachment
The next step is to attach a gutter cleaning wand adapter to the telescoping wand’s end. There are many types of gutter wand attachments on the market, but I highly recommend you install the curve-shaped wand attachment.
These wand attachments have a U-shaped curve. They are similar to a hook, and the curve enables the nozzle to collect material like twigs by reaching around and within the gutter.
However, the curve-shaped wand attachments have straight water flow, making water impact the gutter directly. This is hard for cleaning leaves as they come with a flat shape and damage the gutter over time.
Some wand attachment models possess two horizontal nozzles, allowing these appliances to clean more efficiently as they can spray water left and right.
You can easily clean leaves and other flat surface objects within minutes.
Step 5: Things To Know About Your Pressure Washer Before Cleaning
Utilize your pressure washer to rinse the gutters with water. You should start with the downspouts first. Since they can be clogged with debris and stains, making it difficult to manage the water flow on your roof in the rain.
Some consumers would wonder what types of pressure washers they should use.
Many questions come to their mind, like electric or gas pressure washers. How many PSI do you need?
In general, to achieve the best cleaning result for a standard roof, I believe a 1,500 PSI electric power washer should be adequate.
They provide users with decent productivity at an affordable cost.
The 3,000 or 4,000 PSI gas power washers possess high-intense pressure, bringing astounding cleaning results. But they are not an ideal choice for anyone who has a tight budget.
They are more expensive and will need more upkeep. Of course, if you need additional power for other things around the house, these powerful pressure washers are an excellent option.
Step 6: Add The Detergent For More Efficient Cleaning
Add some detergent to the gutter and wash it. The detergent will diminish the adherence of the debris and the gutter’s surface, allowing water to wash them away easily in the next step.
Step 7: Remove The Detergent And Clean
Use regular water to rinse the detergent from the gutters. The detergent can simply run into the downspouts now that all the debris has been removed. Set your pressure washer power to around 1500-2000 PSI to clean the gutters.
Hold your pressure washer’s nozzle (around 18 inches from the gutters) and sweep it back and forth to clean.
If the pressure is not powerful enough, just move the nozzle closer to the cleaning surface.
Step 8: Finish Off The Cleaning
In the final step, you just need to clean the debris falling on the pathway.
You can use this pressure washer with the broom attachment to do this step more effectively.
This broom attachment has three nozzles, allowing them to expand the cleaning coverage. Cleaning and piling them up will make it easy for you to deposit them in your trash can.
If you need more demonstrations for the cleaning, consider watching this video to learn more!
Tips To Know Before Cleaning Your Gutter
Here are some additional tips that help you clean the soffits easier and avoid potential damage in the cleaning process.
Practice Safety
It’s always necessary to find and equip yourself with safety gears before cleaning.
You should put on a work glove, a fully covered pant and shirt, non-slip boots, and most importantly, the safety glasses.
Don’t Skip The Downspouts.
Cleaning the gutters is easy since you mainly focus on their surface. However, so many people often skip washing the downspouts.
These parts are where the funneling water, debris, and dirt flow from the drain to the removal area.
If the downspout gets clogged, the liquid and small objects cannot get out of the pipe and end up clogging your entire soffit system.
FAQS
How Long Does Pressure Washing The Gutter Take?
It depends on your skills and the size of your gutter system.
If you count all the preparation processes, it takes approximately one to two hours to clean all the gutters’ surfaces.
For the large drain systems in two-story or three-story houses, it may take between 2 and 4 hours to clean the gutters thoroughly. For a small house, you just need one hour to finish the task.
How Much Does The Gutter Cleaning Service Cost?
It takes around $60 to $100 for a small house with a 200-feet drain system. For two-story houses, the cost increases significantly to around $150 and $200.
How Much PSI Do You Need For Pressure Wash Gutters?
Around 1500 to 2000 PSI would be ideal for pressure washing the gutters.
This power is neither too strong nor too weak. The air pressure can effectively wipe out the dirt and debris without damaging your soffit system.
What Happens If You Don’t Clean Gutters?
If you leave the gutters uncleaned, the debris, dirt, and bacteria will slowly build up inside the pipe and form clogs. As a result, the water flow is hindered and blocks the entire system.
Final Thoughts
Those are the basic steps to clean gutters with a pressure washer. Ensure that you use the right equipment and follow the steps carefully to achieve the best cleaning result.
Also, you should use the proper equipment to avoid damaging your drain system.
If there is any serious problem in the cleaning process, consider seeking help from professionals rather than resolving it on your own.
I hope that you’re satisfied with the information and guide provided in this post. Have a nice day!