Gutter cleaning is one of those pain in the butt problems I haven't solved.

I have gutter guards, they help a little but make it harder when I do clean. And cleaning is made harder by the long nails that insert into the house every few feet.

A robot that continuously made the rounds would be nice, but I haven't found one that can fit under the nails.

Well, a few minutes ago I had a brainstorm. What if I took my gutters down and put them back up hinged at the bottom edge?

Whenever I needed to clean, I'd just unhook them and let them pivot down. With the opening facing out and a little down, a quick blast with the hose would clean them out.

Each year I get older I have less tolerance for going up on the ladder.

On Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 1:06:45 PM UTC-4, TimR wrote:
Gutter cleaning is one of those pain in the butt problems I haven't solved.

I have gutter guards, they help a little but make it harder when I do clean. And cleaning is made harder by the long nails that insert into the house every few feet.

A robot that continuously made the rounds would be nice, but I haven't found one that can fit under the nails.

Well, a few minutes ago I had a brainstorm. What if I took my gutters down and put them back up hinged at the bottom edge?

Whenever I needed to clean, I'd just unhook them and let them pivot down. With the opening facing out and a little down, a quick blast with the hose would clean them out.

Each year I get older I have less tolerance for going up on the ladder.

Not sure if you're proposing a design for new gutters or suggesting to do
this with the existing ones, but I think it's the latter. I don't know
how you're going to mount them hinged at the bottom edge, nor how you're
going to secure them at the top at multiple places to keep them locked
in. You also have to disconnect the leader each time. Doesn't sound
practical to me.

On 6/21/2018 12:06 PM, TimR wrote:
Gutter cleaning is one of those pain in the butt problems I haven't solved.
....

Well, a few minutes ago I had a brainstorm. What if I took my gutters down and put them back up hinged at the bottom edge?

Whenever I needed to clean, I'd just unhook them and let them pivot down. With the opening facing out and a little down, a quick blast with the hose would clean them out.

Each year I get older I have less tolerance for going up on the ladder.


We solved the problem--no gutters!

Certainly _could_ be done by building a bracket to support the hinge and
include the hook/fastening arrangement at the top.

Biggest problem I would envision other than the building and installing
of said brackets would be that unless you have pretty short sections it
would put a severe strain on the rest as you unhooked each support
leaving it hanging and only supported by the strength of the gutter itself.

And, of course, what do you do when you get to that inside corner when
needs to pivot in two directions?

--

On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 10:06:41 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

Gutter cleaning is one of those pain in the butt problems I haven't solved.

I have gutter guards, they help a little but make it harder when I do clean. And cleaning is made harder by the long nails that insert into the house every few feet.

A robot that continuously made the rounds would be nice, but I haven't found one that can fit under the nails.

Well, a few minutes ago I had a brainstorm. What if I took my gutters down and put them back up hinged at the bottom edge?

Whenever I needed to clean, I'd just unhook them and let them pivot down. With the opening facing out and a little down, a quick blast with the hose would clean them out.

Each year I get older I have less tolerance for going up on the ladder.

Sounds like you have a plan. But don't you need a ladder to tilt the
gutter?

On 6/21/2018 1:06 PM, TimR wrote:
Gutter cleaning is one of those pain in the butt problems I haven't solved.

I have gutter guards, they help a little but make it harder when I do clean. And cleaning is made harder by the long nails that insert into the house every few feet.

A robot that continuously made the rounds would be nice, but I haven't found one that can fit under the nails.

Well, a few minutes ago I had a brainstorm. What if I took my gutters down and put them back up hinged at the bottom edge?

Whenever I needed to clean, I'd just unhook them and let them pivot down. With the opening facing out and a little down, a quick blast with the hose would clean them out.

Each year I get older I have less tolerance for going up on the ladder.


I got new gutters and downspouts when I got my new roof a couple of
months ago. Roofer says none of these gutter guards work completely and
when gutter guys cleaned mine they ripped them off. I had screens on
lower gutters but they always needed removal and cleaning as particulate
seeped through.

One of his recommendations was larger down spouts that do not clog as
readily. I did what he suggested and after installation I had a lot of
flowers from a magnolia tree and a lot of seed leaflets from a Chinese
elm fall into them and after rains I find them completely clear. Be
interesting to see if it is the same in the fall.

I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google. Until now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though. I might try retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.

On 6/21/2018 1:04 PM, TimR wrote:
I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google. Until now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though. I might try retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.


It look like an excellent concept. It is not clear to me what they do
for the drip edge. There would clearly have to be a gap below the drip
edge to clear the gutter movement. When you get a re-roof, you would
have to make sure the roofers allow for the movement.

For cleaning, I like my cedar gutters. No ferrules, the mounting screws
go just through the back of the gutter, which is plenty stiff enough to
support the whole thing.

I do have to brush on shingle oil every few years to maintain them.

All I do to clean them otherwise is walk around the house with a
special air nozzle on a 10 ft length of 1/2" copper pipe to blow
everything out. With no ferrules, it is just one motion end-to-end for
each section. Two threaded street els ahead of the nozzle allows it to
aimed as needed and just hook over the gutter as a guide. Slide the
nozzle end-to-end and it's done. I love my 5HP 2-stage compressor for
jobs like this.

On 6/21/2018 4:40 PM, Bob F wrote:
On 6/21/2018 1:04 PM, TimR wrote:
I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google.Â* Until
now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though.Â* I might try
retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.


Â*Â*Â*Â*It look like an excellent concept. It is not clear to me what they
do for the drip edge. There would clearly have to be a gap below the
drip edge to clear the gutter movement. When you get a re-roof, you
would have to make sure the roofers allow for the movement.

Â*Â*Â*Â*For cleaning, I like my cedar gutters. No ferrules, the mounting
screws go just through the back of the gutter, which is plenty stiff
enough to support the whole thing.

Â*Â*Â*Â*I do have to brush on shingle oil every few years to maintain them.

Â*Â*Â*Â*All I do to clean them otherwise is walk around the house with a
special air nozzle on a 10 ft length of 1/2" copper pipe to blow
everything out. With no ferrules, it is just one motion end-to-end for
each section. Two threaded street els ahead of the nozzle allows it to
aimed as needed and just hook over the gutter as a guide. Slide the
nozzle end-to-end and it's done. I love my 5HP 2-stage compressor for
jobs like this.

I think it would be competitive with gutter guard but my roofer said it
was 3X the cost of regular gutters. I'd also have a tough time with it
on my two story house as I am on a slope and back basement floor is
level with ground do I would have to reach 3 stories.

I also made a gadget of PVC with a downward spout that will blow into
the gutter when I use it with my leaf blower. Little bulky but does
ground level.

On 6/21/2018 4:04 PM, TimR wrote:
I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google. Until now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though. I might try retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.


I tried finding a video of them displaying an inside corner but no luck.
I'd like to see how they manage that.

On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:53:22 -0400, Meanie wrote:

On 6/21/2018 4:04 PM, TimR wrote:
I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google. Until now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though. I might try retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.


I tried finding a video of them displaying an inside corner but no luck.
I'd like to see how they manage that.





"However, it is not advisable to attempt to empty solid ice out of the
gutters. You can dump fresh snow out of gutters before it freezes "

Hmmm . makes me wonder - if they are warning of the weight of
ice - what about the weight of a gutter full of wet leaves and stuff
... and those giant blowing snow-drift " tongues" that hang
off the roof - I knock down with my snow-rake .. they hit the
ground like a snow-bomb ..
When the product fails under the worst winter conditions -
just think of the repair difficulties ! before the next thaw !
John T.

On 6/21/2018 4:53 PM, Meanie wrote:
On 6/21/2018 4:04 PM, TimR wrote:
I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google.Â* Until
now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though.Â* I might try
retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.


I tried finding a video of them displaying an inside corner but no luck.
I'd like to see how they manage that.

I was wondering about that too.

On 6/21/2018 5:23 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:53:22 -0400, Meanie wrote:

On 6/21/2018 4:04 PM, TimR wrote:
I'm not the first person to think of this.

(I didn't really expect to be, but I hadn't found it on google. Until now.)

http://flipcleanguttersystems.com/faqs/index.html

I think I would rather do shorter sections though. I might try retrofitting in back where they are short just to see.


I tried finding a video of them displaying an inside corner but no luck.
I'd like to see how they manage that.





"However, it is not advisable to attempt to empty solid ice out of the
gutters. You can dump fresh snow out of gutters before it freezes "

Hmmm . makes me wonder - if they are warning of the weight of
ice - what about the weight of a gutter full of wet leaves and stuff
.. and those giant blowing snow-drift " tongues" that hang
off the roof - I knock down with my snow-rake .. they hit the
ground like a snow-bomb ..
When the product fails under the worst winter conditions -
just think of the repair difficulties ! before the next thaw !
John T.




They looked to me like they could be very well supported by the
structure they sit on. I see no reason they could not easily be way
stronger than ferrule supported gutters.

Biggest problem for me would be the power line which is barely under the drip edge. If the gutters tipped down on that corner, they'd hit the triplex. And yeah, I'm very careful at that spot cleaning the gutters out!