On 2 Oct, 09:52, GAP wrote:
On 2 Oct, 06:49, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 1 Oct 2010 13:01:37 -0700 (PDT), matthelliwell wrote:

Also in the Autumn they really need doing every couple of weeks. So I'm
after an easier way to clean them out which doesn't involve ladders.

Every two weeks? Do they actually block and overflow? I think you'd
be better off working out why they block and overflow. Do they have
the correct fall to the down pipes? Gutters are frequently installed
level or even up hill to the down pipes, this is incorrect. The
correct fall will carry the vast majority of most debris away when it
rains.

if you live under trees..its amazing how may leaves come down and ALL
seem to end up in the gutters over a 4 week period.

I'm surprised that no-one has yet suggested you fit your gutters with
that black plastic mesh you can buy in the DIY sheds to stop the
leaves settling in the gutters. The idea is you end up with a convex
curve of mesh above the level of the gutter, any leaves landing on
that will dry up and blow away. And it mostly seems to work in my
experience. Of course that won't stop (all) the pine needles, but as a
previous poster said if you have a reasonable flow then they should
get washed away in the absence of big leaves blocking the gutter.
Whether you'll then end up with blocked drains or soakaway is another
issue of course :-)

I've tried the mesh and the pine needles stick through the holes and
block it up. It is then a pain to have to go around pulling them out.
And the large Scots Pine next to the gutters sheds needles all year.

I've also checked the fall of the gutters. They could do with being a
bit steeper but they would still get blocked, though less often. Also
I don't fancy tackling the gutters just yet as the house has plenty of
other things which I need to do first.

Matt