In a previous life I was a whitewater rafting guide in the mountains of North Carolina. I rafted the Nantahala, French Broad, and Nolichucky rivers. During those years I grew to love the crisp fall afternoons with little to no humidity. There is nothing more beautiful, in my eyes, than driving through the Great Smoky Mountains and enjoying the amazing orange, yellow and red colors of the leaves. Anyone that has been in the Blue Ridge or Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, Georgia or Tennessee knows exactly what I am talking about. The views are amazing, the weather is even better, but some people may not think about what all those leaves are going to do to the surrounding area. Fortunately, there are professionals that can help to avoid a disaster when it comes to gutters or home damage because of wet leaves. Gutter Glove offers Leaf Blaster specifically for this purpose.
Wet Leaves Can Be Hazardous
Having grown up in the mountains of North Carolina I know all about those October and November days in which the leaves are falling at a brisk pace. My parents had a 16 acre piece of land that was full of trees. There were times when you couldn’t even see the grass or driveway because of all the leaves. There were times my parents allowed the leaves to get blown away naturally but sometimes that was not possible. After a few weeks of the leaves falling it was time to get out there with a rake or leaf blower. When the leaves were really bad we had to get up on the roof to get them out of the gutters.
My parents and grandparents lived on the same piece of property. This meant I had to get the leaves out of my grandfather’s gutter on the mobile home first. This wasn’t as bad because the mobile home was only about 20 feet high. Getting on top of the house and cleaning the gutters individually wasn’t the safest thing in the world but it was the option that my traditional family decided to use. I often wonder if we should have just hired a professional hand to do it for us.
Getting the leaves out of the gutter on my parent’s house was a much different story. This was a very large house with a steep roof. It was so steep that we actually tied a rope to the top and then tied the rope around our waist. Suffice it to say that this was not safe at all. Remember that my parents were very traditional so they were going to get the kids to clean the gutters out. Some of you may be wondering why we didn’t just use a ladder to get to the gutters. That would have been fine and dandy but the roof on my parent’s house was too high for any normal ladder. We used the ladder to get on to the roof but it was almost impossible to use a ladder to reach the entire length of the gutters. It is something that is easier to see than explain. Trust me when I tell you that we tried to do it the easiest way possible.
Once again, it would have been much more efficient to pay a professional to come clean the gutters out. That said, my parents were all about using their children to do the chores around the house. These chores could be anything from taking out the trash to getting on the roof to change the shingles. As you can probably imagine, I have some experience in a lot of different areas when it comes to fixing problems in or on a large house. Something my brothers and I tried to do was to spray the leaves out of the gutters with a hose. Picture this. We are standing on the top of a large house that has a steep roof. One brother throws up a hose and the other brother attempts to catch it. After about three tries of this the brother on the roof finally catches the hose with a sprayer. He has to keep his balance and tries to spray the leaves from one side of the gutter to the other. Rather than getting the leaves out of the gutter it actually made it worse.
If you have ever seen a gutter full of wet leaves you know how bad it can be. In fact, this was very bad for the gutters because it ended up putting a lot of pressure on them. My father would end up coming out, yelling at us and telling us to get the leaves out of the gutters before they started to break off the side of the house. Ahh, the memories of being a young boy that thinks he has all the answers. After a few times using the hose and water we learned our lesson. We ended up getting soaking wet and making the job much difficult on ourselves. Yes, it took several times before we finally realized this was not the best tactic to use when it comes to cleaning out gutters.
Enjoy the Fall Foliage But Prepare
The fall foliage is amazing in the mountains of North Carolina. I have been all over the United States and the fall colors do not compare anywhere else. That said, recognize that these beautiful leaves are going to fall off the trees at one point or another. If you have a plan in place to keep the gutters clean and free of debris it will make life much easier heading into November and December. There are a number of ways to avoid the hassle of broken or worn down gutters. By taking advantage of some tools or services most families will be able to sleep easy without the concerns of their gutters getting into very bad shape prior to the winter months.
If you would like to know more about keeping debris out of your gutters, please take a look at all of our gutter protection products.
Please note, this is a completely fictional, just for fun. I’ve never even been white water rafting, but I’ve seen my fair share of clogged gutters!
Recent Comments