Remove the gutters from your house

As you drive through a neighborhood, do you notice the condition of the gutters in people’s homes? How often do you see houses without gutters? Recently a family friend removed our gutters because the maintenance schedule became too overwhelming to maintain. Our house is surrounded by pine trees, so the gutters filled up with straw and pine needles faster than we could keep them clean.

If you’ve never stopped to consider the reason gutters exist, it’s so that water doesn’t fall directly onto the ground and create a small trench around the edge of your home. Downspouts work to disperse water into the soil evenly so that plants, grass, etc. can use water efficiently.

Our house, however, has bushes on almost all sides that sit quite close to the house. Therefore, a ditch is less likely to form as the water will hit the bushes first and disperse more evenly as it reaches the ground. So, our gutters came off. While watching this process, I learned a lot about gutter maintenance and removal.

First, you need to make sure you have heavy gloves, safety glasses, a very tall and sturdy ladder, the correct drill, screwdriver, crowbar, and/or bolt cutter. Second, this is not something you want to try alone. Make sure you have a helper or someone ready to help in case of an emergency. Third, do not attempt to remove or maintain gutters in inclement weather, such as rain or high winds.

While these may seem like common sense ideas, it’s important to keep them in mind. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a study of 14,000 ladder-related accidents found the following: “57 percent of the fall victims in the study were holding objects with one or both hands while climbing or descending the ladder [and] 30 percent had wet, greasy or oily shoes.” For more results and discussions about ladder accidents, visit http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/.

After verifying that your environment and equipment are safe and ready to use, you can begin removing the gutters. According to DoItYourself.com, there are three main steps to this process: 1. Remove the downspout. Be sure to do this before removing the horizontal gutter pieces, as the downspout must be attached to the top sections of the horizontal gutter. 2. Remove the gutters. Once you’ve removed the downspout, properly secured your ladder, and your assistant is ready to hand you the necessary tools, use a screwdriver or drill and a crowbar to remove the gutters. 3. Repair holes, rotten or damaged boards, etc. using caulk and exterior paint.