Many components play important roles in keeping your home in good condition, and the eavestroughs are certainly one of them. Without eavestroughs, your home would be constantly vulnerable to water damage. These seemingly insignificant components have the important task of collecting rainwater and directing it away from your home so it doesn’t cause any damage to the interior or exterior of your property.

But eavestroughs that are filled with debris simply won’t do the job they’re supposed to do. As such, they need to be protected and cleaned out in order for them to be able to do their job properly.

Here are some tips for cleaning your eavestroughs and keeping them that way.

Trim Your Trees

Probably the biggest culprit to filthy eavestroughs are trees. All those leaves, pine needles, twigs, and other things that come from overhanging trees drop into the eavestroughs and clog them. Over time, the gutters can get overwhelmingly filled with debris, which can compromise their integrity and hinder their ability to work properly to accumulate water and push it away from your home.

A great way to alleviate this issue is to regularly trim your trees away from your roof and eavestrough system so that most things that fall from the trees will land on the ground instead of your home’s roof and eavestroughs.

Install Guards For Your Eavestroughs

There are guards that you can have installed to cover your eavestroughs, and they come in several different styles to ensure a proper fit. Some of these guards cover a portion of the roof and the eavestrough with a solid surface, which still allows water to run into the eavestrough but blocks any objects from clogging them.

Other guards can be installed right over the eavestrough and contain holes that let water pass through. There are also others that are just mesh screens which help to prevent debris and animals from making their way into the eavestroughs.

Clean the Roof

A lot of the debris that makes its way into the eavestroughs comes from the roof. As such, cleaning off the roof can help to minimize the amount of debris that makes its way into the eavestroughs. Power washing or raking all the debris off your roof can be a huge help. 

Use an Eavestrough Scoop

While there are definitely things you can do to minimize how dirty and clogged your eavestroughs get, you’ll still eventually have to clean them out. Just like any other component of your home, eavestroughs still require some level of maintenance and attention, no matter what you do to minimize the amount of debris that gets into them.

But how you clean them can make a difference, not only in terms of how effective the job will be but also in how easy and safe it can be for you. One of the best ways to clean out your eavestroughs is by using a scoop.

A plastic scooping tool is all that’s really needed to scoop out all of the debris that makes its way into the eavestroughs. They’re available in the majority of home improvement stores and are unique because the edge of the scoop at the front is very thin and is able to mesh with the bottom of the eavestrough. This makes it very simple to scoop out all sorts of debris.

Plastic is better than metal for this purpose because the bottom of the eavestrough can be vulnerable to scratching or damaging. If the bottom of your eavestrough is ever scratched, it can start to rust, which is never good.

Unclog the Downspouts

The eavestroughs need to be clean and clear, but so should the downspouts. Once you’ve cleaned out the eavestroughs, run your hose down the downspout with high pressure. If you notice water backing up out of the top, there’s probably a clog somewhere. The downspout can be unclogged by tapping it on the side. If this doesn’t work, you may need to remove the downspout and back, which would then have to be flushed from the bottom.

Otherwise, a professional may need to be called in, especially if the downspout is connected to an underground drain.