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Cleaning gutters safely once a year

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1The short version

A gutter does its whole job invisibly right up until the year nobody cleans it, and then it does the opposite job, on purpose, at the exact seam between roof and wall. When leaves, needles and grit fill that channel, water backs up over the edge instead of down the downspout, which defeats the entire system exactly where it matters most, at the roofline meeting the wall.

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2The one real hazard

The federal ladder standard requires a leaning ladder to sit at an angle where the horizontal distance from the wall to the ladder's feet is about a quarter of the ladder's working length, roughly a 75-degree angle; rungs must be spaced 10 to 14 inches apart and kept free of grease, wet paint or anything else that turns a rung into a skating rink. Getting the angle wrong is the single biggest reason ladder work turns into an emergency room visit, not the height itself.

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3What's actually up there

Leaves and pine needles are the baseline; a gutter that hasn't been touched in a year can also hold a tennis ball, a kite, roofing grit, and enough compacted debris to grow a small weed. None of it is dangerous by itself; all of it blocks water exactly where the gutter needs to move it fastest.

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4The first hour

Set the ladder on level, solid ground before touching the gutter, using the quarter-length angle rule, and move it often rather than overreaching sideways from one spot. A plastic scoop clears the bulk of the debris fast; the last pass with a hose, run from the high end toward the downspout, is what actually proves the system drains again.

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