In case you're wondering why it's a big deal, I am particularly sensitive to keeping the gutters clear because I've had seen first hand the kind of water damage that can happen to a building that has clogged gutters (what were those storms? Isabel, Ivan, Dennis... and oh yeah, Katrina). If rainwater can't make it to the downspout and directed away from the house, it just pours over the lip of the gutter and then straight down the side - and sooner or later it can make its way into the basement.
I know, there are gutter covers that are designed specifically to prevent leaf build up out there, but I have my doubts as how effective they would be with the sheer volume of leaves we get every day (I have a feeling that instead of going into the gutters, the leaves would just build up on top). Sometimes it seems I am out there clearing them twice a week. The other thing is our gutters look like they were installed about the time the house was built, and while they are not in the worse condition, there are some sections that definitely could be replaced. I would rather not invest in covers now before having upgrading the gutters themselves.
Which brings me to my nifty tool of the week - Gutter Sense. This is a incredibly simple and inexpensive device ($19.95 plus s/h) I found while surfing the net one day. Basically it's a set of tongs that get placed on top of a standard extension pole, and are operated by pulling on the connected rope. It is very easy to use, and I have found that I can actually get all the gutters on my house clear in about 20 minutes.
The tongs themselves are adjustable to different angles, depending on how far you are standing from the side of the house. What you do is hook the tongs into the gutter, work them side to side, and then pull the rope. This thing pulls up a LOT of leaves, and then you go and dump them wherever. Note: if you've had any rain recently, and the gutters were full - you WILL get some water/mud dripping down on you, so dress accordingly.
Unfortunately, if you have the little screen traps at your gutter ends to prevent debris from entering the downspout, it is hard to clear stuff around them using this device alone, mainly because you're doing it in the blind. Every once in a while I still get up on the ladder to clean those areas out. Some other things to note - 1: The tongs themselves work off a spring mechanism that uses a little bit of fish line to pull them together, and this line is what's connected to the rope you pull. I pulled a little too hard one day and broke the line... was easy enough to fix, but I ended up doubling the replacement fish line to make it a little more sturdy. 2: The device comes with a 12 ft rope, which really isn't long enough to get to some higher second story gutters. I replaced it with a 25 ft rope, which combined with my 25 foot extension pole lets me get about anywhere on the exterior of the house.
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