[steven ainger]

heres where i keep my ladders, getting green and dirty down the side of my shed   

i hate cleaning gutters

 

[Smudger]

I agree with vin wfp and gutter vacs exist some can use it some not I just because you can't do something does not mean other can not do it you get good and bad tradders good and bad WFP ers I choose not to use ladders on health and safety grounds ( their are other reasons but ill just upset the tradders ) Dave I've read many of your posts over the years and agree with a lot of your opinions but as far as I am aware you have only used lightweight gutter vacs so are missing out on what an omni vac can do. With regards to the squash ball I made a special reduced nozzle with the vac on the squash ball is held in place I place the ball and nozzle over the down pipe turn off the vac and hey presto ball is released down the pipe to hopefully emerge out the bottom if it does its all clear  

Over the last three years I have a variety of tools to probe dig and reach into places the standard gutter vac end can't
I use a solid 135 deg bend I know people use the silicone hose bends when I tried these the flex and will not dig into large blockages so clearing is more difficult

I see your point of view Dave but invest in some better equipment and you won't need ladders. Are you using Brodex Ali poles to do 5 storey windows ? I bet not the Brodex can do a job but is heavy hard to control and has a closed length of 7+ feet and would be difficult to fit into most vans - super lite extreme will nail 5,6 and 7 storey windows.

Best regards
Darran

[home6442]

Smudger,
What do use use to clean gutters where the slates sit to far out and restrict access.
I have a narrow nozzle for this but it doesn't work very well.
Sorry for going of the subject.

[Scrimble]

i've stopped doing gutter clearing also now, when asked i decline, i only clean with wfp i do however carry my ladders some days, mainly for gate hopping and onto a flat roof, they on needed on some conservatory roofs,

i do a large school and a few commercials where they are needed to do internal windows,

i wouldnt get rid of them because they are still used, but safely

[Smudger]

For these I use a 2 inch nozzle flattened out to finger width they a a little slower to clear than open gutters but many tight fitting gutters a slipped tiles and we push them back as we clear so a normal nozzle will still do the job

Darran

[wfp master]

if there was no wfp they'd be in another job.

Yes, and if my Auntie had balls she'd be my Uncle.  But she doesn't so it's a pointless argument.  WFP exists.  Get over it.  Look on us with as much inverted  ;Dsnobbery as you like and we'll just keep smiling and earning our money with both feet on the ground.

Vin

iam wfp btw.

[home6442]

For these I use a 2 inch nozzle flattened out to finger width they a a little slower to clear than open gutters but many tight fitting gutters a slipped tiles and we push them back as we clear so a normal nozzle will still do the job

Darran

Many thanks Darran will try that.

[Dave Willis]

Darran, I used a 3000w vac the other day on a house that had problems with leaking gutters. They had S bends with a shallow S so that the pipe wasn't that far off horizontal as it ran under the soffits. I vacced the gutters with no problems at all and was surprised how little actually came out. The customer informed me that they were calling the builders back to inspect the guttering and wanted to make sure it was cleared. Normally I wouldn't climb up and check the S bends (I could hear the air sucking up the downpipe and could hear water trickling down) However, just to be sure I climbed up to double check - the majority were still full of crap right down inside. As far as I'm aware nobody produces a pipe that goes right around the S bend. I also have a drain jetter that I can insert from the top and blast the crud out. The bottom of the downpipes were covered with a rubber seal and pushed into the soakaway.

Without ladders I would have walked away confident that I had done another wonderful job as most vac operators probably do.

The main point of the post was really to ask what most windies without ladders do? Vin subbies his work out others simply refuse and walk away. Therefore somebody else must do the job but who? A builder? a gutter specialist or someone prepared to flout the ladder working at height laws?
Who would you get to fix your own gutter if you refuse to go up yourself?

[8weekly]

I don't offer the service, but if I did it would be a "gutter vacuuming" service. That would be it. If they had a blockage in a downpipe that would not be part of the service.

[R.C Property]

I'am a window cleaner but dont have ladders & I cant clean your inside windows because I dont know how to use a blade & applicator. .

not all trad window cleaners do insides! i took a job off another window cleaner because he would only clean the outside of the windows and not the inside! and im 95%wfp, and dont use ladders to clean windows!

but still use ladders to do gutters though.

[Perfect Windows]

Vin subbies his work out others simply refuse and walk away.

Just to clarify, I don't subbie it out, I just give the customer a number (depending on where they live) for one or other - I have no part in the deal. 

One's a roofer who uses ladder, one's a guttervac specialist who also has ladders.  I used to pass customers onto another vac specialist but I found out he was pitching for the windows as well, so he's lost quite a few thousand quid since I stopped recommending him.

And, by the way, one of the (many) things that stopped me vacuuming them was a custy where I stuffed every bit of Omnivac tube I had down a downpipe and the thing was still blocked.  Not being able to do the job correctly and not earning the right rate combined to put me off.

Vin

[Smudger]

No probs Dave as a windy that has no ladders I invested in a gutter vac if I didn't then I would would most likely point them in the direction of a roofer.

Darran

[Mike #1]

Sub it out to someone who has a ladder simples . Mike