[paul ette]

i have always been wfp and not bothered with ladders, turned down a lot of gutter clearing work as not really wanted to do it off ladders, however im considering getting a gutter vac
is it worth it?
also whats the best one to get without spending a fortune and where to get it?

[tlwcs]

For 5 years I've been thinking about getting one 

Was never sure about knocking end caps off or the custard blaming me for leaky joints a month after the job has been done.
I use a handyman who will work off ladders that I pass this kind of work onto while I continue to ponder about buying a gutter vac
Tony

[Dave Willis]

I use one but you've got to be prepared to go up ladders. Blocked s bends, weeds in gulleys. There are situations where the nozzle won't get in all the areas plus there's always the day when the 's' bend falls off or the end cap pops off. Even the clips can get knocked open.

[tlwcs]

I use one but you've got to be prepared to go up ladders. Blocked s bends, weeds in gulleys. There are situations where the nozzle won't get in all the areas plus there's always the day when the 's' bend falls off or the end cap pops off. Even the clips can get knocked open.

Thats just put me back another 5 years

[paul ette]

That's put me right off, so it's pretty much a waste of money if you still gotta get ladders out?

[Dave Willis]

No, not a waste of money. They are handy but if you can afford to pass that kind of work on I'd stick to windows, far easier.

there are guys who claim there vacs clear everything but if you don't go up the ladder then you can't really tell if that s bend is unblocked. I've pulled roots out and the downpipe has remained chogged with mud. I've also opened the clips a couple of times by accident. They are hopeless at getting under the flashing on a V shaped gully.

[paul ette]

Sounds like too much hassle to me, thanks for info

[Smudger]

Dave is always the bringer of doom 

Been using gutter vac over 4 years and only been up twice in that time for knocking the end cap off ( in about 500 odd clears )

I do have several shaped hand made nozzles to fit into any gully corner and down pipe

It's a great add on service

Darran

[paul ette]

What sort of money do you charge for say 10 metres of gutter? Totally clueless about this

[HampshireWindowCleaning]

I don't do gutter cleans but I'm pretty sure theres good money in it.
A customer asked me if I do it the other day, an average 3 bed semi.
I said no, I don't have the equipment for gutter cleaning.
Oh well, I'll get one of the other people to do it that I had quotes from.
Oh right, how much did they quote out of interest?
One quoted £160 and the other one quoted £145!
I would imagine this is probably an hours work but maybe only half an hour, either way, very nice little earner.

[paul ette]

not sure what gutter vac to buy, theres such a price range

[Richard iSparkle]

I use one but you've got to be prepared to go up ladders. Blocked s bends, weeds in gulleys. There are situations where the nozzle won't get in all the areas plus there's always the day when the 's' bend falls off or the end cap pops off. Even the clips can get knocked open.

Thats just put me back another 5 years

it's not true to be honest.  if you;ve got a powerful vac you can get anything out of the gutters themselves weeds, grass and all.  you can unblock downpipes if the blockage is near the top.  if its further down call a handyman to do the downpipe for £20.  i;ve done gutters 2 yr now and never needed that tho.  we use the grippatank setup

[Avo]

Anyone over looking gutter cleaning are crazy I have a solid wfp round which turns over close to 3k a month but still my biggest and best jobs are gutters.. I did two large houses Friday at £190 for the pair.. Twice the speed than off a ladder doing by hand and zero mess!! Normally get 1 to 3 jobs a week on guttering its a profitable add on to your rounds.

[paul ette]

do you have to get an expensive gutter vac?
whats best one to get?

[Dave Willis]

Dave is always the bringer of doom 

Been using gutter vac over 4 years and only been up twice in that time for knocking the end cap off ( in about 500 odd clears )

I do have several shaped hand made nozzles to fit into any gully corner and down pipe

It's a great add on service

Darran

Don't mean to be   but a nozzle can only reach so far. Some S bends can be very shallow and very long. I generally pop up the ladders after sucking them out to check they are clear, if the custy has a tap then I'll run a hose down them. I used to use a camera but it's too much faffing about for me. Some of the latest cameras look much better these days but they still won't go right down an S bend.
Agreed, it's a good add on and looks impressive even if the results might not be.

[Smudger]

 

Think I mentioned this before but if in doubt I run a squash ball through the down pipe provided it's an open end of course.

Once you pull the "turf" out it (so far) has always come with the roots and been clear thereafter,

Darran

[Dave Willis]

  I think we've been here before - how do you position the squashball down the S bend? What do you do when it doesn't come out 

[Smudger]

We use a 25mm diameter nozzle for the ball have vac running until ball over down pipe turn off vac ball falls into down pipe and out the bottom 

If it doesn't then the vac is turned on nozzle is inserted and crud sucked out until ball appears.  So far never failed but the ladders are there if it should ever happen.

Darran

[Dave Willis]

  It's all coming back to me.

[Avo]

Some very strange unblocking techniques.... I flush the down pipe with water from ladders you can never eradicate ladders totally from jobs and I do this for speed, if you wanted you could set up your water fed pole system "hi flow rate"  with very little thought process.