Yes. A gutter vacuum with long carbon poles clears gutters on most two-storey houses from the ground, with a camera on the pole showing the inside of the gutter. Nobody climbs a ladder, nothing leans on the gutter, and the waste goes into a drum instead of onto the path.
How do you clean gutters from the ground?
With a gutter vacuum. A powerful wet-and-dry vacuum sits on the ground, connected to a hose that runs up hollow poles. A hooked nozzle at the top sits in the gutter. The operator moves it along, and the suction pulls out leaves, moss, silt and water. A camera on the pole shows where the nozzle is and what’s left. What is a gutter vacuum?
Why avoid ladders?
- Safety: ladder falls are a common cause of serious injuries at home
- Gutters: a ladder against a plastic gutter can crack it or push joints apart
- Time: the ladder has to move every couple of metres
- Reach: conservatories and extensions get in the way
How high can you reach from the ground?
Professional poles reach the gutters on a typical two-storey house. Three-storey houses and steep sites need checking first.
Is it as thorough as by hand?
Usually more so, because suction lifts the fine wet silt a scoop leaves behind, and the camera confirms the gutter is clear.
Can I use a hose or blower from the ground?
Some people try gutter attachments for hoses or leaf blowers. They push debris along or over the edge, often onto you, and don’t lift silt. They can flush debris into the downpipe and block it.
What about gutter cleaning tools on poles?
Hand tools on poles, like scoops and grabbers, exist. Without a camera you can’t see what you’re doing, and they don’t remove silt well.
Is there anything a vacuum can’t reach?
Occasionally a gutter is too high, or access is blocked. Small porch gutters or hoppers sometimes need a short ladder used carefully. We tell you before we start.
Do you ever climb on roofs?
No. We don’t climb on roofs to clean gutters.
How do I book a ladder-free gutter clean?
Every gutter clean we do is from the ground with a vacuum and camera.
Does the vacuum leave a mess on the ground?
Very little. Because the debris is sucked down the hose into a drum, nothing is flicked onto the path, the lawn or your car. The odd leaf drops when the nozzle lifts out of the gutter, and we sweep those up. That’s a big difference from hand-clearing from a ladder, where much of the gutter often ends up on the patio.
Is ladder-free gutter cleaning more expensive?
Not necessarily. The kit costs more to buy, but the job is quicker because nothing has to be moved every couple of metres, and conservatories and extensions don’t slow it down. Our prices are on the gutter cleaning page, and they include the camera check and water test.
Can you reach gutters above a conservatory or extension?
Yes. This is where working from the ground really helps. The poles reach over a conservatory roof, a flat-roofed kitchen extension or a bay roof to the house gutter behind it, so nobody has to stand on a roof that isn’t built to take a person’s weight. How conservatory gutters are cleaned.
What about bungalows?
Bungalow gutters are low enough to reach from a short ladder, and some people do clear them by hand. The vacuum is still quicker and cleaner, especially on hipped bungalows with gutters on all four sides, and it lifts the wet silt that a hand scoop smears along the gutter. It also means nothing leans on the gutter.
How do you know you’ve got everything without being up there?
The camera. A small camera on the end of the pole shows the inside of the gutter on a screen on the ground. We look before we start, steer the nozzle by watching the screen, and look again at the end. Then we run water down each outlet to check it drains. What does a gutter inspection camera show?
Does it work in bad weather?
Rain doesn’t stop it; the vacuum is built for wet debris. Strong wind does, because long poles are hard to control in gusts, and so do ice and thunder. If the weather turns, we move your clean to the next suitable day and let you know.
What if I want to do it myself from the ground?
You can buy domestic gutter vacuum kits and pole-mounted scoops. They’re usually less powerful, shorter and have no camera, so it’s hard to tell what’s been left behind. If you try one, start with a bungalow gutter, work slowly and check from an upstairs window where you can.
Is cleaning from the ground safer for you as well as the gutters?
Yes. Working from the ground keeps us off ladders for almost all of the job, which matters when you clear gutters day in, day out. It also means no ladder feet on lawns, flower beds or block paving, and no ladder tops resting on gutters, glass or window frames. Where a short ladder is genuinely the right tool for a small porch or hopper, we use it carefully and only for that bit.
