How much to clear gutters?

Raksha

2 x 20' approx concrete gutters need clearing. The back one goes across a full width conservatory with a polycarbonate roof which the installer assured us is safe to walk on.

What would be reasonable cost for this sort of job?

keystone

£ 50 max. Anyone who says they will do it with a pressure washer needs to be shown the door with a size 12 up their fundamental too.

Cheers

Raksha

Hummmmm, the quote I was given was for £150....

So, how much to hire a ladder long enough.....

kaya

Go to your local fishing tackle shop and buy a couple of pints of maggots and a catapult(for maggots) , should cost no more than a tenner, use the catapult to launch the maggots onto the roof near the gutter and they will fall or roll down Into it . The maggots will bury themselves Into the muck you have in the gutter and the birds will pick and flick all of the gutter debris out for you searching for the maggots . I have done this myself after being told of it by my local tackle shop owner and it works brilliantly , no ladders or employing of people needed

Hintza

http://www.laddersalesdirect.co.uk/titan-3-section-push-up-extension-ladder.html

Jaynne

kaya wrote: »

Go to your local fishing tackle shop and buy a couple of pints of maggots and a catapult(for maggots) , should cost no more than a tenner, use the catapult to launch the maggots onto the roof near the gutter and they will fall or roll down Into it . The maggots will bury themselves Into the muck you have in the gutter and the birds will pick and flick all of the gutter debris out for you searching for the maggots . I have done this myself after being told of it by my local tackle shop owner and it works brilliantly , no ladders or employing of people needed

You don't know how much I want this to be true but now all I can imagine is people flinging maggots up on their roofs and being surprised when a couple of weeks later their drains are still blocked and now they have a huge fly problem too.

Raksha

Raksha wrote: »

Hummmmm, the quote I was given was for £150....

So, how much to hire a ladder long enough.....

Ladder hire is working out at about £20 for the weekend, and 18 year old engineering student son now told me he's had working at heights training at college...

evoke

I had my front and rear gardens cleaned and all my gutters cleaned out for £60 fairly recently. It took the two lads around 2 hours to do the whole lot.

It's quite a horrible job so I wouldn't want to do it myself unless I had to. One thing to watch for is that the mess doesn't end up in the drain or blocks the guttering downpipe that leads to the drain. Some people will cut corners to 'clear' your gutters by just shoving it down the downpipe.

Get a thick garden refuse sack to put the mess in so you can see what was cleared out.

If you don't have a ladder then get the labourer to take a couple of photos of the cleared out gutters whilst he's up there. That way you'll be sure the work has been done.

Finally, fill up a 2-litre Coke bottle and ask the labourer to empty it quickly at the end of the guttering furthest away from your downpipe and watch it come out of the downpipe into your drain. That way you'll now the guttering is clear.

littleboo

Raksha wrote: »

Ladder hire is working out at about £20 for the weekend, and 18 year old engineering student son now told me he's had working at heights training at college...

How will he get over the conservatory ?

Raksha

The labourer will be #2 son with his Dad at the bottom of the ladder, a plastic bucket on a rope, a garden trowel , a pokey stick and a hand brush I think. Loathe to throw the stuff away as its said to be very good for the garden...

Watching for water coming out of drain pipes is not an option, as it clears into the waste stack, at the back, and into the neighbours pipe at the front, which also goes straight into theground i think, weird I know...

keystone

evoke wrote: »

One thing to watch for is that the mess doesn't end up in the drain or blocks the guttering downpipe that leads to the drain. Some people will cut corners to 'clear' your gutters by just shoving it down the downpipe.

and thats the reason you don't let anyone try and do it with a pressure washer. All the carp ends up running down the side of the house whereupon it sticks like the proverbrial to a blanket!

Cheers