If you have ever cleaned out gutters you know how much easier gutter cleaning using gutter scoop is than using your hands. It helps even more if the gutter scoop has a long handle or a long reach. A long handled gutter cleaner allows you to clean a larger section of your gutters without moving your ladder.
Since moving the ladder is the most time consuming step when it comes to gutter cleaning, a long handle or long reach is important. So if you need a gutter scoop you could buy one, but you could also make one.
There is mold and bacteria in the debris you find in gutters so you might not like the idea of keeping the scoop after you use it. Homemade scoops are the perfect solution because they take about five minutes to make and all you need is a quart size plastic milk jug, a pen, a ruler, and a pair of scissors.
Leave the lid on the jug and remove any paper wrapping. Turn the milk jug so that you are looking at the bottom and the corner of the jug that has the handle is facing up. While looking at the diamond on the bottom mark the three corners that do not contain the handle and connect them with lines so that there is a V.
Measure four inches up from the bottom on the corner with the handle and make a mark. Next, you need to poke your scissors through the milk jug where the mark is to make a hole. Cut from the hole to the first marked corner, around the V, and back to the hole. You now have a perfectly serviceable gutter cleaning scoop.
The large volume will allow you to pick up lots of debris at once. The shape is perfect for fitting inside your gutter and the length of the milk jug will give your reach a little something extra.
You asked what kind of gutter cleaning tool would be needed for your gutter job. We just found on-line a great new gutter cleaning attachment tool for our wet/dry vac that attaches directly to the hose and actually vacuums out all gutter debris and its called the Gutter Clutter Buster. Wet or dry, leaves, twigs, pine needles, pine straw, decomposing junk, even a bird’s nest came out of our gutters. Also some long standing, stagnant water that was obviously breeding mosquitoes!! That junk all went directly into my vac canister and I only had to dump the debris into my trash can to be picked up by waste management. You can purchase a Kit that also gives you additional extensions to clean second story gutters, which we love! Its so easy and fast that I tend to clean my gutters more often as I use rain barrels and want my rainwater to be cleaner when it enters my barrels. Its a blessing for all of us as we no longer have to climb a ladder or drag it around the house while cleaning out our gutters.