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Little tip for those new to gutter emptying.

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ched999uk

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Lancashire
If you look at the gutters and they have lots of mortar in quote double what you would normally!

Had 2 booked for this afternoon, 2 semis that where next to each other but not attached. I used a camera to check before I quoted and saw a few bits of mortar but when I started vaccing I realised there was lots more under the moss, water and dirt! All 3 sides on each house had masses of big chunks of mortar in. Turns out they both had same dodgy roofer repoint the ridge tiles. So it looks like all the old mortar ended up in the gutters!! They did tell me today that the roofer was iffy and another neighbour who had the same roofer 'fix' their roof has subsequently had to have a new roof!!!
The bits are too big to suck up so each one had to be sucked against the nozzle then moved away from gutter and the vac switched off to release. Some of the smaller bits did get sucked up caused a couple of blockages but nothing serious. Lots of moss, weeds and general dirt up there too so that was clogging up the poles and hoses, so had to do a couple of flush throughs.
First one took me 3 hrs second one I ran out of daylight so have to go back tomorrow to finish! I could do it next week but I like to finish all my work in the week it's planned if at all possible.

Lesson to self, if you see mortar either charge double or decline to do it. If I had ladders then it would have been quicker to go up and grab the mortar but I don't do ladders :)
Other than ladders anyone know any other easy methods of removing mortar chunks from the gutters?
 
If you look at the gutters and they have lots of mortar in quote double what you would normally!

Had 2 booked for this afternoon, 2 semis that where next to each other but not attached. I used a camera to check before I quoted and saw a few bits of mortar but when I started vaccing I realised there was lots more under the moss, water and dirt! All 3 sides on each house had masses of big chunks of mortar in. Turns out they both had same dodgy roofer repoint the ridge tiles. So it looks like all the old mortar ended up in the gutters!! They did tell me today that the roofer was iffy and another neighbour who had the same roofer 'fix' their roof has subsequently had to have a new roof!!!
The bits are too big to suck up so each one had to be sucked against the nozzle then moved away from gutter and the vac switched off to release. Some of the smaller bits did get sucked up caused a couple of blockages but nothing serious. Lots of moss, weeds and general dirt up there too so that was clogging up the poles and hoses, so had to do a couple of flush throughs.
First one took me 3 hrs second one I ran out of daylight so have to go back tomorrow to finish! I could do it next week but I like to finish all my work in the week it's planned if at all possible.

Lesson to self, if you see mortar either charge double or decline to do it. If I had ladders then it would have been quicker to go up and grab the mortar but I don't do ladders :)
Other than ladders anyone know any other easy methods of removing mortar chunks from the gutters?
This is the thing with gutters, they aren't the same as windows in the fact you can have a look and work out how long it's going to take. With windows you might be out by a few minutes, with gutters you can be out by hours, and no matter how many you've done and how long you've been doing it you'll still get it wrong from time to time.
 
You should off bought a 3600watt vac and you would clear it a lot faster.
It wouldn't help really as the mortar bits where so big they wouldn't go up the 51mm nozzles. The extra suction of a bigger machine might have helped to grab the mortar but a bigger vac wouldn't fit in my van - I didn't have an issue with price just space :)
 
You should off bought a 3600watt vac and you would clear it a lot faster.
Thinking about it I do wonder if more suction over the same area would have gripped the mortar easier but they where mainly 8 inch ish long strips about 1 inch thick plus big chunks about 2.5 inch square.
 
3 hours on a semi detached gutter clear?

Is that a joke cus I’ve never had one take me more than an hour
Unfortunately no, it's not a joke, I wish it was! Cowboy roofers rebedded the ridge tiles and dumped all the old mortar in gutters. It was too big to be sucked up! If I used ladders it would have been OK. 1940's semis so 3 sides all full of mortar!
I don't have much experience in emptying gutters so that slowed me a little. It was a learning curve that's for sure!
 

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