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How PVC Pipes Can Make Cleaning Your Gutters A Total Breeze
By RON BAKER
Neglecting to clean your gutters allows water to back up and hurts your roof, soffits, walls, and the gutters themselves. Thankfully, there's a PVC pipe DIY tip to help.
Meet Howcasts DIY PVC gutter cleaner, which is a long pole with a hook at the end that lets you clear your gutters using water pressure. It’s inexpensive and easy to make.
They use ½-inch PVC for their build, but consider ¾-inch pipe instead if you have a high roof. The ¾-inch pipe is rigid and can handle longer lengths without getting too bendy.
The end result is a "J"-shaped sprayer with a cap at one end and a garden hose attachment at the other. Start by cutting two 4 to 6-inch lengths from a 10-foot PVC pipe.
Put these and the rest of the pipe together to make the hook shape using two 90-degree elbows. You’ll want to use PVC glue to hold all the pieces together, but dry-fit them first.
Then, glue a cap on the short end of the device and drill three 1/16-inch holes into it. Adjust the hole size if necessary, depending on your outdoor faucet's water pressure.
Next comes the hose end of your gutter cleaner, where you'll glue a garden hose adapter and a garden hose shutoff valve. Attach a hose, and you're ready to clean those gutters.