Meriden CT Trees sprouting in gutters

Trees near the house have dropped a whole lot of helicopter type seeds on the roof. As they are blown around the roof a whole bunch have found their way to the gutters. As they accumulate they block off the downspouts and hold water in the gutter. So the project was to clean the gutters and downspouts so the over flows would stop. In a additon getting them to drain would get rid of the mosquito larva that are also growing in the gutters

Silver Maple tree seeds

This first picture is a look at the situation prior to cleaning. There are seeds in the one gutter and trees sprouting in the other gutter. Branches have fallen on the roof so all this needs to be cleaned up. So the first step was to go around the whole roof with a blower and clear all the debris off the roof so nothing more from the roof will go into the gutters after they are cleaned. Notice in the background the other gutter has tree seedlings sprouting in them since water is being held in them.

Clogged Downspout

Most annoying is the gutter that has the worst clog is right over the back door. To clear it the rain water will flow into the system better. Looking down into the gutters you can see the seeds sprouting but also of importance are the little things swimming around that look like very little tadpoles. They actually are mosquito larva. So getting rid of the water will also help keep the yard more livable.

Front of the House

Here at the front of the house the gutters are also clogged and on the lower one you can see the water being retained and the seeds starting to germinate. The lose seeds scattered on the roof are all to be cleaned off with a blower so the entire roof area is clean at the end of the project so no other stuff currently on the roof comes down to start filling the gutters again. The seeds germinating is proof of moisture being in the gutters most of the time.

Short Video of Mosquito Larva in gutter

It is very short but here is a video clip looking down into the clogged gutters. If you look closely some of the mosquito larva are squiggling around and developing in the gutters. Especially at the end you can see them. They look like little tad poles. But most of all the seeds that have blocked the gutter downspout now are getting watered so they can start to grow. With the blockage removed the gutters will be dry and the problem goes away. At the start of the video the bubbling look in the water is the larva swimming to the surface.

Here is the last shot of the front gutter over the back door showing the seeds and stuff just starting to grow and block everything up even more. So this is a view of what can happen up in the gutters that a lot of people do not see all the time. The stuff swimming around still sort of impresses me.

Tree seeds and leaves had accumulated in the gutters to block the down spouts. This has resulted in water being retained in the gutters. With it being wet there was enough for the weed and tree seeds to germinate. The result is a green topping on the edge of the roof, but the real problem is the rain water is blocked from going into the gutter system so it over flows when it rains hard.

The front gutters have an impressive crop of plants growing in the gutters. One close to the ladder is pretty high and when pulled out it helps pull out a good section of debris and leaves the gutter clean for a pretty good section. So this is a before picture to show what the situation is that I am there to solve.

 

 

 

 

Debris from cleaning the gutters

Just the act of cleaning the gutters some times just makes a mess. Here in the first picture you can see dirt and leaves that have fallen on the roof as the gutters are cleaned. The same sortof thing happens on the ground. So in this case a blower is used to get everything off the roof and fully clean out anything small still in the gutter trough. Then when the work is done up on the roof another pass with the blower is used to clean up stuff on the ground that has fallen.

The last picture shows the gutters cleaned, roof cleaned off and end of the gutter reattached. The gutter spikes had come lose from the facia and was starting to hand off the roof. You can see it in one of the first pictures but now it is reattached and secure.