I recently bought a house surrounded by several mature maple trees that are significantly taller than the house. I pay someone to clean the gutters in the Fall and Spring, but several of the older trees nearby retain their leaves well past the first snowfall. The result is that my gutters end up filled with leaves after the gutter cleaning contractor is finished.
I was looking for a solution online to clear the gutters of leaves between cleanings that didn’t involve getting on a ladder (the second-story gutters on my house are almost 24 feet off the ground–no thanks).
After researching various options online, I settled on giving Gutter Sense a try. Gutter Sense looks and acts like a pair of salad tongs.
You attach the device to an extensible pole, set the device in between the gutter supports, and then pull on the nylon rope to close the device. That will trap leaves and other debris, which can then be removed from the gutter by lifting the Gutter Sense and then releasing the rope to allow the debris to fall to the ground.
Overall, I was impressed with how well the device worked. Most of my gutters were filled to the edge with leaves that had fallen over a 2-3 week period. It took me about an hour using the device to get most of those leaves out of the gutters. I’m certain I didn’t get everything out, but I was able to remove enough leaves and debris to prevent problems until the Spring gutter cleaning.
For a pole, I grabbed an Eversprout 7-to-24 foot telescopic extension pole on Amazon for about $70. This is made out of aluminum and feels extremely sturdy even fully extended. Moreover, it only weighs 4 pounds, so it feels surprisingly light during use.
If you are using the Gutter Sense on gutters that are more than 10 feet off the ground, I recommend using a tool belt and pouch to hold the pole. This makes it easier to hold the pole at an angle, so the Gutter Sense device goes in and out vertically. I got this idea from this YouTube video, and this technique works really well.