Homemade Gutter Blower

Leaf Blower

• Building your own homemade gutter blower works best if you begin with a gas-powered leaf blower. Other types of air-blowing devices won't work because they are either difficult to carry or don't produce enough air to move wet leaves and sticks out of gutters. Gas blowers work best because they have more power, reports "Wired," but a strong electric blower will work if you don't plan to build a gutter attachment that reaches to a second or third story.

Materials

• The attachment kits offered by manufacturers consist of a few pieces of stiff plastic tubing and adapters to connect the tubing to the leaf blower nozzle. This allows you to point the stream of air up toward the gutters. Stiff plastic tubing works, especially the kind used for central vacuum systems, according to "Fine Homebuilding." You'll also need to pick up PVC fittings that are the size of your blower's nozzle on one end and the size of the tubing on the other end.

Assembly

• Having the tubing cut to the height of your gutters at the hardware store makes assembly as easy as pushing the tubing and PVC adapter together. Adding some duct tape around where the attachment connects to the blower nozzle helps keep it together. Use two L-shaped PVC sections on the top end of the tubing so that the air is directed down again and into the gutter. Simple press fittings are strong enough to stay together during gutter cleaning.

Alternatives

• There are a few other tools that can be used for gutter cleaning from the ground. Automated gutter-cleaning robots will scoop out any debris they find on a weekly run around your roof, reports the Networx website. Scoopers and gutter rakes also work from the ground, but it can be hard to see whether you've cleaned out each gutter completely. Gutter vacuums are attachments that hook onto wet-dry vacuums and gather all the debris in one storage container, rather than spreading the debris all over your yard like a gutter blower.