Beautiful autumn foliage eventually falls from the trees and clogs your gutters. You can learn how to keep leaves out of gutters a few ways. Any method boils down to either removing the leaves or preventing them from entering your gutters to begin with.

You should plan on removing your leaves at least twice a year. In addition to leaves in the fall, you might have tree seeds to contend with in the spring. Maple tree whirlybirds can clog a gutter as badly as leaves can. If you’re facing that situation, you’ll need to manually remove the organic debris.

How to Keep Leaves Out of Gutters Step by Step

Leaf blower method:

1. Choose a dry day when you think the leaves in the gutter are not sopping wet.
2. Put on hearing and eye protection.
3. Place a ladder in a stable area and climb on the roof.
4. Blow leaves and debris out of the gutters.
5. Examine downspouts for leaf clogs.
6. If forced air does not unclog the downspout, get the garden hose.
7. With a spray nozzle attachment, send a pressurized stream of water down the spout.

Spray cleaning method:

1. Attach a gutter cleaning wand to a garden hose.
2. Put on eye protection.
3. Lift the wand into the gutter.
4. Working from one end to the other, blast leaves out with water spray.
5. To check the downspout for clogs, position the wand sprayer directly over the downspout.
6. Watch the flow of water at the bottom.
7. If the wand spray does not dislodge a clog, get out the ladder.
8. Climb up to the gutter with the garden hose.
9. Attach the regular spray nozzle and blast the clog from above.

Trowel scooping method:

1. Starting on one end of the gutter, place your ladder against the roof.
2. Climb up to the gutter.
3. Scoop out leaves and debris with a garden trowel.
4. Collect leaves in a bucket.
5. Move the ladder along the gutter and continue cleaning.
6. Use a garden hose to rinse the gutter and check the downspouts for leaf clogs.
7. Blast out any clogs you encounter with a spray nozzle on the garden hose.

Tree trimming method:

1. Pruning limbs back from your house will help you keep leaves out of gutters.
2. Put on eye protection.
3. Use a pole saw to cut off tree limbs which hang over your gutters.
4. If dealing with dangerously large tree limbs, hire a tree trimming service for the sake of safety.

Professional gutter cleaning:

1. If you’re too busy to tackle the chore yourself, contact the gutter cleaning team from PJ Fitzpatrick. We’re the most trusted gutter experts in the Mid-Atlantic.
2. Hiring a professional for the job is preferable to leaving gutters packed with leaves. Otherwise, rainwater will overflow down the wall to the foundation during the next storm.

Gutter guard method:

1. Gutter guards offer the best answer to how to keep leaves out of gutters.
2. Choose a durable guard that can keep out all leaves, including pine needles.
3. Ask PJ Fitzpatrick to install Klean Gutter Leaf Guards.