How to Clean Gutters from the Ground with a Ryobi Gutter Blower

Trying the Ryobi Expand-it Gutter Attachment

4/17/2024

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Both Steph and I live in neighborhoods with lots of trees. While it's nice to have the cooling shade of trees, the leaves and pollen they produce necessitates constant roof cleaning in order to maintain the roof.

So, short of getting on the roof, what can be used to clear the gutters and roof? Read on as we share our experience with a gutter specific cleaning tool.

This gutter blower is a new addition to the tool attachments available for the Ryobi Expand-It outdoor tool system.

Tools:

RYOBI Expand-It Gutter Blower Attachment (Home Depot)
RYOBI 40V Expand-It Cordless Battery Attachment Capable Trimmer Power Head with 4.0 Ah Battery and Charger (Home Depot)
Mini Rake (Amazon)
Xena Steel-toe Boots (Xena Workwear)

This attachment which fits on the Ryobi Expand-It system powerhead includes the blower, two extension poles and three caps to hang the parts. You'll find a link to a post below where we share how we store the Expand-It system.

The Expand-It system uses the 40V Ryobi lithium battery

The Expand-It system uses the 40V battery which also works in the lawnmower Steph uses.

See the Ryobi gutter blower in action as it travels right to left to clean.

With any new tool, you need to read and throughly understand how to safely use the tool. The instructions are very clear about using appropriate PPE. The tool is used going right to left as that is how the blower is orientated. Here Steph is using the blower with one extension pole installed.

How to clean the gutters without getting on the roof.

Here's the blower as seen from the roof. It is very difficult to actually see what you are doing so multiple passes are needed to get what you've missed.

The powerhead needs to sit around hip height for proper balance and control.

The Ryobi gutter blower attachment did a pretty good job on the gutters, but couldn't budge stuff that sat in the valley.

Here's a look of the ryobi Expand It gutter blower attachment in action.

Steph did find it helpful to move the blower up and down as she moved down the gutter. That really helped to breakup some of the debris clumping.

This is the Ryobi Expand It gutter blower attachment with one extension pole.

Steph is using the blower with a single extension pole. It did a good job getting rid of the leaves on this side.

You will get rained on by falling leaves so wear all the PPE.

And this is why PPE is a must! Steph is wearing a mask, eye protection, a hat, as well as tying back her hair.

This is the Ryobi gutter blower with the two extension poles attached.

This is the blower with two extension poles added. It's hard to control, but Steph did manage to get this higher area cleaned off.

how to clean the gutters from around level.

This side needed more height than a single pole provided, but two were too much! It would be a welcome feature if one of the extension poles was adjustable.

We got this little mini rake from Amazon to try on the debris that had settled into the roof valleys.

Manually removing the leaves and pollen from the roof valleys with a mini rake on an extension pole.

We attached the mini rake to an extension pole that we own. The direction of the rake head can be adjusted. We extend the pole to the upper most point of the debris and pulled downward with the rake.

How to clean leaves from the valleys of your roof.

This method proved to be pretty good at clearing the debris from the roof valleys.

Before roof cleaning with the Ryobi gutter blower.

This side of the roof had a lot of debris.

This is after using the Ryobi-Expand It system gutter blower attachment.

After roof cleaning with the Expand It and manual cleaning with mini rake.

This is AFTER using both the Ryobi gutter blower attachment and the manual mini rake in the valley.

This is the roof before cleaning with the Ryobi Expand It Gutter blower attachment.

BEFORE cleaning from the ground.

AFTER using both the Ryobi and manual mini rake.

We were able to get most off the roof from the ground, but a few parts would require being on the roof to get.

This is the storage system Steph designed when we first got the Expand-It system. It's a simple but very effective space saving design.

This is a DIY storage system for the Ryobi Expand It powerhead and attachments.

By rearranging the existing tools and adding one more storage hole, we were able to include the new blower in the existing storage unit.

Adding more storage capacity to the Ryobi Expand It system storage shelf.

All of the storage connection points are lined with a 1inch size piece of PVC. Each of the attachments have a push button that connects it to the powerhead. This storage system uses that pushbutton to hold the tools in pace.

Here are the Ryobi Expand-It tools on the storage shelf.

As you can see, we have expanded our Expand-It system considerably over the years.

After using the tool, we do think it has value in helping to remove leaves and other debris from the gutters. We tried this on gutters that have gutter guards, so we are unsure whether it would work well for gutters that don't have these.

The tool is a viable option for anyone who wants to be able to clean their gutters without having to get up on a ladder.

The mini rake on the extension pole actually worked really well to dislodge clumps of debris in the roof valleys to be able to bring most of it down off the roof.

If you already have the Expand-It system, the gutter blower would make a good addition.

Please note: This is not a sponsored post.

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don't claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP.