Stained Gutters

I feel I need to preface this post with the following:

My company does printing and marketing, not pressure washing. I’m nothing more than a weekend warrior with a machine that’s absolutely bigger than I need. I’m well aware that the following post is like whiffle ball to you pros out there.

But I’m unreasonably happy about my accomplishment, so here we go…

The weekend after Thanksgiving, every year, my wife lovingly requests that I begin the Christmas decorating. Because I’m fully aware that non-compliance would be punishable by immediate celibacy, I do what any reasonable man would do. I dive about 3 fingers deep into the bourbon and start climbing tall ladders.

First step is always the icicle lights. They make the house pop, and they’re also the biggest pain in my ■■■, so I tackle them before anything else.

Since I’m shlepping the ladders around anyway, before I hand the lights I hit the gutters with a bleach/water mix and towel them off - it brightens them up nicely.

Except for 1 spot.
One spot has been, since I moved into this house, unable to be cleaned. The gutters in this spot are permanently stained gray. The bleach and water takes off the surface grime, but they never clean up like all the other do.

I had accepted it. It was the thorn in my side. The fly in my ointment. The bump on my shaft. It irritated me each year in late November, but then it was forgotten about.

Because today was the first day in months that wasn’t pissing rain and/or 25 degrees outside, I spent my Sunday working in the yard. I noticed the section of gutter blight, and decided to do a little googling.

90 seconds later I was en route to Home Depot, and returned armed with a bottle of Krud Kutter and a pack of magic erasers.

Unreal how well this stuff worked.
Spray on. Wait a few minutes. Magic Sponge. Wipe with towel.

I know that’s not as efficient as you pros like to be, but the approx 20’ section of gutter that was bothering me took all of 20 minutes. And they look brand new. Don’t know if praise is due to the Krud Kutter or the Magic Sponges or a combination of both, but it’s the best $10 I’ve spent in a long time.

Now…in conclusion: I know very little about the spray I used. If it will cause my gutters to rust out in a week…or my roof to collapse…or any side effects to me personally…if it’s truly bad stuff and causes unwanted hair growth or erectile disfunction or spontaneous karaoke or a bad credit score…tell me tomorrow. Tonight I’m happy.

Pics attached.

3 Likes

Looks awesome! Shame you had to get up on a ladder to get rid of it though. Those magic whatsits are weird like that - they remove all sorts.

Off topic question - I’ve never seen pointing like that before? The mortar between your bricks, is that how it’s done over there, with a rake/stick or something? Curious.

The more expensive houses have that extra mortar line, I’ve seen it a few times. It’s just for looks.

I’m glad you were able to answer the question. I wasn’t sure what I was being asked. Honestly never noticed it before.

1 Like

Ahh so decorative. I thought it was a version of a vee type mortar. Thanks :slight_smile:

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Looks good, but you overpaid. For $5 you could have gotten a spray can of white gutter paint and been done in 10 min, lol. Seriously, does look good though.

2 Likes

The mortar joint is called a grapevine joint. Not very common BUT in certain areas, it seems like it’s everywhere. When brick was still hand pressed, the corners and edges were not as precise and straight as they are now. The grapevine joint gave the illusion of nice straight expensive bricks. Today, it’s merely used to give the wall some “character”.

3 Likes

Nice, I knew someone would clarify. Interesting.