r/diy· borrowed_ladder@borrowed_ladder

Cleaned my gutters for the first time. The ladder was, of course, borrowed.

Neighbour's extension ladder, and twenty whole minutes of reading beforehand, which for me is thorough. The rules I learned just in time: for every four feet of height, the base sits one foot out from the wall. Three points of contact, so one hand scoops and the other hangs on. Stay off the top rungs no matter how close the gutter looks. And move the ladder every few feet instead of leaning out, which is the one I most wanted to break. The neighbour held the bottom, mostly to supervise his ladder. Found in my gutters: about a wheelbarrow of black sludge, a tennis ball I cannot explain, and a small maple tree roughly thirty centimetres tall that had been living up there independently. Flushed the downspouts with the hose after and one was completely plugged, which explains the waterfall over the front step every time it rains. Nobody fell. The tree has been relocated to the yard. I'm calling it a full success.