Top 3 Methods of Gutter Brightening by Industry Professionals

Posted by Garrett McAlister on Jan 04, 2023

Most people have heard of gutter cleaning but have you heard of gutter brightening?

Gutter brightening refers to the process of cleaning and restoring the exterior appearance of gutters (not the inside, but the outside that is visible). Gutters are channels that run along the edge of a roof to collect and carry away rainwater.

It involves removing dirt, debris, and stains from the surface of gutters and in some cases the polishing and shining of the metal to give it a brighter appearance. The process can help to aesthetically improve the overall building appearance, especially when removing unsightly "tiger stripes".

Tiger Stripes on Gutters

Tiger stripes are gutters that have a striped pattern on their surface, resembling the stripes on a tiger. The pattern is typically caused by clogged gutters, where contaminants mix with rain from the roof shingles (and debris) and overspill the gutters.

Often this debris/oils create a chemical bond with the aluminum guttering and must be removed with a special cleaning chemical that can break that bond.

There are several methods that can be used for gutter brightening. The top three of those methods are:

Traditional method: This requires using a ladder and brushing by hand or using a traditional pole with a brush on the end, dipping the brush into a cleaning chemical (in a bucket on the ground) and applying it to the gutter surface. This method is very clunky, time-consuming and somewhat dangerous.
Water fed pole method with a soap dispenser: This method uses an inline soap dispenser that injects cleaning chemicals inline with a water stream flowing from a water source (like a spigot) through a telescopic pole to the cleaning surface.
Water fed pole method with a foam spray system: This method applies foam directly to the gutter surface and dwells for a short time, so that the cleaning chemical can do its job by breaking the chemical bond. The operator then switches off the chemical and scrubs and rinses the gutter.

Specialized equipment is used for the two latter methods. Coincidentally water fed window cleaning uses some of the same equipment.