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Speed Up Fall Cleanup and Clean Up Leaves in a Flash

Speed Up Fall Cleanup and Clean Up Leaves in a Flash

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Keeping up with a beautiful yard is a lot of work, but it makes for a great addition to your landscape, and it gives plenty of curb appeal to your home. As the seasons change, you are going to need to handle the tedious task of cleaning up leaves that blow loose from the trees.

Learning how to quickly clean up these leaves is important because it will keep your yard looking pristine. It will also lessen your chances of developing build-up and debris that can actually cause long-term problems in the future.

Using a rake is not your only option for getting rid of these leaves. While raking gets the job done, it can be a difficult task that takes a long time.

With the following methods, you will learn the most efficient method for getting rid of these leaves and making sure they do not clutter your yard and other areas around your home. This will allow you to create a new routine that will make fall cleanup easier than ever.

Your Yard

If you are tired of hurting your back while manually raking up all of the leaves in your yard, it is a good idea to get a leaf blower to help you out. There are many different options to choose from, all ranging in price from $30-$100.

A leaf blower will get the job done very quickly. Part of the process also involves the cleanup, which is something to consider.

Many people rake their leaves or blow them into a pile to then bag them all up for disposal. You can skip this step by using a tarp instead.

When you use your leaf blower, try setting up a tarp you can blow the leaves onto. It helps to work from left to right, making sure you get each part of your yard without accidentally blowing the leaves around and making more of a mess.

After you have blown all of the leaves onto the tarp, you can easily fold the tarp up for easy clean up. You will see that this method is a lot faster than the manual rake and bag method.

If you do not want to dispose of these leaves, you can actually use them for a different purpose. Dried leaves make for a great composting material.

You can mix them into soil for your garden once they are all dried up and broken down. Alternatively, you can use them as a form of mulch to assist your grass.

Dried leaves add plenty of nutrients to the soil and to grass. They will actually benefit you when you repurpose them this way!

Your Gutters

If you have gutters, you know how easily leaves can clog them and create build up. It is important to remove them because your gutters have a very specific purpose.

They are your home’s outdoor drainage system. If it rains and you have clogged gutters, the gutters will have no way to allow this water to pass through.

Eventually, this can even cause leaks in your home because piles of dead leaves can retain a lot of moisture. It is recommended to regularly clean your gutters every few months to prevent this from happening.

While you can hire someone to clean them for you, there are still a few steps you can take in between this maintenance to make sure your gutters are not clogged. If you have a leaf blower, this is going to work very well for unclogging loosely built up debris.

By blowing the air through your gutters, you are creating more of a passageway for the drainage to take place. You can also use a tarp for this method, making sure you place it below the opening of your gutter.

The same steps you used before can be used to clean up these leaves. If there is a lot of additional debris present, you likely will not want to repurpose these leaves as compost.

Instead, you can discard them easily since they will all be together on the tarp. This is an easy task to complete, even if you have minimal experience with cleaning out gutters.

Your Roof

Leaves that pile on top of your roof are not usually visible unless you look for them. It is recommended to take a look at your roof every few months by getting up on a ladder.

You need to make sure that there are no piles of leaves gathering or building up. Since they can retain a lot of moisture, these piles will damage your roof if it does end up raining or snowing.

This is when leaks are prone to starting, so you need to be diligent. It is ideal to take a look at your roof before a new season starts.

New seasons mean that there are increased chances that the weather is going to change, especially around those months when you are more likely to receive rainfall.

Again, your leaf blower is going to work great for this task. Make sure you do your best to walk around and break up any big piles you see.

If the debris is thick, you might need to use the help of a rake to break it up into more manageable pieces that you can discard. Whether you want to blow them down to the ground then blow them onto the tarp or use the tarp while you are on the roof, either method is sufficient for cleanup.

Safety Precautions

When using a leaf blower, you need to protect yourself. Always wear a pair of leather gloves when you handle your blower.

This will reduce the risk of hand numbness and tingling that the intense vibrations can cause. It will also keep your hands clean as debris is likely to blow all around you when you use it.

You should also protect your eyes when ridding your yard of dead leaves. Wearing protective eyewear or even just a pair of sunglasses will save you from getting the debris in your eyes.

It will also prevent you from having to take breaks because you need to wash your face. It is easy to forget about this step, but it will definitely make the experience a lot faster for you.

A simple pair of earplugs can do a lot to protect your ears while using a leaf blower. The machine can get very loud, even loud enough for potential permanent damage to your hearing.

Most newer leaf blowers have a low decibel rating, but you need to keep in mind that this rating is taken from the noise you hear up to 50 feet away. When you are actively using a leaf blower, this sound is happening right by your face.

When it is time to refill your leaf blower’s fuel tank, you need to make sure it is completely cooled down. If you try to refill it when the machine is still hot, this can ignite gas vapors in the engine.

It is best to make sure your leaf blower has enough fuel inside to get the job done before you begin. Having to take a break to refill the tank is only going to slow you down because you will need to wait for the machine to cool properly before you can refill it.

If you do not have a conveniently placed outlet, there are special accessories for sale that will extend your leaf blower’s reach. They are called onboard leaf blower cords, and they allow you to unroll additional cord as you need it, similar to the way vacuum cleaners function.

Additional Helpful Tips

If you do not have a leaf blower or rake, you can use your lawn mower to help break down the leaves into smaller, usable pieces. This is especially great if you plan on repurposing your leaves as compost.

You can easily make a few passes with your lawn mower to get the job done. It is a great way to quickly get the best consistency for mulch you want to create.

Alternatively, you can purchase your own mulching mower. This mower is made for being used on dead leaves.

It will quickly and easily shred the leaves into perfect sizes that will then be deposited right into your grass with no cleanup required. The mulch is created automatically, and you will not have to worry about doing anything in addition.

A gutter spout is a helpful tool you can purchase for the tricky debris that builds up at the bottom. Sometimes, the leaf blower will not be strong enough to get all of the leaves through the gutters.

This spout is similar to a plumber’s snake that is used when a drain is clogged. The concept is very similar—it is a thin tool that breaks up dense areas for full cleanup.

No matter how you plan on getting rid of the leaves in your yard and on your home, there are plenty of helpful tips in this article that will make the job much faster. Use them to your advantage, and you will be able to spend more time enjoying your yard rather than having to spend a lot of time maintaining it.

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