The main use for a leaf blower is, of course, handling that carpet of dead leaves and lawn trimmings on your yard. No doubt that the leaf blower excels in speeding up the process of gathering up leaves and grass (and even mulch them, in the case of blowers that can do that).
Your trusty leaf blower, however, can do more than just blow leaves – in some cases, their flexibility may surprise you. For tasks that call for a steady, powerful gust of air, the convenience of a cordless leaf blower certainly makes them a viable alternative to a wet and dry vac, and in a few cases, they even outperform the latter in certain blowing tasks.
A leaf blower is a gardening tool through and through. That said, a quieter cordless electric model can help you with a few jobs in the workshop, garage, or inside the house. In the case of a gas powered leaf blower, one of these can give you enough airflow to let you deal with clogged gutters and snow. With a few attachments or even a bit of DIY ingenuity, you can equip your blower to do it all from a safe distance on the ground.
Leaf Blower for Acorns
Oak trees in the fall do more than just cover your lawn, deck, and yard with a generous layer of leaves. You also get a healthy crop of acorns along with the leaves, and if you have a particularly majestic stand of oak trees in your yard, you’re usually in for a bumper crop year after year.
Acorns can be a hazard on the sidewalk or footpaths around your home, plus they can make a mess out of your lawn. Perhaps more importantly, acorns provide food for squirrels, mice, skunks, and other foraging critters getting ready for the winter. If you don’t want to attract the neighborhood wildlife into your property, you have to take some steps – fortunately, a leaf blower can be a great help during these times.
To get rid of the acorns from your yard, first, you have to make sure that you get as many of them as possible. If you have one or two trees, it may be worth your time to try to shake out some more of the acorns before cleaning them up. Just grab the tree and shake it hard, if you have smaller oak trees on your property or sidewalk.
Collect the acorns using your leaf blower. It’s usually faster to gather them in a pile or two first before collecting them. A backpack blower or one of the more powerful gas-powered models will be up to the task of rounding up the acorns, leaves, and twigs into one convenient spot.
Try Using It For Artificial Grass!
Leaf blowers are the ideal tool for maintaining artificial grass and turf. A good blower will remove any leaves, weeds and other debris without damaging the grass fibers. Since artificial grass does not grow back, preventing damage to the fibers is just about the only way to keep your turf looking new and even.
Weeds should be removed before they can take root, especially on artificial turf that has a layer of sand and sediment on top of the anchor, or along the edges of your artificial grass. After using your leaf blower to clear off leaves, debris, and any weeds, one pass with a good lawn brush over the flat patches will let the grass fibers spring back up.
Astroturf Too?
Astroturf, as well as any form of artificial lawn, is chosen by homeowners partly for the fact that they require little in the way of regular maintenance. That’s not to say that you can go ahead and ignore your Astroturf lawn entirely – there are a few things you can do to keep your lawn in top shape, and you can do them quite easily with a leaf blower.
A leaf blower can quickly remove leaves and debris from a patch of Astroturf, and it’s also a safer alternative compared to vacuuming. Using a regular vacuum on your Astroturf can strip it of its infill – the layer of sand and sediment that helps the fiber rebound up after being stepped in, while also keeping the fiber from clumping and sticking to its neighbors.
Using a leaf blower instead of a vacuum is a lot easier on the infill, and ensures that it lasts for a long time before you need to ask your Astroturf installer for a top up.
What About Blowing Snow?
Leaf blowers can be a useful tool for clearing off snow from the roof of your car or off the porch steps. If you have a backpack or gas-powered model, then your blower may even have enough power to clear driveways, sidewalks, and stairs. In most cases, you will be able to move a pile of snow that’s grown to around an inch thick.
Leaf blowers are great for getting rid of dry, powdery snow, but less so for when the snow has begun to melt. If you’re using a blower to clear snow, make sure you do it before you have to deal with slush.
Try Drying Off Your Car Or Truck!
Blowing a car dry with a leaf blower is one good way of making sure you don’t get those water spots all over your car. It’s a safer, non-contact way of finishing a car wash without having to use an extra microfiber rag or three. Plus, a leaf blower also lets you dry off the nooks and crannies along the headlights, grill, and in the wheel wells.
Just make sure that the blower’s fan is clean and that any collector bag is empty (or removed entirely). Also, make sure that you are not blowing up the neighboring dust and grit into your newly washed car – to be safe, it’s best to blow dry your vehicle while the ground is still wet from the rinse.
Leaf Blower for Cleaning Gutters
Cleaning out your gutters is one chore that just about every homeowner wants to put off. Not only are you working from on top of a ladder, but you also need to scoop out leaves and debris by hand, and then there’s the additional hassle of constantly repositioning your ladder. With a leaf blower and a long pole attachment, it takes a lot less time, and you can do it from the ground if your gutter is within reach.
You will need a long pole attachment for gutter cleaning bends down at a 90-degree angle or more to redirect the air right into the gutter. It’s also a good idea to work on your gutters before cleaning up the rest of the yard – you’d be surprised at the amount of leaves that comes out of your roof.
Try It For Blowing Off Your Deck!
A leaf blower is one of the best tools a deck owner can have. A good cordless model can blow not just any fallen leaves, but also sand, grit, and even snow from your deck and your railings. Since you are using air, there’s also less risk of rubbing in the grit and debris particles into your deck boards as well.
What About Dog Hair?
Let’s start here by reminding dog owners that a leaf blower is NOT to be used to dry dogs after their bath. Aside from the excessive air pressure, the noise will certainly deafen your pet. That said, a leaf blower is a very effective. Instead, use your leaf blower to clear out areas that your shedding dog lies on, such as the porch, the doormat, or the truck bed.
Dryer Vent
Dryer vents are tricky places to clean, and vent hoses are not the toughest things, either. The best way to clean one of them is with a dryer vent lint removal kit. In a pinch, you can use your leaf blower to unclog a dryer vent, with some care and preparation. First, make sure to remove the cover on the other end so that pressure does not build up inside the hose. Then use your leaf blower at the lowest setting, gradually increasing the output.
Leaf Blower for Dust
A leaf blower will beat a broom anytime when it comes to clearing dust off the sidewalk or driveway. Just remember to start from the garage or porch, then work away from the house. Putting on a dust mask and eye protection is highly recommended as well.
How About Grass Clippings?
Leaf blowers make as a great substitute for a rake when it comes to dealing with grass clippings. While you don’t get a neat pile as you would do with a rake, you will be able to round up the clippings in a shorter amount of time. Plus, if your leaf blower has a mulching feature, you can switch to suction mode and clear it all up, getting a bit of mulch in the process.
Gravel
Clearing leaves and grass trimmings off of a gravel bed or border is tricky business if you’re doing it using a rake. Not so for a leaf blower – simply aim and blow, and you’re clearing your gravel patch in no time. You are also getting rid of dust and debris that have accumulated on your gravel patch, which helps keep it looking new by cutting down on mud.
Try Blowing Pine Needles!
Pine needles are impossible to collect using rakes, and too time-consuming to deal with using a stiff broom. A leaf blower, on the other hand, is just about the perfect tool for dealing with pine needles. Just aim and blow to round up the pine needles (and any pine cones) into a convenient spot. Afterward, you can just sweep the pile up, then switch your leaf blower to suction mode to pick up the last bits remaining.
For Your Roof!
You can use a leaf blower on your roof to thoroughly clean off leaves and any debris, without having to resort to a soft broom. It mostly depends on what type of roof you have – for steel and metal roofs, you can use a similar setup for gutter cleaning, and use your leaf blower from the ground in much the same way.
On the other hand, you need to pay extra attention if you have asphalt shingles. While the tar strips work to prevent the shingles from getting lifted off, they can fail sometimes.
The best way to do it with a leaf blower is to climb up there and blow down from the ridge of your asphalt shingle roof. Done properly, it can be a safer alternative to using a broom to clean your roof – as long as you are blowing away from the shingle edges, and not into them.
Using A Leaf Blower To Dry Your Motorcycle
Some people would wash their motorbikes, and then leave it in the shade to air dry. Some would even leave the bike out in the sun, and the results are just about what you might expect – water spots.
There are professional motorcycle dryers on the market that can do the job well, but you can get similar results with a leaf blower. Just make sure that the blower fan is clean and there is no dirt or debris in the tool. It also helps you to get in and dry out all the nooks and crannies on your bike, too.
Try Using a Leaf Blower to Blow Out Pool Lines!
One of the crucial winterizing tasks you need to do for your swimming pool before the cold season is blowing out the pool lines. These are the pipes where the pool water travels in from the pump – these can freeze in cold weather and blow out your plumbing. You can help prevent it by using a leaf blower to blow out any remaining water in the pool lines after draining the pool.
First, drain the water until the level is around a foot before the skimmer line. Then remove the filters, plugs, baskets or caps along the skimmer interior, as well as any jet fittings, before letting the pool drain entirely. After that, simply plug the leaf blower hose in the skimmer hole and keep blowing air into the system, until the pool lines are fully cleared of water.
