I ended up making a gutter vacuum to vacuum out my gutters from the ground. It worked out very well. I used two 8' sections of Nutone 2" piping and it is easy to maneuver. I vacuumed my gutters after the last leaves fell and I've had several months of rain and no clogged gutters. The parts are cheap and easy to put together.

I'm thinking of putting in french drains around the perimeter of the house and have some basic questions. This would be my first time attempting a drainage project so I welcome tips and suggestions from the experts. My yard is very flat and all the research I have done so far tells me I need to dig a trench that's 18" to 2' deep. That's fine but if I need to maintain a 1% slope at that depth and try to daylight it near the sidewalk (or even just far enough away from the house), I would still be underground by a decent amount. I haven't done accurate measurements of the grade from the back/side of the home to the front but I suspect it's not that much. I can put a popup emitter or a termination distribution box at the end but it would be under ground level. Is there a better idea to let the discharge end see daylight without being so deep? If a dbox or emitter is the only option, is there a problem with the portion of the water that can't be discharged remaining in the pipe (the solid section away from the house)? Aside from mosquitos, etc. any other issues to be aware of? Another idea I heard was introducing a large catch basin in the middle and using a sump pump to push the water to the solid pipe that starts more elevated. This way I can better control the height at which the water exits at the sidewalk. Any help appreciated!