gutter guards

GeorgeC

GeorgeC

Administrator
Management Council Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
5,502
Display Name
Display name:
GeorgeC
Do they work?
 
good ones will at least keep cr@pola out. when I bought my house the gutters were stuffed with gunk. took me days to clean them all out and put gutter guards on them. no more gunk. the only spot the water just runs right over them is where two giant sections of roof funnel water over them, and of course that's right over the front door. otherwise, for me it was worth the effort.
 
This is a great question. Another one is: What type of gutter guards are best? Are the commercial ones (GutterHelmut/LeafGuard/etc.) worth the cost?
 
I looked at the ones for sale at Costco. Construction looks good, but they sure have small holes/pours for water to go through. I'm on the fence.
Also, will asphalt shingle pebbles clog the pours?
 
DO NOT GET THE COMMERCIAL BUILT IN ONES. THEY SUCK!

Yes, I meant to yell. Screens, or whatever suits your fancy. If you live in a place with mature trees plan on cleaning them out or having them cleaned seasonally.
 
They're like a filter for the gutters to keep leaves and shet out of them. Cleaning gutters sucks.
 
I'm going to be getting new guttering soon, and gutter guards will definitely be added. Cleaning out a dozen oak trees-worth of leaves/pollen gets old fast.
 
steingar said:
DO NOT GET THE COMMERCIAL BUILT IN ONES. THEY SUCK!

Yes, I meant to yell. Screens, or whatever suits your fancy. If you live in a place with mature trees plan on cleaning them out or having them cleaned seasonally.
Click to expand...

So, I need to cut down all of my trees. And my upwind neighbor's trees. Noted.

I've tried various solutions, but all of them either blow off (plastic screens that Lowes' sells), or the crap that would otherwise go into the gutters ends up clogging the top of the gutter guards and then a heavy rain just rolls off the top of the guards as if there were no gutters. The problem with cleaning the gutters is that my two-story house is on a slope, and half of it is three stories up to the gutters with concrete below. I don't do well three stories up (or even two) hanging onto a ladder.
 
Last edited:
I know a guy who is a building inspector in the soggy Seattle area.
He despises gutter guards.
They keep the gunk out of the gutters, but the gunk piles up against the roofing, holding moisture against the substrate, rotting the eaves from underneath.
He has seen too many homes where the roof had to be removed in order to replace the rotted soffit.
Gutter guards guard the gutters, while destroying the building.

Your mileage may vary.
Contents may have settled during shipping.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Yada, yada.....
 
Gutter guards have never managed to keep my mind out of the gutter so no they don’t work.

And from reading the posts of others on here, I’m not the only one who hasn’t had success with them.
 
The micro-screen type don't reduce the maintenance requirement but I do find that it does reduce the maintenance effort. In other words, you still need to clean the gutters a couple times a year, but it is easier to clean the screens than it is to dig out junk from the gutter.

That said, I'm tempted to leave the gutters open and get a gutter robot.
 
I have a gutter guard type product sold under the name "gutter guardian". When we last replaced our gutters, I looked at the full scope of gutter protection products and that one appeared to be the best from an engineering standpoint. I'm satisfied with the purchase.

What I find is that for 95% of the rains we get they perform fine. During torrential downpours, surface tension isn't enough to keep all of the flow attached where it flows over the radius of the shield and some "over-topping" occurs.
 
We had some installed when our house got a new roof, they're the type where the water follows an arc shaped guide into the gutter. In combination with the proper size six inch gutters, they work great. They also make the roof look more finished as well.

I live in the north side of Atlanta. We have oak trees, pine trees, sweetgums, poplars and lots of others. We have torrential downpours in the summer and heavy continental cold front rain in the winter. Throughout all of this, the gutters have performed flawlessly. Highly recommended.
 
Great timing. Saw a commercial for Leaf Guard while reading this thread. They are offering 18 months' special financing! Which tells me that they are pricey $$$.

Not sure what's on my gutters, looks like white expanded metal. Lets water through, catches many leaf stems, sweet gum balls and whatever those spiky things are from the middle of tulip poplar blooms. The pines are too far from the house to worry about needles. Haven't figured out how to clean the stuff that gets through out of the gutters, including a thick layer of asphalt shingle debris.

Just saw the commercial again. Twice in the time it took to write this means a large advertising budget, which is always supported by high prices.
 
PaulS said:
Pine needles are their Kryptonite.
Click to expand...

As is pecan tree "floss" and all kinds of other "not leaf" tree discharges.

Gutter guards are a fools folly, they make the situation worse instead of better because they move the issue from the bottom of the gutter to the top where water blocked by debris can more easily get under the shingles and cause further issues. Every house I've owned that had gutter guards installed (three) didn't last long before they were removed because they all created bigger issues than they solved.

They only situation where I'd recommend gutter guards is if your gutters are too high off the ground to reach with a leaf blower gutter cleaning adapter AND your roof is too steep to safely walk on.

The leaf blower kits work well and make short work of cleaning gutters (the only problem is that you're standing on the ground and some of the crap you're blowing out of the gutters is landing on top of you...but that's why work is a four letter work...suck it up, cupcake). I have leaf blower kit that I bought when I owned a house with a gambrel roof. It works very well.

My last two residences though, are standard 6/12 pitches and I just get on the roof, walk around the edge and blow out the gutter with a leaf blower about every 4 to 6 months. This also provides a good opportunity to inspect the roof.
 
Last edited:
Here's what I'm talking about when I referenced "leaf blower gutter cleaning kit" above. Two kits for two story house. It's a bit unwieldy when it's that long (two story) but I still found it quite do-able. Duct tape all the joints together to keep them together if you buy a cheap kit.

6781F713-5B61-4C53-AFED-1BA974603761.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I might need to check out one of those kits. I've been using my leaf blower from the ground, but I'd prefer to remove all the debris rather than just dislodge the clog...
 
Non Compos Mentis said:
I know a guy who is a building inspector in the soggy Seattle area.
He despises gutter guards.
They keep the gunk out of the gutters, but the gunk piles up against the roofing, holding moisture against the substrate, rotting the eaves from underneath.
He has seen too many homes where the roof had to be removed in order to replace the rotted soffit.
Gutter guards guard the gutters, while destroying the building.

Your mileage may vary.
Contents may have settled during shipping.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Yada, yada.....
Click to expand...

It never occured to me to even ask this, so I'm really glad I saw this thread. We have a cabin and lots of pine trees around it.
Super PITA to clean out the gutters and like someone else mentioned here, two sides of the cabin are not on even ground so it is not fun to be up there with a ladder already leaning (I try and shore it up with wood, level the base a little but that is always shaky) and end up feeling like I am about to star in a Buster Keaton two-reeler but without the elegance.

Anyway, at least three (probably more) years ago in the local hardware store I see these gutter screens, and think "viola!!" (actually I don't think "voila" just..."yeah!") perfect. I buy it, it sits in the shed ever since and every year while climbing up and cleaning out the gutters, I think "I gotta install those gutter thingies". I didn't know enough to call them "guards".

So, after this thread I decided, nope. Gonna stop feeling guilty shame for never getting around to it, and in fact the pine needles bunch up pretty nicely in like two places along the gutter, come out in a nice clump, it isn't that bad a job.

So thanks! one less thing to beat myself up on.
 
The best is actually keeping the gutters open and just cleaning them out when they get full. The removable screens are second best. In my experience the built-in screens are useless, ever big deluge the water just sheets off the things. I'm about to have ours removed. Huge waste of cash.
 
If you can do it, go without any gutter. When redoing the roof, extend the eves and eliminate the problem.

Tim
 
We put gutter guards on our old house and it always seemed that one section would fail and then all the crap would get under other sections that had to be removed to clean the gutters and that would lead to more crap getting in and on and on.

Our new house has a low slope to the roof so I go up there with a leaf blower and clean the gutters twice a year.
 
We had the "gutter helmet" brand guards on the house we had that was in the middle of a forest and it was well worth the effort. I had tried these mesh things that go in the gutters but they are useless.
 
tspear said:
If you can do it, go without any gutter. When redoing the roof, extend the eves and eliminate the problem.
Click to expand...
How about a butterfly roof?

schema-butterfly-roof-wedge-house-designboom-1200.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top