Gutter Guards

[artplumber]

Anyone use them? The cheapo big mesh things seem to be likely to fail early and often. Finally, got my gutters completely cleaned out this summer after enough heat baked the mush to leafy dirt (with my daughters plastic hand rake toy no less). Bid today on house alone was 3600 plus the shed & man cave is another 1000+. Yes the guy was bonded & insured. I certainly don't want to have to waste a weekend plus a year just doing the dmn gutters.

Thanks.

[stomachmonkey]

I bought 3 ft plastic ones from Home Depot for $3-4 a piece IIRC.

Were still on the house with no issues 5 years later when I sold it.

[jshape]

Just bought the plastic mesh thingys from Sam's Club - about 30 bucks a box. IIRC, a box does about 40 feet. My BIL used them and said they worked for him. We have a single story home so not a big problem to install/uninstall if they don't work. Had them in about two weeks now and they seem to be effective in keeping out most of the leaves that are beginning to fall.

[targa911S]

Leaves? You want leaves? They get so deep here I have to use the plow blade on my tractor. I love and hate fall at the same time. I will get this many leaves 4-5 times in as many weeks when they start falling. I have the screen type gutter guards. They work as good as can be with this type of load.

[wdfifteen]

My house is in the woods and after years of trying everything else I have the surface tension type.

Gutter Helmet Surface Tension - YouTube

They aren't perfect. They needed to be cleaned once a year, but that just means scrubbing the edge the water runs over with soap and water. I was skeptical at first and the salesman told me they were guaranteed. I said, "Guaranteed to work?" and he grinned and said, "Guaranteed to be made out of high quality aluminum." I got a functionality guarantee from him and went with it. It's been about 10 years and I'm happy with them. I can't remember what they cost.

[targa911S]

Ain't livin' in the woods great?

[cstreit]

That's what my yard tooks like too. I got them when I redid the roof this year. They have small holes because the diamond mesh ones just catch the maple "helicopters" and hold them. I'll know how well they work in a few weeks....

[Por_sha911]

I've used the cheapie Lowes plastic ones. They let in stuff from the 50+ foot hickory trees that surround my house so that the gutters still need cleaning about once every 5 years.
That Gutter Helmet (what were they thinking when they named it?) is laughable. With the size and pitch of my roof, during a thunderstorm there is so much water hitting the gutters that the rain would just run straight off. It may work for some but I don't see it happening on this house.

[Dantilla]

A friend who is a building inspector hates these things.

They may keep crap out of the gutters, but the stuff can build up on top next to the roofing and accelerate rot.

He has seen many roofs destroyed by rot caused by gutter screens. I'd rather clean the gutters occasionally than have my roof rot away.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by cstreit

That's what my yard tooks like too. I got them when I redid the roof this year. They have small holes because the diamond mesh ones just catch the maple "helicopters" and hold them. I'll know how well they work in a few weeks....

Technical term for those is "Winged Samara" believe it or not.

Botany 101

[artplumber]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

A friend who is a building inspector hates these things.

They may keep crap out of the gutters, but the stuff can build up on top next to the roofing and accelerate rot.

He has seen many roofs destroyed by rot caused by gutter screens. I'd rather clean the gutters occasionally than have my roof rot away.

They claim that the wind should blow the leaves off except perhaps on inner corners. The company I am considering gives you a little hose extension to flush that stuff off (big deal). Is the rot problem in a particular part of the country? I live where it is hot (90F+) for 5 months and then cool (40-50's) for 4 months with 3 days at a time rain. I dont think there would be rot even with a ton of stuff sitting up there for a few months.

[Flieger]

Those surface tension ones look pretty clever!

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My house is in the woods and after years of trying everything else I have the surface tension type.

Gutter Helmet Surface Tension - YouTube

They aren't perfect. They needed to be cleaned once a year, but that just means scrubbing the edge the water runs over with soap and water. I was skeptical at first and the salesman told me they were guaranteed. I said, "Guaranteed to work?" and he grinned and said, "Guaranteed to be made out of high quality aluminum." I got a functionality guarantee from him and went with it. It's been about 10 years and I'm happy with them. I can't remember what they cost.

[legion]

I've never seen one that works well for this area. I either get maple leaves or maple seeds, and nothing seems to work for both.

I have seen roof rot will all types of gutter guards. Something gets caught, ice dam forms over it, water backs up under the shingles...

[artplumber]

Problem with surface tension style is that the leaves and twigs stick to the water as well and can get into the gutters.

Legion, don't despair, there are even heated guards out there...$$$$$

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by artplumber

Is the rot problem in a particular part of the country?

I live in the soggy Pacific Northwest. Gutters get full of gooey muck around here. Muck that should never come in contact with the roof or roof sheathing.

YMMV.

[Robert Adams]

I finally gave up on all that stuff and got 'Kguard Leaffree Gutter Systems'. I've had them about 3 or 4 years and haven't touched them. I have trees all around my house, mostly ash that drop stuff all year round and not just leaves. Also have a couple honey locust and a few maples.
I think I paid around $4000 back then for the house and the garage but haven't had a lick of problems with them, nor do I get any basement water even through Irene. The leaders are 4" but some they did 6" and the gutters themselves are huge; 5".
Recommend them highly! A friend has had his for 5 to 8 years I think and was who recommended them to me. We're both 100% glad he spent the money.

Not cheap but then so are the ones that don't work plus the yearly cleaning either by you or paying someone. I think in the long run leafree is probably cheaper. No more gutter cleaning for me!

Check them out. K-Guard Leaf Free Gutter System - The K-Guard System

[island911]

IMO, both the surface tension and filters have issues, so...

Cheap/simple gutters + Big shop-vac with the gutter cleaner snorkel-tube. (quick work, no ladders)

[Heel n Toe]

I eliminated all the guttering on our house. I took it all off the front and back of the house over a decade ago, finally took it off the front and back of the garage a couple of years ago when we had to reroof everything.

I took a good look at the drainage around the house and figured out that all I needed to do to get the water away from the foundation was rake all the pinestraw out of the beds next to the house, build up a slight berm made of clay so it met the house about 7" above grade, cover the clay with plastic, then add another several inches of clay and dirt on top of the plastic, then put pinestraw over that.

I highly recommend it if you can pull it off... it just causes all the water to go into the yard, and it is either absorbed there, or runs off into the driveway or street.

No more gutter cleaning.

[wdfifteen]

The surface tension type on my house work well except in very heavy rain. The corner where the valleys empty into the gutter dump too much water for the gutters to work. I have always had a dry basement and I'm a little paranoid about getting any leaks. I dug a foot deep trench under the eves and lined it with heavy plastic. I laid some 4" perforated pipe down, then filled the trench with 57s. The pipes exit in the yard about 30 feet from the house. There is a "french drain" down near the footer too that drains into sumps in the basement. The remodel of the south side of the house is still underway in this August 7th photo.