Gutter guards?

[3rdgen]

Any one have gutter guards or have any suggestions for decent ones. I have a problem with maple keys coming down during a storm and plugging my eves which then back up and flood my basement. If anyone has any suggestions that would be awesome.

 

[Bill Bowman]

I had LeafGuard gutters installed about 10 years ago. Haven't been on my roof since. I have 3 large maple trees.

 

[CNGsaves]

Good for you OP to list details of what debris your trees are dumping on the roof & into gutters. Maples are notorious for lots of leaves plus the "helicopter" seeds by the millions !!!

Friend of mine has the metal screen gutter guards and they work well for his oak trees that mostly have acorns and few small twigs.

I'm using the plastic clip-on gutter covers and they are doing a decent job but I have impossible task of birch trees that drop MASSIVE amounts of small twigs, plus small leaves, plus a quadrillion small seeds. I'll never have a house again with birch trees right next to house.

If I was rich, I'd get the real thing of gutterguard with the small holes in aluminum cover that covers the whole gutter.

 

[hayhauler71]

I have these and work very well and easy to install. http://www.alscometals.com/products/gutterguard/page2.php

 

[Stuart in MN]

I had LeafGuard gutters installed about 10 years ago. Haven't been on my roof since. I have 3 large maple trees.

I have Leafguard gutters as well, they work great. No problems at all with leaves or seeds.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

By far NOT the least expensive, but there is no better system than Gutter Glove. I have had their Ice Breaker system on my house for a very long time and have had ZERO gutter or icycle issues. They do have a "lower line" DIY system, available through Costco. Here's a link:

http://www.gutterguard.com

Tommy

 

[zoomzoomjeff]

I picked these up for less than a penny a piece at a Lowes closeout.
No regrets.
A Hateful ***** that I had to make a special tool to get them to snap on to my gutters but I could have just as well slipped them under the first row of shingles like the manufacturer says to and been done in about a minute a unit.
I exploited a lip on my gutters that fit perfectly but tightly in to the edge of these.

I did notice a bit of ice build up on top of them due to snow sitting on them and then icing over. It would have been the same with any cover.

I've got something very similar (or identical) to these and really like them. They were super cheap and easy to install under the first layer of shingles. Lowe's, IIRC?

 

[redmondjp]

I've got something very similar (or identical) to these and really like them. They were super cheap and easy to install under the first layer of shingles. Lowe's, IIRC?

I have the same ones, which I purchased at Home Despot. I like them a lot as well, for the price.

You have to carefully separate the layer of shingles from the tarpaper and slip the edge of this between when you first install them. Then they snap onto the front edge of the gutter. Easy to cut with tin snips.

My gutter covers are going on 6-7 years old now and I figure I'll replace them after a couple more years (they fade, mine are brown, and the plastic screen eventually comes loose from the frame). I think it cost $70 to do my entire house.

I got an insane quote for the Leafguard ($7K initially, final 'low' price of $4500, when standard gutters cost $700) and that motivated me to try these. Very happy so far.

 

[58Yeoman]

I picked these up for less than a penny a piece at a Lowes closeout.
No regrets.
A Hateful ***** that I had to make a special tool to get them to snap on to my gutters but I could have just as well slipped them under the first row of shingles like the manufacturer says to and been done in about a minute a unit.
I exploited a lip on my gutters that fit perfectly but tightly in to the edge of these.

I did notice a bit of ice build up on top of them due to snow sitting on them and then icing over. It would have been the same with any cover.

I used this style, but in brown. In the summer, the sun beats down on them and the dark color absorbs a lot of heat. They all warped really bad, so I replaced them with the plastic screen rolls. Will see how long they last.

 

[MScott]

Has anyone discovered a cover that works with pine needles? My house is surrounded with white pines that drop lots of needles.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

These are the only ones that have worked for me. I have lot of pine trees and none of the traditional guards keep the needles out.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GUTTERSTUFF-5-in-x-48-in-K-Style-Foam-Gutter-Filter-GS-K5-SPAN/203318223

 

[Notgrownup]

I picked these up for less than a penny a piece at a Lowes closeout.
No regrets.
A Hateful ***** that I had to make a special tool to get them to snap on to my gutters but I could have just as well slipped them under the first row of shingles like the manufacturer says to and been done in about a minute a unit.
I exploited a lip on my gutters that fit perfectly but tightly in to the edge of these.

I did notice a bit of ice build up on top of them due to snow sitting on them and then icing over. It would have been the same with any cover.

That's what I have but I don't know how well they would do up north.

 

[Redwardsray]

I put the large commercial downspouts on no leaf guards years ago everything including maple tree debris goes right out. Saved a lot of money and gutters handle all storms no over flow.

 

[bob15]

I picked these up for less than a penny a piece at a Lowes closeout.
No regrets.
A Hateful ***** that I had to make a special tool to get them to snap on to my gutters but I could have just as well slipped them under the first row of shingles like the manufacturer says to and been done in about a minute a unit.
I exploited a lip on my gutters that fit perfectly but tightly in to the edge of these.

I did notice a bit of ice build up on top of them due to snow sitting on them and then icing over. It would have been the same with any cover.

I have the same thing. They work great except a little more ice in the winter. They also work very well with pine needles.

Home Depot still sells them:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Amerimax-Home-Products-3-ft-White-Snap-In-Filter-Gutter-Guard-86270BX/100520851

 

[dfiler2]

I think the first thing to do is to make sure you need gutters. When I moved in to my current home I was looking at gutter guards because of the large oak trees. I knew the soil here is pretty sandy so I did some landscaping, made sure I had the proper slope, put down some good quality mat, planted a few shrubs and perennial plants it looks nice and in ten years, no problems. I have a full basement and theres never been any moisture problem.

 

[CJ7VFR]

I picked these up for less than a penny a piece at a Lowes closeout.
No regrets.
A Hateful ***** that I had to make a special tool to get them to snap on to my gutters but I could have just as well slipped them under the first row of shingles like the manufacturer says to and been done in about a minute a unit.
I exploited a lip on my gutters that fit perfectly but tightly in to the edge of these.

I did notice a bit of ice build up on top of them due to snow sitting on them and then icing over. It would have been the same with any cover.

My house, that I bought in 2010, had these same gutter guards installed on all the gutters.

The only difference is that back when the original owner bought them, they did NOT come with the screen!!! The screen was added to the product a few years later.

The gutter guards work great, except for the Maple tree helicopter seeds getting stuck in all the mesh holes!!! They look like a million little soldiers standing at attention all sticking straight up.

Every year I still have to go up on the ladder and remove the maple seeds by hand, which is easy to do, but a pain none-the-less. My house is a traditional Cape Cod style, so the gutters are not high up, and they are easy to get to.

The guards do stop everything else from getting into my gutters though, so I am still happy with them.

Mine are installed in between the two layers of shingles that form the first row of the roof, not between the tar paper layer and the shingles.

This makes them very easy to pull out, clean the maple seeds, and then replace.

When these guards do eventually need to be replaced, I will get the same type, but with the screens in them! I wish I could find them for a penny a piece though!!!! That is a steal!!!!

Jim

 

[shoot summ]

I have Leaf Shield protectors. Had them installed in 2009, and haven't cleaned a gutter since. The do tend to overflow in torrential rains like we've had this year, not a big deal relative to cleaning gutters though...

 

[Fishplate]

I had these folks come out to my house and install their gutter guards. Haven't had a problem since. They weren't cheap, but they weren't terribly expensive either.

They were a lot cheaper than a 30-foot fall.

 

[Jackfre]

I have the Leaf Guard on the house. Work very well, but spends. For the new shop I bought the Costco version. They went in well. Haven't had a season with them but I think they will do well.

 

[jdieter]

I've tried 3 types, all a failure. I live in a woods with a 4/12 roof pitch so it's a tough put to begin with. I tried 2 types that work on surface tension. They worked reasonable well on a mild rain the first couple of years. When the crud started building up in the slots that allow water into the gutters and the rolled edge above the slot thay were ****, during a heavy rain more water spilled over than went in the gutter. The flat type with the fine mesh SS screen were ok until the screens started clogging. Then they performed the same as the two other types I had.

So I gave up on gutter guards, and like somebody else mentioned I'm installing bigger downspouts and easily accessable cleanout ports to keep the underground drainage open. Also bought a small battery powered leaf blower to clean the gutters from the roof.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Has anyone discovered a cover that works with pine needles? My house is surrounded with white pines that drop lots of needles.

Gutter Glove. Blue spruce/pine needles are why I got them. None of the "surface tension" type will keep needles out...

Tommy

 

[Rockcam]

In my experience the plastic versions work great initially, but fail after a few years due to UV degradation.

The "Gutter Helmet" systems are plainly visible, which did not work for me. They're also expensive.

When we built our house a couple of years ago, we installed covers that are flat aluminum, with holes punched in the top. They screw on top of standard K shape gutters, and are not visible from the ground.

I was skeptical that they would drain well enough in heavy rain, but despite our fairly large roof and 12/12 pitch, they work great. Holes are small enough that helicopters can't get through. While I suppose pine needles could get through if I dropped one vertically down a hole, they are typically rolling off the roof on their side, and drop past the gutters and onto the ground.

They have worked great for us.

 

[ozyborn]

No gutter guards here. but nice wide 6" gutters. Add in a 15 piece of conduit with a bent spray nozzle on the end, add water hose. No problem.

 

[redmondjp]

I put the large commercial downspouts on no leaf guards years ago everything including maple tree debris goes right out. Saved a lot of money and gutters handle all storms no over flow.

This is fine if the downspouts empty onto the surface. But if you have french drains or buried stormwater pipes, the last thing you want is that stuff going in there and clogging your drainage system. I've seen this far too many times in my area. And once one of those buried pipes is packed full of fir or cedar tree detrius, you might as well abandon it in place and put in a brand new pipe.

This is what I found hilarious about the Leafguard system - the salesperson made sure to show us the oversize downspouts that come with. A tacit acknowledgement that stuff DOES get into their gutters! So they oversize the downspouts so they don't CLOG.

 

[MScott]

These are the only ones that have worked for me. I have lot of pine trees and none of the traditional guards keep the needles out.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GUTTERSTUFF-5-in-x-48-in-K-Style-Foam-Gutter-Filter-GS-K5-SPAN/203318223

Thanks. I have seen these but wondered whether the needles would just stick in the foam. Glad to hear they have worked for you.

 

[mikegt4]

I think the first thing to do is to make sure you need gutters. When I moved in to my current home I was looking at gutter guards because of the large oak trees. I knew the soil here is pretty sandy so I did some landscaping, made sure I had the proper slope, put down some good quality mat, planted a few shrubs and perennial plants it looks nice and in ten years, no problems. I have a full basement and theres never been any moisture problem.

I wish that it was up to me. All permanent structures (new builds for the last 25 years) in my county are required to have gutters by code. Code officials can get testy even for re-shingle permits. I live out in the country, corn and livestock all around, and I still had to have gutters on everything!

 

[Fueler]

A little FYI on GuttaGard. http://www.guttergeniusdiy.com/
After looking over all the others I gave these a shot.
I just spent an hour trying to get the first piece in. Granted I happened to pick the toughest corner first. Got the shingle/cover relationship handled after looking the situation over.

The real problem is the clips. If you look at their instructions the clip expects to find a lip that is rolled or real short sided. http://www.guttergeniusdiy.com/installation.php#4
Just my luck that the last company that installed these gutters used a sharp 90 degree lip/fold. No way on god's green earth is that clip going to latch onto this lip. It's wider than the clip slot by a considerable amount.
I sacrificed a couple of clips trying to overcome the problem but no joy.
So....look at the lip on your gutter before purchasing these. Time for plan B.

Along the same rain vein I learned something in the last couple of weeks. I had done my first gutter clean out of the usual 4 per yr. Then we got hit with some serious gulley washer rain storms. Seemed like every day or so. It's a bit soggy around here. I took the opportunity to observe the gutters while sitting in the car. The darn things were blowing over the side the same as if they were never cleaned out!!! grrrr

Storm passes and I go up to take a look.

Turns out it doesn't take much to stop those up. Seriously, a couple broad leafs and twigs stopped them up easily by landing right over hole. The gutter installer did the simple hole saw and 2" downspout insert. The rest of the job is fine but that seems low bidder cheesy.

Anyway, armed with this new knowledge I decided a bigger hole was needed. I could trim it out and use one of the rectangle inserts to match the 2x3 downspouts or......look around a bit first.
I wound up buying these. http://www.egutter.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1283/.f?sc=7&category=2013&fromsla=T

Trimmed out the hole, some white caulking and 4 sheet screws and they are on. Had to shorten up the downspout to compensate.
Took 2 handfuls of green leaves, pine needles, etc. Threw it in upstream a bit in the gutter and hit it with a hose. Every darn piece went right down the hole!!!!!
It was almost fun to watch.

Next storm I sat in the car again to observe. Leaves were being blown off the trees and heading to the gutters.
NO over running gutters.
Just found it hard to believe so I got back up there to look. Some residue and leaves here and there but nothing piled up around the downspout holes!!!

I wish now that I had bought the version that adapted to a 3x4 downspout and put on some new downspouts. That may still happen. I may even add a downspout in known trouble areas. The heck with how it may look.

If and when the time comes that new gutters are necessary I will pony up for the 6" gutters and larger downspouts. Those Big Mouth outlets will be a must have again.

Going to take a second look at the diy version of gutterglove.

 

[Fueler]

You know, I may have been trying to use a gutter topper to stop everything.
Maybe I am fighting the wrong war. I think the pine needles I deal with could wash on out with these new big mouth downspouts IF there wasn't much other larger debris in the gutter.

IF I could keep the bigger leaves, sticks, pine cones out I might have a decent chance of success. As such I would not want a fine, all things to all people filter deal. Something with big holes for the leaves and twigs to bounce of might be sufficient.

Your thoughts on this concept?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Ripped put more of the foam things than I care to count. They clog with silt & become awesome weed farms...

Tommy

 

[ZRX1040]

I run into the same problem. The local gutter installer will be retrofitting the larger downspouts all around. My experience is that gutter guards don't work for long, tried several. What I did try that works just fine is take one of those plastic gutter downspouts and 3 elbows and make a handy little extension for my leaf blower. I can walk around the house and blow the gutters clear in 2 minutes.


EDIT: something like this...

 

[Fueler]

How well does the leaf blower work if you forget about it for a while and you come back to find it half filled with soggy, heavy leaf trash.?

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Thanks. I have seen these but wondered whether the needles would just stick in the foam. Glad to hear they have worked for you.

They do sit on top of the foam but it does not seem to clog. This is a poorly positioned pine tree. I put the foam in two years ago and no clogs since then. Previously I would need to clean the gutters at least twice a year to stop clogging and water overrun, I haven't done anything to these since I installed them.

 

[AE2]

I tried the Gutter Worm, got it at Menards. I would say it failed. It would get all clogged up and nasty and I ended up just trashing it.

 

[JimD1]

I had leaf guards on my previous house and they worked well. So when I needed some gutters on an addition, I thought I would go that way. But I like to get multiple quotes so I got 3. The leaf guard was in the middle and twice the lowest priced. The K-guard was almost twice the leaf guard. So a spread of 4 to 1 between highest and lowest. I was going to go with the leaf guard but then I saw a consumers reports article on gutter guards. Their conclusion is that leaf guard and similar surface tension guards are the best at excluding debris but also allow hard rain to sail past the gutter sometimes. Conventional gutters with gutter guards do better with hard rain but a little worse filtering out debris. Leaf guard would have also required an additional downspout near the front door that I didn't want. So I went with the least expensive and so far they have worked well. I have similar gutters elsewhere on the house and they haven't plugged. We have LOTS of trees of multiple types (oaks, cherry, Bradford pear and others).

 

[awdblazer]

alu-rex gutter clean

 

[ponjohn]

Guys-

I had my own gutter business for 5 years and then recently sold leaf protection for a nationwide company.

There is NO magic bullet. The tension design ( Leaf Guard) is good in concpet but debris follows the water around the radius. In addition high volumes of water are shed off the radius. And if a piece is damaged the whole run has to be replaced. Gutter Helmet another tension design goes back under the shingles about 8". This voids MOST shingle warranties.

The other designs are all a compromise, do want to stop pine needles or "helicopters"? They all work fairly well but IMPO there is no product that can be installed and forgotten about.

I have a few friends that sell some decent stuff and they offer a yearly service plan at a very reasonable rate 165.00 to come back out once a year an inspect everything and make sure the product is performing well. I suggested they do this as his business model for selling leaf protection. These products sell for 8.00 ft and he is making money doing it at the price point.

Be forewarned, there are nationwide companies ( like the one I worked for) that basically are severely overpriced. I am all about capitalism but the same product can be sold at 10/ foot but yet there are salespeople taking advantage of certain demographics and selling at 50 / ft. That is why I do not represent them any longer.

Good luck.

 

[3rdgen]

So a little update you cant get **** in Canada for gutter guards. Went to homedepot and they only had one box of one kind and no answer on when or if more is coming in. So i toured over to Lowes and they only have rinky dink plastic ones that have pinky sized holes in them. So i got to thinking since we have been getting torrential downpours lately maybe a bigger gutter will help. Only problem is getting some I've called a couple places one told me that i can do 6" because my fascia board is only a 2x6 and the other two cant get green tin any more and wont come to my area for 1 30ft section. So not sure where to go from here.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Guys-

There is NO magic bullet. They all work fairly well but IMPO there is no product that can be installed and forgotten about.



Good luck.

Gutter glove has been on my house over 5 years and no one has ever needed to touch my gutters or the guards. Are there drawbacks? One that I can think of. They do drip over the edge in a few spots where the seams are and from what little water collects and runs off the drip edge.

Tommy

 

[strnge]

All are junk. They cause more damage than help.

 

[Stuart in MN]

All are junk. They cause more damage than help.

As several of us posted earlier, they can work just fine. Some types and brands are better than others.