Gutter Guards etc.

[Krogen]

Dad had gutter guards of some sort installed on his house. Good thing they came with a lifetime warranty. He had those guys out one or twice every year to clean out the gutters. I guess you could call it a lifetime gutter cleaning contract.

The guards were designed to use surface tension to "roll" water over the edge into the gutter, but send debris over the edge to the ground. It may have worked with heavy rain and "high speed" water. Fir trees and Pacific Northwest drizzle predominate in his area. With the light drizzle, the needles just rolled over the gutter guard edge into the gutter. Totally ineffective. Topping that, the guards made cleaning the gutters a real chore. Like I said, the guarrantee was well-used.

I expect the situation would be different with deciduous trees. Conifers, drizzle and gutter guards don't mix, in my humble opinion.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

During heavy rains I’d get a small amount of water in a couple areas of my finished walk out basement.

Had a guy come over to look at it and submit a bid to help.

My roof is a 12/12 pitch. He claimed the water was running OVER the gutter guards and saturating the ground, wetting the basement, etc. Told him I was skeptical so he asked me to remove HALF the gutter guards and report back.

Sure enough ….. next couple of frog choking rains and water only entered on the side with the gutter guards. I removed the remaining guards and had no problems since.

That man wouldn’t charge me for his time. I sent him a $100 Visa gift card.
I think that was 2015.

They make aluminum "dams" for situations like yours. Installs easily with sheet metal screwss and a cordless drill.

 

[ralph7]

In my opinion------
If the building contractor did not put gutters around the entire roof there would be less problems. If the right roof edging and shingle overhang was used it would help also. Gutters over walkways and entrances are sometimes necessary
but not around the entire building.
I'm another that uses my leaf blower to empty the gutters. Works great

Only if you have bushes or the like, splash back from water hitting the ground makes a nasty stain on the bottom of the walls.

 

[fiasconva]

After having to fight with the pine needles, etc. and climbing on the roof 3 or 4 times a year to clean out nasty full gutters year after year we went with Leaf Guard. It was pretty expensive but one of the best investments we made. No more climbing on the roof and if the gutters do get clogged they will come out and clean them out for you free of charge.

 

[Farmer17]

Most of the gutter screens will still clog up depending on the type of leaves and debris and lot can be said for drones. Just fly one around and keep an eye on the gutters and keep them clean before it turns into a big chore.

 

[GypsmJim]

I bought my gutter guards from Lowes and installed them myself. 3 ft sections. Entire house for around $150.00...........Those companies are RIPPING PEOPLE OFF BIG TIME!!!!!!

You are right about that. Even with labor charges, it's still a ripoff.

I did my garage, outbuilding and porches myself. Like you said, chump change. I only had the second floor done by Leaf Guard because I ain't going up that high. Plus don't have a long ladder.

 

[crstrode]

I have many MANY pine trees and a big house with lots of gutters.

Several of my neighbors have installed all sorts of products intended to make life easier. Without fail, all of them spent thousands of dollars and got poor results. Yes, the leaf filters keep most of the needles out, however they tend to stack up and encourage the generation of ice dams that back up under the roofing and cause damage to the fascia and nasty destructive leaks. These stacks of debris have also caused leaks and attendant damage without freezing weather.

I have tried the "Gutter Brush" as well with similar poor performance. All of the devices accelerate the accumulation of blown dirt and shingle gravel in the gutters.

I have bare, wide-open gutters with heating cable installed to prevent ice-ups. Cleaning the gutters after an extended period of no rain is easy as pie. A leaf blower is a big help and gets most of it.

Do not procrastinate until after the first rain when the gutter stuff is a black stinky amalgam of bugs, mud, and needles.

If you are very feeble and/or lazy, hire it done and still save a lot of money. Again: Do it in the summer and then right before the rainy season.

 

[ZGrand]

We got the LeafGuard style gutters about 20 years ago. They were far more affordable then -- about $3K for the whole house. We have a TON of trees on the property, but I have never had the gutters clog or need cleaning out.

 

[Walter Rego]

I have the mesh style guards like ladder13 describes. I live in the mountains and my property is full of huge Ponderosa and cedar pines and pine needles are a nightmare.

This will be my second winter with them. The company that installed them said they did need to be cleaned out every few years. The good thing is we occasionally get pretty high winds and when that happens all of the pine needles get blown off the roof. Of course then they are all over the deck and driveway. But at least there are less to clog up the gutters.

Regarding the cost, it ran $980 for 110 feet of stainless mesh guard including the labor. The house was only 3 years old so of course the actual gutters didn't need to be replaced. I thought that was reasonable and I didn't have to worry about falling off of the roof.