Gutter leaf guards

[nrc]

Or eaves trough leaf guards, as some might say. :)

So we're blessed to have lots of trees around our house. That means lots of leaves. Which get in our gutters an clog them up. I didn't mind cleaning them out once a year at the old place, but it was a ranch and we only had one big tree. Now it's two stories and lots of trees.

Back at the old place when we had our roofing and gutters replaced I asked about the leaf guard systems but the guy said that they were more trouble than they were worth.

Looks like they fall into two basic types, strainers and caps. The strainers are basically - well - a strainer that goes directly on or in the gutter. The caps typically attach to the roof and come out over the gutter, curving around to pour water into the gutter and dump leaves over the side.

To me the most of the caps appear to be pretty big and ugly, but do the strainers do any good? I guess the argument is that leaves get stuck in the strainer and everything gets clogged up anyway.

[Tim]

My parents neighbors have strainers and they say they don't have any problems with them.

[Warlock!]

Or eaves trough leaf guards, as some might say. :)
I just put the mesh screen jobbies (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=157336-339-157336&lpage=none) on my pop's place earlier this summer. So far, so good. However, the roof is at an extremely steep pitch where his gutters are located, so I think that helps a lot. Easy as can be to install, tho.

[Spicoli]

Or eaves trough leaf guards, as some might say. :)

So we're blessed to have lots of trees around our house. That means lots of leaves. Which get in our gutters an clog them up. I didn't mind cleaning them out once a year at the old place, but it was a ranch and we only had one big tree. Now it's two stories and lots of trees.

Back at the old place when we had our roofing and gutters replaced I asked about the leaf guard systems but the guy said that they were more trouble than they were worth.

Looks like they fall into two basic types, strainers and caps. The strainers are basically - well - a strainer that goes directly on or in the gutter. The caps typically attach to the roof and come out over the gutter, curving around to pour water into the gutter and dump leaves over the side.

To me the most of the caps appear to be pretty big and ugly, but do the strainers do any good? I guess the argument is that leaves get stuck in the strainer and everything gets clogged up anyway.

CAPS. the screen dealies no workie. wind blows them off, and they get knocked out of alignment real easy.

i too, have many large, lovey trees. there's more than corn in indianer. :gomer:

[SteveH]

I used those before Warlock! Had trouble keeping them secured to the roof after about 1 year. The style I had used a stainless steel clip that secured it to the shingle. Ended up taking them off after 3 years. But they did work.

Heard the gutter helmet/cap/guard doesn't work all that well when a large volume of water hits it, either when raining hard or on a larger roof. Water runs over the top and not into the gutter, instead straight onto the ground.

[cameraman]

And if your house has hundred year old copper gutters you get to install these...

http://www.pcraingutter.com/images/Leaf%20Guard%20Raku.jpg

They're made out of copper so use your imagination as to their cost:eek:

[Joelski]

http://www.stihl.co.uk/images/dynamic/home.gif

:D

[Spicoli]

http://www.stihl.co.uk/images/dynamic/home.gif

:D

trees are cool you dick. :thumdown:

p.s. > time for a http://www.blogwaybaby.com/Baby%20Drinking%20Beer.jpg

[cameraman]

Rolling Rock?
:yuck:

Not a very nice thing to do to a kid.

[G.]

Heard the gutter helmet/cap/guard doesn't work all that well when a large volume of water hits it, either when raining hard or on a larger roof. Water runs over the top and not into the gutter, instead straight onto the ground.
On one of them home improvement shows, I think it was This Old House Classics, they installed them and the installer demo'ed them. He sprayed the roof with a garden hose set for a spray pattern. The water went over the caps onto the ground, and the leaves "stuck" to the caps and went right into the gutters. Zactly opposite of what they were supposed to do.

The best part about it is they didn't edit it out.:)

Just mumbled something about "a few leaves might still get in. OK, now over to the soffit..."

[Gangrel]

I had caps installed last year, have had no complaints. They keep the leaves out, haven't had a clogged gutter yet, and while there is some run-off of water, IT'S ALREADY RAINING OUT! News flash...the ground is already going to get wet. :D

The ones I had installed are not rounded, they have two angles that create the curve. These angles are gradual enough to keep the surface tension on the water, but sharp enough to break contact with the leaves so they don't follow the water into the gutters. The installers also guarantee that if your gutters do clog, they will come out and clean them for you.

As for looking ugly...they are pretty low profile, so I am not sure how this could be. Also, if you get them in a dark color to closely match the shingles on your roof. You'd never know they were there if you weren't looking for them.

Before we had them installed, I was cleaning gutters sometimes every other week, and still when we had a big rain storm, the inside frame of my picture window would take on water. Now, it has been over a year since I have had to climb a ladder, and the inside of my house stays nice and dry, no matter how bad the rain might be.

Your results may very.... :D

[racer2c]

You need a kid nrc! They are wonderfully useful beings that can fetch you a beverage or clean your gutters. Unfortunately, unless you adopt, your gutters won't get cleaned for about 15 years at the least.

My dad wouldn't trust me on the ladder when I was 12/13 so he'd tie a rope around me and the other end to the chimney and I'd clean them from the roof. True story.:)

Seriously though, cleaning the gutters is one of those things that my wife thinks is one of the last real "man jobs" around the house. I can milk a fresh gutter cleaning for four or five days.:D

[Joelski]

trees are cool you dick. :thumdown:

p.s. > time for a http://www.blogwaybaby.com/Baby%20Drinking%20Beer.jpg


Unless yer too stupid top install gutter guards. :gomer: Better have another one, uncle soaky. :)

[devilmaster]

http://home.cogeco.ca/%7Echammond44/Early%20Start1.JPG

[Spicoli]

Unless yer too stupid top install gutter guards. :gomer: Better have another one, uncle soaky. :)

\doooder:

how you supposet ta procreate when ya cain't even keep the fatties innerested?


http://www.humorhole.com/images/images/Girl-Power-Fattie-1190.jpg

[nrc]

Thanks for the tips. This story kind of sums up my concerns about them. Seems like there's a wide variety of experiences. We do have a couple of large maples so the small debris issue is a definite concern.

http://www.askthebuilder.com/541-Gutter-Guards-and-the-Whole-Truth.shtml

I may see if I can just find someplace to clean them to start out with. I can see how long that lasts and how much it costs and do the math.

[SteveH]

http://www.askthebuilder.com/541-Gutter-Guards-and-the-Whole-Truth.shtml

^

If you paid a roofing company just $85 per visit to clean your existing gutters three times per year

At $85/visit it would be a no brainer. However, I'll never find anyone to do it at that price.

[Lizzerd]

I give my nephew $20 once a year to clean mine.

[SteveH]

I'll pay for the gas from Indy. Hell, I'll make it $40.

You can come to Lizzerd, we can sit on the deck and drink beer until he's done. :D

[Joelski]

\doooder:

how you supposet ta procreate when ya cain't even keep the fatties innerested?


http://www.humorhole.com/images/images/Girl-Power-Fattie-1190.jpg


Oh man! You'd know about beer goggle! :happyapplebees:

[Spicoli]

Oh man! You'd know about beer goggle! :happyapplebees:

Well, if she doesn't agree to yur sexual advances, you always have the bacon.:cool:

[oddlycalm]

We went for a foam insert system and it's worked well for a combination of large firs and broad leaf trees for the last 5yrs. With the firs, maples, and silk trees to we have a lot of small stuff as well as large leaves. It was a fraction of the cost of the caps and strainers, so if it doesn't last forever it's not a big deal. It definitely keeps everything out of the gutters. We have a big roof of just over 50 squares, to so we have a lot of gutters. Cost of the foam installed was around $1300 and took a morning to cut to length and insert.

I still have the roof blown off to get the fir needles that accumulate in the valley's and corners off and they blow off whatever is on top of the foam while they are at it. For what it's worth we're happy with the results.
GutterFlow (http://www.geocities.com/gutterflowportland/)

http://www.geocities.com/gutterflowportland/GutterFlowcloseup.jpg

oc

[Joelski]

Well, if she doesn't agree to yur sexual advances, you always have the bacon.:cool:

WTF are you talking about? You stayin past happy hour? Doing blow with Tony? Splain:confused:

[Napoleon]

I have the the style Warlock and SteveH mentioned and like them. Some of them do come loose from time to time but IMO it is a whole lot less work to replace some from time to time then up there all the time cleaning out leaves (I have a lot of trees). One thing though is that they make ice build up from snow storms more likely (I have one valley where that is a real problem).