Gutter guards- good or bad?
 

Posting for a friend(sorry this is off-topic):
I am planning on installing the gutter guards on the side of the house
that faces the woods. The leaves build up on that side of the house
every year. I am thinking about the ones that are sold in Home
depot(Model: #451-25)

Is the leaf-guard a permanent solution? Does any cleaning needs to be
done after they have been installed? I know theoratically the guards
should eliminate any leaf build up in the gutter, but does that actually
happen? Or do the leaves pile up on top of the guard needing to be
cleaned? And does the guard let the water flow into the gutters when in
the heavy rains(like we had during the last few days)?

Thanks,
BB

Gutter guards- good or bad?
 

yes they do work well and can control the heavy rains - mine do

mine came with the house and I have a very very very wooded lot - only 1
pine but lots of hardwoods.

how it works
The way these gutters work is that the water stays attached to the bullnose
on top, it travels around and then drops into the gutter. any debris does
not stay with the water it drops off over the side.

Sooooo
The gutter itself does not need to be cleaned but the bullnose DOES need to
be cleaned.

What happens over time is that dirt collects on the bullnose - so that a
line of dirt is created along the gutter...then when it rains the water hits
the dirt and instead of dropping into the gutter it starts to drip off.

So you do need to either run your hand across the gutter to get rid of the
dirt OR hit with a hose or powerwasher

Mine I have to do once a year, not a big deal to me

tomatolord

"BB" wrote in message
...
Posting for a friend(sorry this is off-topic):
I am planning on installing the gutter guards on the side of the house
that faces the woods. The leaves build up on that side of the house
every year. I am thinking about the ones that are sold in Home
depot(Model: #451-25)

Is the leaf-guard a permanent solution? Does any cleaning needs to be
done after they have been installed? I know theoratically the guards
should eliminate any leaf build up in the gutter, but does that actually
happen? Or do the leaves pile up on top of the guard needing to be
cleaned? And does the guard let the water flow into the gutters when in
the heavy rains(like we had during the last few days)?

Thanks,
BB

Gutter guards- good or bad?
 

In article , Tomatolord wrote:
yes they do work well and can control the heavy rains - mine do

mine came with the house and I have a very very very wooded lot - only 1
pine but lots of hardwoods.

how it works
The way these gutters work is that the water stays attached to the bullnose
on top, it travels around and then drops into the gutter. any debris does
not stay with the water it drops off over the side.

Sooooo
The gutter itself does not need to be cleaned but the bullnose DOES need to
be cleaned.

What happens over time is that dirt collects on the bullnose - so that a
line of dirt is created along the gutter...then when it rains the water hits
the dirt and instead of dropping into the gutter it starts to drip off.

So you do need to either run your hand across the gutter to get rid of the
dirt OR hit with a hose or powerwasher

Mine I have to do once a year, not a big deal to me


Now if you have a lot of valleys in the roof where two perpendicular
roof lines meet then you may get more leaf collection there and more
water in downpours than the gutter guard can stand. But you would have
the collection in the valley anyway. Yes there is some maintenance. I
have areas that don't get a lot of sunshine so I have to wash them to
get the mold, moss and mildew off also.

With no guards I always had to muck out the gutters by hand, where now
even if there is debris on top, I have a telescoping handle (up to 12
feet) and can get on at one place and comver a larger section of gutter.
I would say the maintenance for me is about 25% of what I used to have.
No valleys and more sun and it would be less.
tomatolord

"BB" wrote in message
...
Posting for a friend(sorry this is off-topic):
I am planning on installing the gutter guards on the side of the house
that faces the woods. The leaves build up on that side of the house
every year. I am thinking about the ones that are sold in Home
depot(Model: #451-25)

Is the leaf-guard a permanent solution? Does any cleaning needs to be
done after they have been installed? I know theoratically the guards
should eliminate any leaf build up in the gutter, but does that actually
happen? Or do the leaves pile up on top of the guard needing to be
cleaned? And does the guard let the water flow into the gutters when in
the heavy rains(like we had during the last few days)?

Thanks,
BB






--
Wes Dukes (wdukesNOatSPAMpoboxdotcom)

Gutter guards- good or bad?
 

You might consider going without gutters on this side of the house and
installing gravel and PVC drainpipe in the ground where the roof runoff will
hit. This can be much easier to maintain than the gutters. I have tried
gutter guards without success

Bruce Sauls

"BB" wrote in message
...
Posting for a friend(sorry this is off-topic):
I am planning on installing the gutter guards on the side of the house
that faces the woods. The leaves build up on that side of the house
every year. I am thinking about the ones that are sold in Home
depot(Model: #451-25)

Is the leaf-guard a permanent solution? Does any cleaning needs to be
done after they have been installed? I know theoratically the guards
should eliminate any leaf build up in the gutter, but does that actually
happen? Or do the leaves pile up on top of the guard needing to be
cleaned? And does the guard let the water flow into the gutters when in
the heavy rains(like we had during the last few days)?

Thanks,
BB

Gutter guards- good or bad?
 

In article , bsauls wrote:
You might consider going without gutters on this side of the house and
installing gravel and PVC drainpipe in the ground where the roof runoff will
hit. This can be much easier to maintain than the gutters. I have tried
gutter guards without success


Or if there is the right slope, you can use bricks at the foundation to
make what I have heard called a williamsburg drain. It requires lots of
brick though. you put 3 bricks end to end with the middle one being
lower and the left and right one sloping toward the center one slightly.
\_/ More sloped than this example. You have to put the center brick
right at the line the water drops from the shingles. This little
"ditch" then has to have enought of a drop to carry the water off. It
may require another course or two of bricks near the foundation for
continuity and this depends on how much of an over hang your roof has.
Three brick would put the center line about 12 inches from the
foundation. You may need 18 or even 24 inches. Assuming 4 inch bricks
this would be 9 brick at 60 cents each which would be 5.40 per linear
feet where gutter guard will probably run 6-10 $ per linear foot but
that would be counting installation.

I had one stretch by my garage that I used gravel for 10 years but got
tired of the washing since it caught hte runoff from the driveway so I
just put in a 5 foot or so wide brick walkway that sloped ever so
slightly from the foundation.

Bruce Sauls

"BB" wrote in message
...
Posting for a friend(sorry this is off-topic):
I am planning on installing the gutter guards on the side of the house
that faces the woods. The leaves build up on that side of the house
every year. I am thinking about the ones that are sold in Home
depot(Model: #451-25)

Is the leaf-guard a permanent solution? Does any cleaning needs to be
done after they have been installed? I know theoratically the guards
should eliminate any leaf build up in the gutter, but does that actually
happen? Or do the leaves pile up on top of the guard needing to be
cleaned? And does the guard let the water flow into the gutters when in
the heavy rains(like we had during the last few days)?

Thanks,
BB






--
Wes Dukes (wdukesNOatSPAMpoboxdotcom)

Gutter guards- good or bad?
 

After being in the gutter cleaning business since 1978 I have not
found a gutter guard that does not, at some point need to have gutters
cleaned. The guards do help a lot and cuts back on the # of times the
gutter will need cleaning but they do allow some debri and shingle
gritt to enter gutter and in a down pour wash to downspout so fast it
clogs. So I do recomend gutter guards but you will occasionally need
to clean out your down spout areas and flush the rest of your gutters.

wrote in message s...
In article , bsauls wrote:
You might consider going without gutters on this side of the house and
installing gravel and PVC drainpipe in the ground where the roof runoff will
hit. This can be much easier to maintain than the gutters. I have tried
gutter guards without success


Or if there is the right slope, you can use bricks at the foundation to
make what I have heard called a williamsburg drain. It requires lots of
brick though. you put 3 bricks end to end with the middle one being
lower and the left and right one sloping toward the center one slightly.
\_/ More sloped than this example. You have to put the center brick
right at the line the water drops from the shingles. This little
"ditch" then has to have enought of a drop to carry the water off. It
may require another course or two of bricks near the foundation for
continuity and this depends on how much of an over hang your roof has.
Three brick would put the center line about 12 inches from the
foundation. You may need 18 or even 24 inches. Assuming 4 inch bricks
this would be 9 brick at 60 cents each which would be 5.40 per linear
feet where gutter guard will probably run 6-10 $ per linear foot but
that would be counting installation.

I had one stretch by my garage that I used gravel for 10 years but got
tired of the washing since it caught hte runoff from the driveway so I
just put in a 5 foot or so wide brick walkway that sloped ever so
slightly from the foundation.

Bruce Sauls

"BB" wrote in message
...
Posting for a friend(sorry this is off-topic):
I am planning on installing the gutter guards on the side of the house
that faces the woods. The leaves build up on that side of the house
every year. I am thinking about the ones that are sold in Home
depot(Model: #451-25)

Is the leaf-guard a permanent solution? Does any cleaning needs to be
done after they have been installed? I know theoratically the guards
should eliminate any leaf build up in the gutter, but does that actually
happen? Or do the leaves pile up on top of the guard needing to be
cleaned? And does the guard let the water flow into the gutters when in
the heavy rains(like we had during the last few days)?

Thanks,
BB