Leafguard gutters

[Joe Pelonio]

I'm familiar with them, in fact I did a lot of trade show signs and truck lettering for the founders when they first started here in Bellevue, WA before Englert bought them, and for a few years after. I probably could have traded sign work for a set but was not impressed with them for our house. They work great for the leaves that we have here such as Big Leaf Maple, Alder and Cottonwood that roll right over, but we have 80-100' tall fir trees with needles falling and with our constant light drizzle there isn't enough flow to keep them from falling in along with the water.

[Mark Bolton]

I must have different trees and leaves than some others. I have expanded aluminum metal over the gutters on a fairly shallow pitched roof. Yes, when we are getting an extremely heavy rain, the rain will go over the gutters but that happens with any leaf guard type system. Yes, I have some leaves standing up in the expanded metal. They blow away in a couple of days or weeks.....I could really care less. They do keep the leaves out of the gutters and the seeds from the ash trees and maple trees and the acorns. The price was good and they work for me.

I have never seem any volume of rain, including the outflow from a roof above terminated to a lower roof, overtop a properly installed surface tension gutter guard. There might be a little splatter or splashing occasionally but when they are properly installed they are actually mind blowing in the amount of water they can carry to the gutter.

As with any system its up to the user to decide their effectiveness as compared to their cost. I have personally seen more pieces of expanded aluminum gutter guard on the ground that have blown off, fallen off, because they are often barely tucked under the shingles and just tech screwed into the outer edge of the gutter. The can surely be effective in the right circumstances but they arent anything Ive ever felt I could stand behind.

[Ole Anderson]

One issue with the surface tension style is that the "nose" must be kept clean, or accumulated debris will negate the smooth laminar flow needed to bring the water around the nose of the guard. We were given a brass stream nozzle for our hose and told to "clean the nose" whenever you could see debris stuck there. Depending on the type of tree debris you have, it can be fairly often. I found that a brush, like a Webster with an extendable handle, works easier and doesn't mess up the windows. Having a two story house becomes a problem cleaning the gutter helmets. Ours is a ranch or has a deck below the gutters so it is not a problem for us.

[Tom Stenzel]

I bought the ones that come in 4 foot sections from Home Depot, don't remember the brand. They worked OK for regular leaves but they let in a lot of pine needles. It took twice as long for the gutter to block up but then took 4 times longer to clear them. I ended up removing them.

-Tom

[Brian Elfert]

I had Leafguard gutters on the house I just sold. They worked very well and no issues with leaves in the gutters. I did have some minor spillover issues in really heavy rain, but I had the smaller Leafguard gutters and I didn't clean the top guard as often as I should have. Leafguard started selling a larger version of the gutters and that is all they install today.

[Don Morris]

When we renovated the house 8 - 10 years ago we had the top-of-line installed. After a few years, during one of the winters, we had an ice jam at one of the down spouts because it was clogged. When they removed the leaf guard there was so much debris the water couldn't get through. A company that advertised gutter cleaning also advertised "leaf guard removal". Know why he advertised leaf guard removal? He said they did a lot of it. When he took me around the house he showed me a couple places I hadn't looked at in a while where the water came over the side where the blockage was and formed a drip line on the ground. So in our experience, they work for a while, but after a while they need to be removed and the debris that will accumulate in the gutters needs to be cleared. We stayed with that company for a while, but they were too expensive for just gutter cleaning (they wanted a quarterly contract). We now call one of the many who advertise gutter cleaning when we think we need it.

[Larry Frank]

I have had my expanded metal leaf guards for more than 10 years. During that time have had 80-100 mph winds that took out a bunch of trees but the expanded metal stayed put. I do not know how they would come out unless they are extremely poorly installed. All that matters is whatever system works for your home. Mine have worked fine through high winds, bad winters, heavy ranis, ice dams and heavy leaves.

[Brian Elfert]

When we renovated the house 8 - 10 years ago we had the top-of-line installed. After a few years, during one of the winters, we had an ice jam at one of the down spouts because it was clogged. When they removed the leaf guard there was so much debris the water couldn't get through. A company that advertised gutter cleaning also advertised "leaf guard removal". Know why he advertised lead guard removal? He said they did a lot of it. When he took me around the house he

Are these actua; Leafguard brand gutters, or something else? I checked my Leafguard gutters every few years and never found any debris in them other than a little bit of shingle granules. Leafguard also says they will clean them if they ever need it.

[Don Morris]

I don't remember the brand. I don't remember how long the guarantee was for. They did keep out leafs. But the guarantee didn't mention debris. That's what accumulated. Will Leafguard clean them if they need it for free?

[Brian Elfert]

I don't remember the brand. I don't remember how long the guarantee was for. They did keep out leafs. But the guarantee didn't mention debris. That's what accumulated. Will Leafguard clean them if they need it for free?

Yes, Leafguard says they will clean their gutters for free if they ever need it. They offer free cleaning because their gutters don't need it.

My parents spent $6,000 on Leafguard last year and I think the installation looks awful. To save a little bit of money they reused the existing downspouts since the downspouts had been replaced fairly recently. They put a fairly steep angle on the gutters to make them meet the old downspouts. My parents would have paid a few hundred extra to have new downspouts so the gutters didn't look so bad.

[Charles Wiggins]

This is what we did three years ago. Not a problem since. They're PVC, so they are more durable than standard plastic.

[Jim Laumann]

Brian

Thanks for the feedback on the Leafguard brand - this is what we are looking at getting. It will be a removal of our existing gutters/downspouts and complete replacement.

In our case, we had hail this spring which destroyed (as in bent the heck out of) our existing "leaf prevention" covers for the gutters. The existing gutters and spouts themselves are ok. The Leafguard salesman indicated the covers prevented the hail from destroying the gutters. The Leafguard gutters and spouts are much larger (based on the samples we were shown).

The Leafguard install will be spendy - $4600, but if I don't need to get the ladder out each fall, it will be worth in....as in I'm not getting any younger and am starting to not like heights.

THanks to all who responded....

Jim

[Jerome Stanek]

I used a plastic screen that bows up when installed. I have not had to clean my gutters in over 3 years since I installed them. Cost me about $20 for 200 feet after the discount and true value member card.

[Chris Padilla]

Jim,

Take some before and after pics...would love to see the change. I had new gutters put on with the new roof 5 years ago and went with whatever "gutter cover" (aluminum grid-like cover) and last year ended up removing most of them on the side of the house our enormous oak tree owns. Most of them had bent in and the gutters were full of crap and caused them to overflow during decent rainstorms. I even found a wasp nest in one corner where the cover had bent open enough for a nice ingress. I'm liking the sound of the Leafguard brand.

[Jim Laumann]

Chris

Can do. Need to call Leafguard today and tell them they got the job.

Jim