Leafguard gutters

[Jim Laumann]

We are looking in to getting Leafguard gutters.

Any one have anything to say about them, good or bad?

Thanks

Jim

[Shawn Siegrist]

Stay away from the plastic covers, they break down fairly quickly.

Check out leaf relief gutter guards, they are aluminium and have a lip to seal against your fascia board.

I've used them for my house and on jobs, never a call back or problem.

[Mark Bolton]

Weve been installing a segmented version of a gutter guard like that and they work unbelievably well. There are a couple of franchised gutter guard companies around here and they are much nicer in the long/seamless options but the times we've done them they are an aftermarket option that is very similar in design but comes in shorter lengths.

Most customers simply wont believe the guards will carry the water around the bend into the gutter but they are pretty impressive to watch in a heavy rain.

Pricey but by far the best option out there in my opinion. I would never install any top entry gutter guard again unless it was absolutely demanded by the customer.

[Mark Bolton]

Its only my experience, but personally any top entry gutter guard is a waste of time. In short order there are leaves standing up in the guard because the stems go through the holes/slits and then they hang there until they dry and blow away or rot off.

The surface tension options are very expensive (though not compared to leaf relief) but they are unbelievable in thier performance if they are installed properly.

[Prashun Patel]

I have GutterTopper. It works very well. Make sure if you have a pitched roof that your gutters are sized properly. A couple of mine are too narrow. Now that the Topper's on, I'm reluctant to get it resized. My point is, like getting solar panels, make sure your underneath is in good shape before installing on top.

[John McClanahan]

Years ago, my Mother had the plastic type installed on a shallow pitched roof. They weren't installed correctly and allowed water under the roofing. I pulled them off and threw them away.

A couple of years ago a friend had the expanded aluminum type installed on a steep pitched roof. During heavy rains, the water would skim over the gutter guard and run over the edge of the gutter. I recommended having a slight dip bent into the gutter guard to help catch the water. I don't know what ever became of it, as I haven't heard of any more problems.


John

[Tom M King]

If one type has an easy option for cleaning the gutter out underneath it, I'd go with that one. Unfortunately, the only experience I've had with them is maybe a hundred thousand dollars of repair work we've done over the years since they came out with them, because the little stuff that was allowed in composted, clogged the gutter, and ran over the back.

[Mark Bolton]

I have opened the gutters several times that have surface tension style (leafguard/gutterhelmet/and so on) and I have never once seen any fine debris accumulated under the covers. On the flip side I have seen the issues mentioned here where water skims over or gets under the shingles.

A lot of it has to do with properly installed gutters in the first place and I can imagine the commercial installers have a clause in their contract that protects them if your gutters have a sag or are not on the level or pitched to the downspouts (We never pitch gutters barely at all anyway).

Any gutter guard system that requires you to have access so you can clean them out is pretty much useless anyway. If the gutter is hung in good shape they should clear themselves of all the fines that make it into the gutter.

[Mark Bolton]

Years ago, my Mother had the plastic type installed on a shallow pitched roof. They weren't installed correctly and allowed water under the roofing. I pulled them off and threw them away.

A couple of years ago a friend had the expanded aluminum type installed on a steep pitched roof. During heavy rains, the water would skim over the gutter guard and run over the edge of the gutter. I recommended having a slight dip bent into the gutter guard to help catch the water. I don't know what ever became of it, as I haven't heard of any more problems.


John

The expanded aluminum leaf screens should simply be outlawed (if possible) in my opinion. They are utterly useless.

[Rich Engelhardt]

+1 for Gutter Topper.
We've had them for over 20 years now w/out any problems at all.

We did have some clogging within the first five years or so and had the installer come back to clean out the cutters @ N/C to us.
Since then though - no problems - they just work.

[Tom M King]

I think a lot of it depends on what types of trees you have overhanging the roof, or close enough to get stuff blown on the roof. Oak tree leaves are not much of a problem, but I've never seen any kind of gutter guard that will shed the stamen, or "tassles". Large hardwood trees put out a LOT of this stuff, and it does not get washed out of the gutter.

Here's a picture of one we repaired last Fall. I forget how much it cost to repair the house, but the two non-standard columns that had to be replaced were a couple of grand each. The problem was that the gutters had not been cleaned out since the gutter guards were applied some years back, and the company had since gone out of business. This was not the owners primary residence, so they didn't catch the damage until it was way too late. Some of the hundred plus year old moldings were made on the sidewalk with Hollow and Round molding planes-which ended up drawing a small crowd.

The gutters on our house don't even have downspouts. I have a large angled rock (as in hundreds of pounds that had to me moved with the loader) under each wide open end. Stuff will build up in them, but when we have a large enough rain, it just gets flushed out.

[Ole Anderson]

I have the Gutter Helmet system on my gutters and they work very well for leaves, but looking at the Leafguard system, I would prefer that as it doesn't slip under the shingle. Don't know the price differential, but the GH is quite expensive, at least when I got it in 2006. The water can carry granules and other small junk like "cotton" around the "nose" of the device, but it does shed leaves, including most of the small Locust leaves I have on one side of my house. My problem is that the original install was done incorrectly and they screwed them through the shingles. As a result, I was getting some water behind the fascia boards. Due to a hail storm I am getting my roof replaced and prior to them doing the roofing I replaced my cedar fascia boards, and some sub-fascia 2x4's and some RS soffit plywood due to rot, I believe partially due to the improper Gutter Helmet installation. They do have a lifetime warranty, but to continue the warranty including gutter cleaning if ever necessary, I have to pay them to remove and reinstall (correctly this time) when re-roofing.

[Mel Fulks]

The leaf guard is four times the price of a standard no top gutter. One downside of them is, unlike standard gutters, they
make no attempt to look like crown mould,so I don't think they look right on "colonial" or traditional house. I'm having work done on my house now and have decided to buy standard gutters and add the Costco gutter sponges.

[Jim Matthews]

Three years ago I installed Gutter Glove covers, which are an extruded aluminum panel with a stainless steel mesh overlay.

We have large pine trees nearby that once choked the gutters, on our Saltbox roof (single story front, two story rear).
I have not needed to clean the gutters since. No runoff problems, either.

I went to the trouble of attaching them with self-tapping screws.
I'm in Coastal Massachusetts, and the wind can strip them off.

[Larry Frank]

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.