SteveR - gutter covers?

[cj]

Hey Steve,

I was looking at some of your previous posts and saw a sentence that you installed gutter covers.  Do they really work?   DH is suspicious, and thinks they would clog up anyway.  We live around a LOT of trees, and he cleans the gutters at least a dozen times per year (leaves, and those little helicopter things that come off the maple trees).  What brand did you install, and did you do it yourself?

Thanks,
CJ

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

it depends on the type of cover and whats being dropped on them.

Generally, they work on big stuff like leaves. Not so well with small stuff.

I've done pretty well with the little wire "light bulbs" you stick in the gutter into the top of the downspout. prevents the downspouts from clogging and allows water to flow even if the gutters are jammed.

I have some plastic webbed covers I put on in the early fall, then I take them off after everything drops. Wasps like to build nests on the underside of them, sometimes leaves build up on top and back water up under the edges of the shingles (may or may not be a problem), and eventually you'll need to do some cleaning in there and have to take them off. Some are hinged for that purpose.

 

[TromboneAl]

Just Sunday I spent 30 minutes digging out pine needles from the cold water in my gutters with my bare hands.

Here's an excerpt from one article:

The real truth to the matter is that all of the gutter guard products I have tested for years at my own home fail in one way or the other. As soon as new designs become available, the manufacturers tend to discover me and ask me to test the new products. All gutter guards do stop large leaves from entering gutters, but they all allow small organic debris to enter the gutter system or this debris clogs the gutter guards causing water to cascade off the roof!. If this organic debris that does enter the gutter is not cleaned out on a regular basis, you end up with a layer of goo and muck in your gutters.

 

[Nords]

If this organic debris that does enter the gutter is not cleaned out on a regular basis, you end up with a layer of goo and muck in your gutters.

Yummy. On our roof it's composition-shingle granules mixed with palm fronds and the occasional (hopefully dead) centipede. I use a shopvac.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hmmm...seems like your favorite device is the shopvac while mine is the 20lb sledge. Probably some joke in there about sucking and pounding.

 

[SteveR]

I had some gutter guards installed last year as a cost savings measure. The cost savings was me falling off a 30 foot ladder onto concrete and breaking my neck. They seem to be working so far. It is too early to tell since it is still winter here (snowing today) so there are ice dams in the gutters right now. I will have a better idea in the Spring how well they held up and will do an inspection to see what is in the gutters.

These are not the chicken wire things you stick in the downspout or the wire mesh sections that slip on top of the gutters. These are attached to the roof above the gutter and extendfrom the roof to just over the outside edge of the gutter. They have a rounded design at the outside lip to prevent stuff from getting into the gutter while allowing water to travel over the lip and into the gutter. I talked to several guys in the area that had them installed before I had it done so confidence is high that they will keep me off a ladder for years to come.

 

[Cool Dood]

Probably some joke in there about sucking and pounding.

Hm, I wonder what that joke could be.........

 

[Brat]

We installed Guttercap 12/03.  It has done a good job keeping the gutters free of needles and Magnolia leaves (before all the gutters needed cleaning at least two times a year).  The one issue we have is that the needles leave dirt along the face of the cap which provides a medium for alge (or whatever that green stuff is) and husband hasn't figured out how to scrub it.

 

[SC]

We installed the steel mesh gutter covers last summer, after catching a clearance sale at Home Despot.

A few weeks ago I tore them off the house and threw them away. They weren't holding on to the gutter very well, and once every 4 to 8 weeks a storm would blow one of them off the house. Plus, where they rested against the roof, small bits of leaves, seeds, and other decaying muck was starting to collect and discolor the shingles.

I'm going with the leafblower + PVC pipe contraption from now on.

SC

 

[JohnP]

cj

We live in Ohio - In my last house I tried the wire bulb that fit in the top of the downspout and was disappointed with the performance - in this house we also have tall trees with large leaves close to the house and until I installed the gutter covers, I had to clean the gutters several times a year - you kinda get the hint when it is raining hard and water is gushing out of the ends of the gutter. 

Since then I've regularly checked the gutters and have found that there is no build-up of 'stuff' there.  We have basically oak, maple, sycamore, and locust trees nearby.  There are no fir trees nearby. 

I bought the cheap perforated plastic covers that were at the front door at Lowes one fall day three years ago.  We havent lost a single piece in any of the windstorms.  I believe it cost under $50 for our two-story 3200 sq ft condo.   

Like SteveR, I'm planning on keeping off the high ladders in the future as a cost saving measure.

JohnP

 

[mccl]

Like JohnP, I bought some inexpensive plastic gutter covers at Lowes.  I think they were under $2 per section (each section is about 2 feet long if I remember right) and they clip to the gutter.   They have a wire screen layer underneath a top plastic piece that has holes in it, maybe a quarter inch in diameter.  Very easy to install. 

I have a lot of trees behind my house and before installing these, the gutters filled up with leaves every year.  Friends told me that these cheap type of gutter covers would not do the job, but they've been up for 3 years and I have not had to clean a gutter since.  I have checked them a couple times to see if the wire screen is getting clogged with granules from the roof shingles, but so far, so good.

 

[SteveR]

We installed Guttercap 12/03.  It has done a good job keeping the gutters free of needles and Magnolia leaves (before all the gutters needed cleaning at least two times a year).  The one issue we have is that the needles leave dirt along the face of the cap which provides a medium for alge (or whatever that green stuff is) and husband hasn't figured out how to scrub it.

Brat,
Here the humidiy is pretty low much of the year so algae is not an issue on them. The design of these things is such that stuff just slides off and has no chance to get into the gutter. Time will tell on dust and other stuff building up but for now I am thrilled to not have to clean 350+ feet of gutter full of crap and water every fall.

 

[TromboneAl]

They have a rounded design at the outside lip to prevent stuff from getting into the gutter while allowing water to travel over the lip and into the gutter.

If you do need to clean the gutter, what do you do?  Can you fold or bend them up?

On the two-story part of our house I tied a rope around my chest as a safety line, and cleaned the gutter from the roof side, with DW holding the other end of the rope just in case I fell. Sounds kludgy, but I think it was safe (I know "Aren't you the guy who fell off he ladder last year?"). She took up the slack, so it would have been hard for me to go over the edge, and I think with the friction of the roof, she could have lowered me to the ground slowly if I fell.

I'll bet most people don't even bother with this. One neighbor has an entire garden growing in his gutters.

 

[Brat]

Brat,
Here the humidiy is pretty low much of the year so algae is not an issue on them.  The design of these things is such that stuff just slides off and has no chance to get into the gutter.  Time will tell on dust and other stuff building up but for now I am thrilled to not have to clean 350+ feet of gutter full of crap and water every fall.   

Couldn't agree more.  A slide off the roof on one side of the house could easily result in a free fall down to a high bank with risk of ending up in a thicket of poison oak.  We installed roofer's tie-downs to prevent an accident but I never want to find him dangling on a rope.

Leaves and needles slide on over the gutter, surface tension pulls the water into the gutter.  Works great.  

We haven't needed to clean the gutter.  If we needed clean out muck I predict that my husband would create a goose-necked attachment to the hose to sluse down grit (Rube Goldberg and he must have attended the same design school).  We have had several episodes of heavy rain this year, nature may have done the job for us.

Any home near a body of water, particularly one with trees nearby, will have algae (or moss) on surfaces not treated by a retardant.  Look at the specs of exterior paints, most have an algae retardant.  The retardant doesn't work forever, however.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

she could have lowered me to the ground slowly if I fell.

"*sniff sniff* He SAID it was safe but I couldnt hold him. And now he's gone. *sniff sniff* Now where did he keep that will..."

I'll bet most people don't even bother with this. One neighbor has an entire garden growing in his gutters.

Wont they be surprised when they find out that water has backed up in behind the soffit and or siding and started some nice rot in the walls, or the water thats been dumping next to the foundation has caused a shift, cracking, or drawn in termites. A good save of a little time or money every year.

When I watch that show "house detectives" where people buy homes without inspections and THEN want to find out what they've bought (aka "morons"), almost always they turn up problems related to missing, insufficient, blocked or undiverted gutters, then they fix the problem. One guy had an innovative way to solve a house that was 'sitting in a hole' and taking too much water around the foundation...At each downspout location, they cut a small hole into the house, routed the end of the downspout into the crawlspace, and connected them to the city sewer system.

 

[Brat]

... One guy had an innovative way to solve a house that was 'sitting in a hole' and taking too much water around the foundation...At each downspout location, they cut a small hole into the house, routed the end of the downspout into the crawlspace, and connected them to the city sewer system.

I bet he wished that hadn't been shown!!!  Storm water in a sewer line is a big NO NO!!!  That means that the sewer plant treats storm water, not only increasing the volume, decreasing it's overall capacity, but altering the biological process that treats sewage.   It could be masked in a system with a lot of storm water leakage into the lines, in our district plant we could quickly ID the culprit.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It might have been a storm sewer connection, I saw the show some time ago. Although in some areas of the country it was SOP to hook up to the regular sewer if a storm sewer was unavailable. Given that i'm not familiar with building codes in all areas of all 50 states, perhaps its still legal in some areas.

 

[Outtahere]

I was wondering if anyone has had time to figure out which of these guards really works. I just helped Dad clean out my gutter that was clogged. in the pouring rain and we're expecting 4+ more inches over night. Any one have any luck with any of the products?

 

[larry]

I installed those plastic gutter guards from Home Depot last summer and have had no problems so far. Perhaps it's too early for me to make a conclusion but as of now they appear to be working well.

 

[thefed]

cj

We live in Ohio - In my last house I tried the wire bulb that fit in the top of the downspout and was disappointed with the performance - in this house we also have tall trees with large leaves close to the house and until I installed the gutter covers, I had to clean the gutters several times a year - you kinda get the hint when it is raining hard and water is gushing out of the ends of the gutter.

Since then I've regularly checked the gutters and have found that there is no build-up of 'stuff' there. We have basically oak, maple, sycamore, and locust trees nearby. There are no fir trees nearby.

I bought the cheap perforated plastic covers that were at the front door at Lowes one fall day three years ago. We havent lost a single piece in any of the windstorms. I believe it cost under $50 for our two-story 3200 sq ft condo.

Like SteveR, I'm planning on keeping off the high ladders in the future as a cost saving measure.

JohnP

wtf do you need to take care of gutters for on a condo? i always thought the idea of a condo was no outside maintainence....

 

[Brat]

We installed Gutter Guard a couple years ago. Works great for both leaves and needles.

 

[SteveR]

Ok,
Finally got up the guts to climb a ladder to check the gutters in the back of the house. They were always the worst at filling up with tree junk from the choke cherry trees next to and over that part of the house. Those d@mn trees shed junk all year 'round so the gutters fill up even in the summer. The results are in....no junk! There is a tad bit of gunk but that is from the dust in the air and a good rain will take care of that. Nothing on the roof; no leaves or sticks backed up and no gutters are clogged.

The only bad thing was a couple of the covers got dented over the winter due to large ice chunks that fell on them from the second story. I will need to get some heater cable on the dormers to take care of that before next winter.

BTW these are called Gutter Helmets. Expensive but worth it it I don't have to go up on a 26 foot ladder to clean 350 feet of gutters again.

Not climbing a 26 foot ladder to clean ick crap out of 350 feet of second and third story gutters......$5000

Not breaking my neck by falling off the ladder............priceless!

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Steve et al,

I know this will sound odd, but after many houses in many climates I found that the best thing to do is just remove the gutters. As in take'em down and paint the soffits.

Then you put lava rock or simlar along the base of the house to deflect the cascading water (the bushes hide it). Make an exception for a few feet of gutter over the entry ways only so guests don't get drenched.

No build-up, no cleaning, no rot behind wet gutters, no erosion thanks to the lava rock (gotta rake it back in place once in a while). No leaves. No splashback into the windows. We have about a 2 foot overhand from the eaves of the roof, and I am not sure how well this would work if you didn't have overhang.

Works for us.

 

[SteveR]

Steve et al,

I know this will sound odd, but after many houses in many climates I found that the best thing to do is just remove the gutters. As in take'em down and paint the soffits.

Then you put lava rock or simlar along the base of the house to deflect the cascading water (the bushes hide it). Make an exception for a few feet of gutter over the entry ways only so guests don't get drenched.

No build-up, no cleaning, no rot behind wet gutters, no erosion thanks to the lava rock (gotta rake it back in place once in a while). No leaves. No splashback into the windows. We have about a 2 foot overhand from the eaves of the roof, and I am not sure how well this would work if you didn't have overhang.

Works for us.

Would not work at my house due to location of doors, garage, widowwells etc. Also, I am not crazy about the lava rock look. We are in a very hot climate and all that rock around the house would heat up the walls even more. Nothing like some nice tall bushes and trees to block the sun to help keep the south and west walls from turning into hot griddles in the late afternoon.

Some houses here don't have gutters but they also have foundation problems because the water from the run off stays too close to the wall and goes under the foundation causing damage. Gutters direct water away from the foundation and help keep the gound from getting too saturated and soggy which allows the foundation to sink and the walls to crack...not to mention flood the basement.

I will stick with my gutters since I am already the low spot in the area at the base of a very steep cliff behind the house. Water is not my friend.

 

[Outtahere]

The lava rock wouldn't work for me either, the reason we put up gutters was because of water running into the cellar. We have an old stone foundation and no matter what we do we can't plug the leak, the gutters solved that problem. I need to get something to either clean them with in the fall or some kind of leaf guard. Thankfully it's only a one story house so climbing the ladder is not big deal.