Gutter Guards?

[Wade Lippman]

Are there any that work? (not from what I have googled, but maybe I missed something). If so, what might they cost for 500 feet installed.

I just bought a house for 4x the price of my old house. Naturally I expected everything to be perfect. He installed the darned gutter guards wrong. They are supposed to go under the shingles and against the far side of the gutter; he had them all arched to fit in the gutter. The crud filled in the recess between the roof and the arch, and the weight caused it to collapse. Arrgghh. Of course, according to the reviews at Lowes.com, when installed properly they keep crud out of the gutters, but cause the rain to run off also. So the right way isn't much better. I am trying to tell myself he installed it like he did to prevent rain run off, rather than because he is a moron. But I digress.

[Brian Tymchak]

I'm having my second story gutters fitted with Leaf Relief guards next week. This system does not need to be fitted under the shingles (which I liked). They claim to be able to handle up to 29.7" rain per hour. My job was estimated at $700 (installed) for what I will estimate as about 120' of guard. Plus they will clean all gutters and downspouts (which I need..) before installing.

any that work?? -- I can't say. This is my first experience with gutter guards.

[John M Wilson]

I have had the BORG style gutter guards (a plastic lattice that slips under the last row of shingles and attaches to the lip of the gutter) for many, many years. They are good (better than nothing) but far from perfect. They do keep the majority of the leaves and maple "helicopters" from completely filling my gutters. (My house is surrounded by trees).

One flaw: they do allow small debris to go through the lattice and into the gutter. This will eventually build up into piles of very fine "mulch" which will occasionally clog up the entrance to the downspout. One of my projects this summer was to replace some of my 2"x 3" downspout outlets with 3" x 4" downspouts, to see if I can avoid clogs. We'll see if that works out.

I have noticed that the BORGs now sell a similar lattice product, but with a very fine nylon mesh filling the holes of the lattice. This would probably keep the majority of the smaller bits from getting into the gutter proper, but I'm not sure if it would restrict rainwater from getting in as well.

My bottom line for the plastic lattice type: better than nothing, been working for decades, still have to get up on the ladder and clear an occasional clog.

[Myk Rian]

I have had the BORG style gutter guards (a plastic lattice that slips under the last row of shingles and attaches to the lip of the gutter) for many, many years. They are good (better than nothing) but far from perfect. They do keep the majority of the leaves and maple "helicopters" from completely filling my gutters. (My house is surrounded by trees).
I had those, but those darned maple seeds get caught in the grid, and stick straight up. Then you have to remove them to clean the gutters.
They do make them with a screen on the top, but I haven't tried them yet. They don't seem like they're made well enough for the screens to stay in place.

[Bruce Page]

Wade, there might be some good info for you in this recent post:
Gutter guards. Good or bad idea? (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?203572-Gutter-guards-Good-or-bad-idea)

[Dom Garafalo]

Fwiw, the guy who installed my gutters recently, who has been installing them for 30 years, said he has never found any that work really well. My house is surrounded by a lot of tall pine trees and he said the pine needles will clog the gutter guards and didn't recommend them. Instead, he suggested and installed commercial sized downspouts that carry much more water as well as leaves and help prevent clogging. In three years, I've only had to clear one clog which was a result a small pieces of branches falling on the roof and accumulating where the downspout attaches to the gutter and that was after two days of nasty wind and thunderstorms.