I just bought a bunch of gutters. Connected to a new house. Anybody pleased with any of the gutter guard type products out there?
Throw me a bone here guys; the companies that install these things are all members of The Last Great American Scam Association. I need an alternative. FWIW, about a year ago I called Gutter Helmet to give me a quote on a different house. They said fine, BUT YOUR WIFE MUST BE THERE TOO. Huh? Yeah, we want both you and your wife for a MAJOR FINANCIAL DECISION. MFD!!!??? Its a fooking gutter guard, MFD? what are you talking about?? Go to hell!
As a contractor for many years I researched them and decided against them. There are many kinds including the grill type that snap on, screw on, etc. They are made of metal or plastic. The plastic ones degrade in the sun. Both types are prone to eventually blowing off or at least getting crooked in windy areas or because of ice dams. They themselves can cause ice-dams that back water up under the roof sheathing or under the shingles which then rots your house. Some of them require that you lift up the last row of shingles and attach them to the roof sheathing. This creates other potential problems. There are some made of foam inserts that fill the entire gutter but let the water flow through...until they rot and crumble or develop a layer of crud on top blocking the water flow. Even when new, a heavy rain is too much for them and they overflow. The only time people are sort of happy with these products is if they live in an area with low winds, and no trees. Ha, ha, then you don't really need them do you? Almost all sellers or installers claim theirs are the greatest and don't have "those problems". A lot of them also do the hard-sell if you have them come out to do a quote, "today only price", etc. A lot of installers get well over $10-$13 per linear foot installed. This can easily be thousand of dollars. Don't fall for the stories. Liars, all of 'em... You are way better of hiring an insured handyman a couple of times a year to clean your gutters. It will be cheaper than the interest and depreciation on the rapidly degrading purchase of gutter guards.
My mistake, I thought covers and guards were two different things. Was thinking of this, http://ashevillegutter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/clean_gutters.jpg Where the water rolls around the edge of the gutter cover into the gutter.
