Gutterstuff gutter guards-anyone use them?

As much as I love cleaning gutters, I'm thinking about getting some of these things. Looks like a pretty good design.



Anyone have any experience with them? Do they work well? Worth it?

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2721827

 

Poop!

All the sponge holes will get filled with debris and if your in a winter climate they will freeze solid and rip your gutters off from the shear weight.

I use these with no issues






Dick!

 

I wouldn't put them on my house. I'd get something like B... I mean XXXX showed.

 

Scott, Will check back on this as mom in law has 4 big oaks around her house so every time I go there guess what I do.. Thanks Jim ( AKA, THE FLA.DICK)

 

No freezing/ice/snow loading issues here.

Aren't the metal leaf guard ones integrated with the main gutter, or can you add them on after? Also, don't they still allow lots of small blown debris in? Small leaves, flying seed pods? Which still need to be cleaned out at some point? And f'ing expensive?

Also, I believe I saw a video of those in which you could watch leaves get pulled around an into the gutter by water...but maybe that was a slightly differnet brand. Dunno, I wasn't convinced.

Thanks Jim.

 

Nope they can be added on later.

I wouldn't say "lots" of debris, but the small stuff does get in there. You have seen my lawn and I have leaves and pine needles covering 100% of it. I remove one grate per run and spray them out once a year. Yes, they are expensive, but worth it to me.

The major saving grace for me is that they don't fill with ice/snow and rip off the house in winter and I don't have to clean them by hand.

The ones you show, stop short of the top of the gutter so debris will be laying on top. I think the sponge ones will need to be totally removed to be cleaned out. Not sure, but that's what I'm thinking.

 

I'll echo what he said. They are expensive, they can be added on later and they are worth it. The small debris that does make it through can be hosed out as long as it doesn't collect for years and gum up. Also, I agree with the statement about the sponges sitting too low. I can see a bunch of say pine needles sitting on top of those and then those will catch leaves, dirt, etc and you'll end up having to remove all the foam to get the debris off the top and also hosing the foam itself to get the fine particles out. Over time I can see the foam getting choked out by dirt so water can no longer easily pass through. Might work if you put them on at the beginning of fall just for the heavy leaf falling but even then it's a stretch in my opinion.

 

You can also get a perforated aluminum screen that will apply directly to the top of your existing gutters

 

Hmmm. Good points to consider. Fortunately, I don't have needles to contend with, either. I can see how needles could turn these foam things into porcupines if the end got stuck in the foam. I have mainly huge sycamore leaves that would be blown off if resting on top. But then there are all the flying seedpods and crap in the spring too.

Seems that with the open channel at the bottom, one section of foam could be removed and then the whole channel blown out with water as Boyd does with his. Or just spray them hard from above once evey 3 or 4 years to blast fines down into the channel and wash them out.

My thought was to test them on a short run of gutter at the front of the house where the Sycamores drop a lot and see how they perform before deciding on full install.

 

Yeah, I've seen those, too, but for the stuff around my house, it seemed they would still let a lot of crap through and not be as easy to remove when necessary or fit as tightly (seams between sections). Or maybe I am imagining a different product. I'll have to take a closer look at what is available.

 

Oh, maybe you mean like these? I was thinking expanded, not perforated. These look better:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3909677

 

That stuff works good

 

well

 

those work good
used em on our house because we used to have several macadamia nut trees close to the house...

 

gooud (OZ always seems to throw random 'U's in words, he must have forgotten this time)

 

OUZ-T

 

BLOUW MUE