Costco sells these foam things that go in the gutter. My mother in law seemed to like them. I feel your pain Bill. I remember running out in the middle of a downpour to unclog the gutter. No more.

 

I had a fir close to the last house and made up some downspout "strainers" out of "hardware cloth". They did help keep the downspouts open longer.
There are commercial types as well...

 

Our house is in the forest, completely surrounded by fir and cedar trees - a more extreme situation than most people have to deal with. Not wanting to make a clearcut around the house for years we dealt with the clogged gutters. We used to clean out the gutters and literally a week later they would be full again.

We tried the gutter screens (two different types) but with the volume of fir and cedar needles coming down, those screens would quickly load up. I researched the sponge type systems and not only do they clog up, but also they provide a good place for moss and even grass to grow. I looked at the Leaf Guard design and it made sense. After getting over the sticker shock of the cost, we decided to have them installed. Leaf Guard's motto is "Get them and forget them." Lifetime warranty which is even transferrable if you sell the house. If they ever clog up Leaf Guard will send a crew to your home to unclog them. We have had the gutters for 5 or 6 years, and even though I still go on the roof a couple of times a year to sweep off the fir and cedar needles, I have never had to clean the gutters. Very happy with them, but most people probably wouldn't need them.

 

When we lived in Texas - we dealt with the problem from oak trees ( Not the pine needles which as I understand are worse) . We did one section of our house with Leaf Guard that we had the most problem. It did work. And you have that part of the warranty - they come out to clean. Just tough getting over the price.

I looked at the Leaf Guard design and it made sense. After getting over the sticker shock of the cost, we decided to have them installed. Leaf Guard's motto is "Get them and forget them." Lifetime warranty which is even transferrable if you sell the house. If they ever clog up Leaf Guard will send a crew to your home to unclog them. We have had the gutters for 5 or 6 years, and even though I still go on the roof a couple of times a year to sweep off the fir and cedar needles, I have never had to clean the gutters. Very happy with them, but most people probably wouldn't need them.

 

I had Leafguard gutters installed on a job in Lakegrove years ago on a house that was surrounded by firs and yes, they are really expensive but they do work. My one concern with the lifetime warranty was if the company were to go out of business, but this was nearly 20 years ago and they are still at it.

The foam inserts are good also. I just installed them on a job last year. I went up on that roof recently to sweep it and clean moss off and pulled a few of the foam sections out and there was no debris under them. They are available thru Home Depot as well, but maybe only online? This client does occasionally have one spot in the gutter system that overflows in a really heavy rain which we get sometimes at the coast. I think a huge amount of water allows some to slide right over the insert and over the edge of the gutter since the foam is basically taking up the volume of the gutter and the foam can't drain fast enough to keep up, that's my theory anyway. This one bad spot is at the bottom of a valley, also. But I would still recommend them.

 

Another vote for Leafguard. They work great.

 

Bill, you could have brand new gutters installed this Spring and then instead of cleaning them, just have them torn down and all new ones put-on every year, for about 10 years, for the same price as Leaf Guard. I have been in the gutter business for 20 years and when I bid a job for $400, the Leaf Guard bid is $4000....and thats not exaggerating. None of the "hood" type products are 100% maintenance free, and all are very expensive, with very slick salesman that promise the moon. Over here in Central Oregon, we have virtually no leafy trees, and I could sell these products every day if I found one that works as advertised, and is truly worth the money. That said, I recommend folks just have the gutters cleaned twice a year, because none of these products are worth the money, in my opinion.

A product called "Micromesh" screening is as good as anything Ive seen. It still will need periodic removal and cleaning, but will prolong the maintenance interval significantly. It comes in 4' sections, and snaps in. If you arent afraid to install it yourself, it is very easy, and not worth paying someone to install. It is a "little" more economical than a hood-type system. Still not 100% effective by any means, but as good as anything I have seen, and I have tried all of them....

 

Sounds like you would have gold mine if you could develop an inexpensive "hood" system

 

My neighbor had leaf guard installed a few years ago. He told me not worth it, don't have to clean out the gutters but you do have to wash the outside of them on a regular basis otherwise the water runs off the edge onto the ground not into the gutter defeating the purpose

 

Great info gang. Thanks. I may try the micromesh and see how that works.
Direct Drive, we have those strainers in our gutters at the downspouts.

 

Gbsmallie was correct and he definitely wasn't exaggerating. I had snow damaged gutters on my house that I decided to replace. Was in Costco one day when the Leaf Guard rep was there and decided to have them give me an estimate -- $5,500 after the $750 Costco "discount". My regular gutter guy did the replacement for $350. Not exactly apples to apples because I could reuse the existing downspouts and that saved about $100. I've been building houses a long time and Leaf Guard gutters are the biggest ripoff I've encountered in residential construction.

 

Our house and shop is surrounded by trees: firs, maples, birch, etc. So a combination of large and small debris.

Before I had any gutter covers, I would have to clean the gutters about every 4-6 weeks. That's all the time it took for them to fill up with debris.

The Gutter Guards I purchased are relatively inexpensive at Home depot and come in 3 foot sections. They snap on your gutter with a hinge. Just simple galvanized expanded metal.

What I like:
1) The leaves and debris mostly slide over the expanded metal. My buildup is now much slower. And most of the buildup is on top of the expanded metal: there is always a small mound of the smaller debris piled up against the expanded metal.
2) I use a broom to clean the debris that accumulates on the edge of the expanded metal. This is way easier than crawling around on my hands and knees scooping out the gutters. So now I get up on the roof every 2-3 months and sweep off the roof in just a few minutes. No bending over, just quickly walk the roofline with a broom.
3) When I finally do have to clean out the gutters (the small debris falls through the expanded metal), the hinges make it easy to flip over the expanded metal and scoop out the gutters. I do this now once a year - instead of 5 - 6 times a year.

What I don't like:
1) Eventually enough of the really small debris falls through the expanded metal that you have to flip over the Gutter Guard and scoop out the gutters the old fashioned way - down on your hands and knees.
2) Them !$** squirrels seem to have figured out how to flip over the Gutter Guards to get at the 'good stuff' in the gutters. So I have to be vigilant and flip them back over as soon as the squirrel has done his dirty deed (flip over using a long handle - no need to get on roof)

So the Gutter Guards aren't perfect, but they sure make the cleaning easier and way less frequent. I suspect the Leaf Guards would be a better solution, but I'm too cheap. And only having to scoop out my gutters once a year has been a huge improvement.

 

the foam inserts will plug up with slime etc on the top surface...they let water pass thru horizontally but the surface will slim over sooner or later.

The light bulb screen catchers that you place into the downspout opening helps to keep downspouts clean but also creates large debris blockages if not kept clean regularly.

As said, leaf guard in the right location is an okay product....to the OP, it is not going to help in your situation and they will fill with fine particles and debris etc. Cost can be from $4K to $20K. Cleaning is by far much cheaper.
I can't tell you how many of the leaf gaurd systems I had removed with 80% of the gutter filled with fine black crap..the water just runs on top of it, but it is not doing as advertised. They do indeed plug up and as long as water flows....it is within their contract to refuse cleaning because water is still flowing.

5" K style gutter will collect more debris, but easier to clean and better flow.
The 5" is the widest point when the nail is attached thru the face with a 3" wide bottom.

6" Fascia gutter is deeper but a very narrow bottom, plugs up very quickly and a pain is the butt to clean and remove debris.
The 6" is measured in depth but is only 4.5" at the face where attached and uses a 1.75" bottom.

6" oversized K style gutter....easily cleaned massive flow and drainage. Great for barns, shops, commercial buildings. Have installed it on residential and I like the look but that would be a decision for the home owner. Never had one regret going with the over sized, especially in heave pine needle locations.
Draw back...you can't let these fill to the point of overflow with debris as the sheer volume of weight can create problems..if they ice up, the weight is massive.

If you went with 6 K over sized gutters I would suggest a solid Fascia in place to help carry the load.... they don't do very well over time installed on just rafter tails.

Some solutions..

Plastic/metal screens: good 5-10+yrs, easily maintained, installed and or replaced.

Catch screen at downspout opening and or traps installed in the bottom portion of the downspout it self.

If you have K style gutters, removing the 2x3 downspouts and outlets and replace with 3x4 outlets and downspouts. Huge water flow, rarely plug up and twice as heavy and durable than 2x3's.

Clean your gutters in Oct before freezing temps hit, clean them again in March...maintain as needed for optimum performance.

Good luck:wink:

 

Following up on my earlier post on this thread, here is a photo of our roof and the trees that surround our house (I just swept tree needles off of the roof last week):

I have read through the other posts here that slam Leaf Guard gutters. Going on six years with Leaf Guard gutters and they have never clogged. Someone posted that you have to clean the surface of the gutters or they don't work. That's news to me, ours work great and I've never cleaned the surface. And we live on the west side of the Cascades where it rains 9 months of the year and moss quickly forms on the roof.

Someone else posted how cheap it is to replace gutters. That wasn't the issue for us. When I replaced our original aluminum gutters six years ago, after 15 years they were still in perfect condition. But they constantly clogged with tree debris. As I said we tried various types of screens and they were a temporary band aid fix at best. I know people who tried the foam inserts - it was funny seeing grass sprout out of those!

Are Lead Guard gutters a rip off? Is a Mercedes Benz a rip off because it costs ten times as much as a Kia? Leaf Guard gutters were worth the extra cost to us. Man I sure don't miss having to clean out the gutters every two weeks (or at all) anymore!

 

I would love to see a pic of the inside in the middle of that run featured in the pic..... it will have sludge i bet.

I am not slamming the product, but after being in the industry daily for 15yrs I offered up an honest review of each system available today and the pros and cons of each system as I have seen them perform or lack of.

Like anything, each persons mileage is different. If you like them that's great :wink::wink::wink:

 

Waterfish, it looks like they hold up to our snow fall up here alright?

 

Once in a while we get some heavy snow here, and sometimes an ice storm will lay down thick ice on top of the snow. With traditional open gutters all of that weight being in the gutters could cause problems. It hasn't been an issue with the Leafguards.

Here on the ridge where we live we get hammered by the east winds in the fall and winter. With trees surrounding the house, after just one night of strong east winds you wouldn't believe how much fir, cedar, alder and maple debris ends up on the roof! Sometimes even mats of tree debris form and slide over the Leafguard gutters, but still they work and don't clog. I do have to sweep off the roof. The only solution to that would be to clearcut the forest around the house and that's not going to happen.

 

I have had the same moss driven problems on LeafGuard, but only on the north side of the house.

 

My house has regular old fashioned steel gutters. The house is out in the open in a large, level lawn surrounded by Alders, Willows, Spruce, etc. etc. I have screens at the downspouts. Still, I have to clean them at the downspouts frequently. My soil is very sandy and absorbent. IF I were building a house here, I would put a narrow strip of gravel and just have NO GUTTERS at all! We get an average of 120" rain annually. I hate gutters! My theory would be better yet if there were some slope to my lawn.

 

The house I moved into a couple yrs ago had the plastic screens over the most exposed(to fir needles) areas. I still have to take those off and clean them and it seems like that takes longer than just scooping out the gutter. But I do have a fairly low pitched shingle roof so its easy to get up on it and clean them. The house I Lived in back in In La. had a very steep metal roof that was 18 ft from the ground. The house was west Indies style with 4' overhang and drainge basin around perimeter to allow no gutter. If I would have to clean a gutter system that inaccessible I prob spend would spend the $ to try something.
I know the foam gets blocked with a slimy layer from all the organic debris breaking down. My point is that I think a big factor would be ease of getting to them.

 

I put new gutters on about 4 years ago. Just regular old 6" deep gutters with drains at all corners. I added cleanout screen at ground level that pass the water through and collect the leaves and seed material from my maple tree. I still have to clean my gutters 3x per year or more during heavy drop season. Late spring for flower material, Autumn for leaves.

However, most the rest of the time I'm just scooping the material out of my traps at ground level and the water keeps flowing nicely. It's kept me from having to drag the ladder out dozens of times already.

These cleanout screens are really really simple little items to put in, but I'll be darned if I could ever find a picture of one on the internet to share. If you need a pic, shoot me a PM and I'll go take one and get back to you.

Also, a lot of rainharvesting gear has the same effect of filtering out your leaves and allowing water to go to your drains through what's about a 1/32" mesh. Water flow during heavy rains actually drives the leaves out on their own, which is nice.

FWIW - I got a quote for my gutters from Leafguard. 3 straight runs and 4 corner drops. About 160 feet of gutter IIRC. Quote was for $4300. What I ended up putting in, just plain old gutters with the cleanout screens at ground level was right around $1000, and they installed them with screws and not spikes. They definitely hold better than my old one did after 30+ years of service.