Gutters!

[riptides]

We all have them, they work well, sometimes....

So it is that time of year for me again. My gutters are really nothing more than leaf catchers this time of year. I really do not like ladders and getting up two stories is getting to be no fun.

I do have a good drainage system around the entire house, and the system does drain to daylight quite well. In addition I have two sump pumps on either end of the house, and the house just has a crawl space. No basement. When we remodeled, parts of the original house, old farm house, did NOT have gutters.

When the new roof went on, so did all the new gutters. After 10 years, I am rethinking - gutters....


So do I really need them? What really makes the call these days for gutters?

 

[mpham]

I just removed mine. Was cleaning out the leaves and noticed the boards behind the gutter are all rotting away.



Had to strip it down to the rafters. Never again. I will live with the drips and ice on the walk.

 

[k0ua]

We all have them, they work well, sometimes....

So it is that time of year for me again. My gutters are really nothing more than leaf catchers this time of year. I really do not like ladders and getting up two stories is getting to be no fun.

I do have a good drainage system around the entire house, and the system does drain to daylight quite well. In addition I have two sump pumps on either end of the house, and the house just has a crawl space. No basement. When we remodeled, parts of the original house, old farm house, did NOT have gutters.

When the new roof went on, so did all the new gutters. After 10 years, I am rethinking - gutters....


So do I really need them? What really makes the call these days for gutters?

Why doesn't everyone get Gutta Gard? I really don't understand it. I got the roofers to install my GuttaGard about 8 years ago, and I haven't cleaned a gutter since. And I have lots of deciduous trees near the house. Gutta Gard is a do it yourself retrofit to your existing gutters. It is not expensive and does not take very long to install.

eGutter ｮ - High Quality Gutter Guards In Copper, Aluminum, Galvanized Steel, And PVC Shipped Direct To You.


Gutta Gard

 

[Gunny]

I use gutter brush

The back porch gutter used to fill up with leaves and had to be cleaned out three times a year or they would clog, the others had to be cleaned once a year.

I put gutter brushes all around the house for less than $300 and haven't had to clean any gutters since.

 

[KennyG]

I've always had good luck with the simple screened gutter covers you can get at any big box store. However, the way my pole barn gutters are installed I can't get the covers under the roof edge. So I've gone to the foam inserts. They do a great job of keeping the leaves out. However, they catch dirt and let weeds sprout. I don't have to clean the leaves but now I have to "weed" the gutters every year.

 

[EddieWalker]

I also have had very good results with the screens sold at Home Depot and Lowes. They slide in under the shingle and snap into place, it just takes a minute to install each 3 foot section and they are only a couple bucks each. Gutters do a great job at cutting down on water damage to the base of the house. Especially if you have a valley that concentrates the water running off of the roof. The screens have openings big enough to allow all the water to get through them, but not the leaves or branches. I've seen too many fancy gutter guards that have holes in them so small that water puddles up on top of them and then gets in under the shingles and into the soffits. They are expensive, and the damage they cause is even more expensive!!!!

If you are up there cleaning them out, it just adds a little time to install the screens. Once you install the screens, you wont have to clean them out ever again

 

[Bird]

I use one of these Orbit Telescoping Wand with Gutter Cleaner, and in fact used it this morning. I've had it for several years and made my own fittings or adapters so I can use it with water, as recommended, or with compressed air, as I did this morning. But of course I have a single story house with hip roof, so I don't have to reach very high.

Shop Orbit Telescoping Wand with Gutter Cleaner at Lowes.com

 

[turnkey4099]

I stiffened my resolve about an hour ago, located the ladder, the special gutter spatula I made that just fit the gutters. Up the ladder and found a clean gutter, checked all three and every one was cleaner than I could have got them. Always in the past it was a case of digging out gutters half filled with leaf mold, mud and what have you.

Only thing that has changed was that I removed a White Birch tree I had planted to close t the house. did that year before last. due to medical problems I didn't check them last year. Pleasant surprise and it appears I'll never have to do it again.

Harry K

 

[jack707]

Yeah I have to clean them! I have plants growing in there! - but so many other things to do.

 

[riptides]

I might also mention, I have a metal roof, with snow guards.

How do these gutter guard systems work with metal?

The silver maples that lay in wait, ready to drop their helicopter seeds and leaves that crumple are my worries. I really don't see even with gutter screens, NOT cleaning them. I would think the maples end product material is fine enough to clog.

Opinions on no gutters seem to not be an option for most? Hmm.....

 

[JerryK]

I have a special system where I place a 8' step ladder under the eave... then climb up and wire a 5 gallon bucket near the top of the ladder. The operator, wearing rubber gloves, scoops the leaves out of the gutter and places them into the bucket. He then notes about how far down the next pile of leaves is located along the length of the gutter, climbs down, then moves the ladder down to this new position. The operator repeats the process as many times as needed. The operator also gets to exercise many muscle groups... keeping him in shape for the winter. When he is doing about the same process of ladder moving whilst trying to move in waist deep snow, clearing the gutters of ice and shoveling the snow off the roof. Sometimes the pile of snow beneath the eaves gets so high he does not need the ladder anymore, and is about belly button high to the top of the gutter just standing on the snow bank. He seems to complain more in the winter for some reason though .....

 

[k0ua]

The ones I posted are not screens. They cover the entire gutter with a sheet of solid metal. The leaves and seeds fall on the roof. The wind and gravity move them downhill. They go over the top of the gutter and fall on the ground. These guards have a rounded frontal edge. Water comes off down the roof and follows the rounded edge and goes backwards and down into the gutter system. Solid debris does not do this. There is nothing to clog up, because the cover over the gutter is solid.

 

[Rustyferrious]

The ones I posted are not screens. They cover the entire gutter with a sheet of solid metal. The leaves and seeds fall on the roof. The wind and gravity move them downhill. They go over the top of the gutter and fall on the ground. These guards have a rounded frontal edge. Water comes off down the roof and follows the rounded edge and goes backwards and down into the gutter system. Solid debris does not do this. There is nothing to clog up, because the cover over the gutter is solid.

That is a great tip. I have the screen type guards, and they do work, but the solid metal ones are better I think for the long term. before I installed the screens, I had gotten a quote to have those metal ones installed, and it was over $2500 for our house and garage, roughly 200 lineal feet. Wish I would have known they were available back then!

 

[k0ua]

That is a great tip. I have the screen type guards, and they do work, but the solid metal ones are better I think for the long term. before I installed the screens, I had gotten a quote to have those metal ones installed, and it was over $2500 for our house and garage, roughly 200 lineal feet. Wish I would have known they were available back then!

I spent about $300 for about 230 lineal feet. I didn't pay anything for the installation. The hispanic roofing crew that was doing the roofing job did it in less than 1/2 an hour and did not charge anything past the quoted shingled price.

 

[prichard]

Why doesn't everyone get Gutta Gard? I really don't understand it. I got the roofers to install my GuttaGard about 8 years ago, and I haven't cleaned a gutter since. And I have lots of deciduous trees near the house. Gutta Gard is a do it yourself retrofit to your existing gutters. It is not expensive and does not take very long to install.

eGutter ｮ - High Quality Gutter Guards In Copper, Aluminum, Galvanized Steel, And PVC Shipped Direct To You.

Gutta Gard

Did you buy from egutter? What was shipping like? Don't think ups is hauling 20'. There doesn't seem to be shipping calculator on their site. I hate having to go through checkout to find shipping cost.

Nm, found it.
"Our base shipping rate for a 10-foot crate to commercial address is $156. *For residential add $49. *For 20-foot crate add $39. Crating is onetime charge. *$50 for 10-foot crate or $88 for a 20-foot crate. *Quotes limited to 325 pounds.*


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using TractorByNet

 

[k0ua]

Did you buy from egutter? What was shipping like? Don't think ups is hauling 20'. There doesn't seem to be shipping calculator on their site. I hate having to go through checkout to find shipping cost.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using TractorByNet

It was elko gutter guard, and I think I bought it from a lumber yard near Kimberling city. I believe they were the nearest dealer. the pieces are not 20 foot long, each panel is 4 foot long, and there are 5 panels in each standard box. hence 20 foot boxes..But not 20 foot long. This has been many years ago, but I think I called Elko to find the nearest dealer. It seems they didn't have any, but had to have it shipped in for me. But I can't be sure, it is just what I remember. In any case I was pleased with the price, and I am very pleased with the product. Some of the clips have fallen into the gutter over the years, but the stuff does not move under the shingles, so it doesn't seem to need all of them anyway. IT is without a doubt the best home improvement money I have ever spend, because my gutters were a mess in the spring and the fall, from the pollen flowers from the trees, and the dang leaves.. from the deciduous trees and the ceders. Just a constant problem. Not any more.

 

[Deere Dude]

My 2 story gutters were constantly full of leaves etc. and when it would raid water would run over the whole stretch, on certain sections. My fix was to hammer the end caps off. Of course then I put a flat paver under that for the water flow. That is not as cool as a gutter helmet or screens, but I had trouble will all of those at times..

 

[Sawyer Rob]

We clean ours 1 or 2 times a year and it goes VERY fast,

In fact my better half and I, cleaned them today... (the pict. is NOT from today)

SR

 

[riptides]

We clean ours 1 or 2 times a year and it goes VERY fast,

In fact my better half and I, cleaned them today... (the pict. is NOT from today)

SR

Sheesh, good use of tractor time. I don't think my wife will let me get that close to our house.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I use to round up anyone who was "handy" to get in the apple box, but these days, my wife climbs in the box and I just drive slooow along the eve while she cleans the gutters...

I did install a hydraulic lock on the loader arm circuit, so as I drive, the loader arms are locked into position.

SR