New Eavestrough with gutter helmet/keep out the leaves?

[tbrooks26]

My experience with any gutter protectors is that they will never let the gutters keep up with a hard rain. No matter what, your gutters will be less efficient with them installed than without. Heck, even the gutters can't keep up when it's pouring really bad.

I have just resigned myself to keeping the gutters clean from leaves and preserving the biggest opening I can for the runoff. In reality I clean them 4-5 times in the fall and that's about it. I've been looking at those leaf blower extensions so I can do it from the ground instead of a ladder. Even with the ladder, I can get around the entire house in 30 minutes or so.

The key is to do it often. Don't let that crap get wet and packed in their where it turns into a muck. That is a miserable job. Leaves that haven't started decomposing are easy to clean out.

I'm with you there. In the NC mtns, lots of rain, and lots of different kinds of leaves. I havent dealt much with the helmet style gaurds, but all the others, that have holes or screens are useless here. We had a condo complex that had a similar style to those leafree, and they were terrible for getting clogged with needles, and letting them into the gutter. It seems there is no gaurd that can handle the flow from a valley. Most of the time around here, the gutter guys add a splash guard and sometimes just put mesh in the corner to allow more flow. That either clogs quicker, or lets debris in. I found most houses we take care of, at best we get 3-4 years before having to take off the guards to clean the gutter, or we still have to seasonally clean the gutter guard off. Pine needles wreak havoc, and just get stuck everywhere around here.