Ours have largish holes which are then covered with a mesh. The holes provide water access to the mesh while keeping leaves out and the mesh keeps out the maple seeds and flowers/buds. I suppose some adventurous seeds might find their way in but I’d also expect them to get washed out by the water flow during a rain.
Should the gutters actually need cleaning, you can always unclip the guards. Mine are the cheap ones and I hear that they eventually become brittle from UV exposure and might not go back on without breaking. If so, they were inexpensive and replacing them will be a minor hassle compared to gutters clogged with debris that turn into silver maple Chia Pets after seed season.
According to the sales guy, their system is designed so that leaves, helicopters, and all other debris is washed off the helmet while the water sheets around the bend due to surface tension and deposits in the gutter. This is specifically the “Gutter Helmet” brand. And he said if there’s ever a clog or a problem, they come out and deal with it - part of the lifetime guarantee. I watched the promotional video where they showed water sprayed from a fire hose on the roof being sheeted away, but there was no debris, so I can’t say that I’ve seen that part work.
I’m an engineer and I had to take a class in fluid dynamics (30+ years ago, so I don’t remember everything) and nothing in the pitch or the literature set off my BS detector. I know that’s not a ringing endorsement, but it was enough to make me consider the product. The main reason he lost the sale is that we’re retired and taking $4K out of the bank just to keep our gutters clean isn’t a wise move.
We should. There’s a huge oak tree next to (and over) the house, and at no point in the year is it not shedding something or other all over the house and yard. Catkins, acorns, berries, leaves, weak branches, it’s never freakin’ ending with that goddamn thing.
You mentioned having seventy feet of straight gutters front and back, so if my math is correct, that comes to about $28 per linear foot. That’s very expensive sheet metal.
During heavy rain, water sheets over the top in torrents, leading to water infiltration into the cellar. This is a fearsome event because I know that in the morning I will vacuum gallons of water from the cellar. A “normal” rainfall is not a problem. So, I have to choose between cleaning the gutters and cleaning up the water. I am looking for a solution so I don’t have to do either. Maybe a different brand of gutter protection will work. Any ideas? Fortunato from South Jersey.
Interesting that this thread should show up today - we had our second gutter cleaning yesterday, so $210 out of pocket for the year. And as a bonus, they cleared the leaves off the deck and off the roof just to be nice! I was planning to clear the deck myself this weekend, so yay!
Anyway, at $200-ish per year (and I expect it’ll go up along the way) we’re looking at 20 years before we hit the $4K that was quoted - I seriously doubt we’ll be in this house 20 years from now, but even if we are, I doubt that the helmets are guaranteed for that long. I think we made the right choice for us in this case.
The force of the shop vac blowing gave quite and upper body workout; but I was able to do it when I wanted as opposed to when the Fall cleanup guy was available. I did it twice: after all the maple leaves dropped and again after the oaks dropped.
My house is one level so the two tubes that came with the vac and the two from the kit were enough.
When I was considering some type of gutter protection I found some inserts that fit in the gutters the look like “huge mascara brushes”.:eek:
This thread was helpful to me this past fall. I turned down the gutter helmets and, for a quarter of the price, got new larger gutters installed, with screens on top. So far so good.
I got flip up screens in sections. Did a few runs at first, eventually everything got covered.
We have a lot of big trees and ergo a lot of leaves. Take what most people consider a lot and go up a magnitude.
The stuff they used to show on This Old House and such wouldn’t work. In one show you could actually see in a demo a leaf slide around the rim and into the gutter! How do you get the leaves out of those? Plus the deluges we get would overrun, especially with leaves nestled in at the edge of the gutter and roof.
Reasonably happy with my setup, although pine needles are still a bit of a problem (but a lot better than without).
