Gutter Guards

[Marcel R. Cyr]

I had an email conversation with Tim Carter of "Ask the Builder" which I did, on gutter guards and he was kind enough to elaborate on some different types that he has experimented with.

It seems that gutter guards made of a foamy mesh are not all what they are shown to be per his experiments.

Here is a copy of his response.

I would like to thank Tim Carter for contributing information to this subject so all of us can keep in mind while inspecting some residences that are equiped with some sort of gutter guard.

Some different Gutter guards might not perform as expected and should be noted to be adequate and functioning or not functioning and in need of repairs or maintenance.


----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Carter - AsktheBuilder.com
To: MARCEL CYR
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 10:36 AM
Subject: Re: Forum Post


Marcel,

Thanks for reaching out. Over the past three to four years I tested several of the foam gutter guards. All of them failed my test. To pass my test a gutter guard had to be free of clogs of any organic debris and not allow any debris into the gutter.

The small voids and holes in the foam products got clogged with roof granules from asphalt shingles as well as small pieces of organic debris.

Perhaps the bigger problem with the foam products is ultraviolet degradation. I discovered over the years that many of the plastic gutter guards became brittle with exposure to the sun. You can put UV stabilizers in plastic with relative ease, but I wonder how the foam products do over a period of years with direct exposure to the sun. I didn't bother testing for this myself as I removed the products once I saw they had already failed.

I've had the best luck so far with gutter guards that are solid metal and have the stainless-steel micromesh. These products don't clog, they don't allow anything but water into the gutter and they are immune to UV degradation.

Tim Carter
Founder - AsktheBuilder.com

Marcel

[Carl Brown]

What about this ONE ?

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by cbrown1

What about this ONE ?

That is the one I asked him about.

Marcel