Has anyone seen Permaflow gutter guards (http://www.permaflow.com/) in action? I live in a heavily wooded area (mostly oaks) and in a house with no overhang. I’ve got screens on the gutters and they do a good job keeping the leaves out. Problem is, they seem to keep the water out, too.
I had a fellow out to install Gutter Toppers, but when he saw how wooded the area is, he refused to warranty the product.
In principle, I could just clean the gutters frequently, but two stories up on a sloping lot pretty much makes that a pipe dream.
Suggestions?
Thanks.
Replies
I had Gutter Topper installed on my house, which is loomed over by pine and leafy trees more than twice as tall as my 2 story house. Too bad your guy was scared by that because mine have worked fine (it is good for many reasons to keep all tree limbs trimed at least 10 feet from your house siding and roof, just to let the structure dry out after a rain and so on, by the way, so if that sort of thing was his concern maybe you should have some trimming done).
From my experience though, the performance of these systems that use surface tension to separate the woodsies from the water all lies in the installation.
My installer has done a careful job, and came back out to correct one or two issues that came up in heavy rain.
One idea for you: have whoever you use, if you are not sure of their capability, just do, say, the highest portions of your roof first and see how that functions for you for a year or two. Then if you are really sold on it, have them come back and do the rest of the house.
If your house shape lends itself to such a two-step installation you can get a chance to check out the product and the installer before paying for everything. The quotes that I had gotten were all by the linear foot anyway so there was little or no up-charge for the second trip out the next year (actually, my place was done in three steps due to the many roofs and shapes and outbuildings, so I had a good long time to evaluate and get sold on the whole thing).
Three years and perfectly clean gutters still, which is super because it was dangerous getting 30' up three or four times a year to clean out all that muck.
hope this helps,
Norm
I can't comment on Permaflow, but I've had Leafguard gutters on my house for about a year and a half and I'm happy with them. I have a lot of trees around the house, including a big maple and a couple elms that drop tons of seeds, and so far the gutters seem to be staying nice and clean.
The only thing I've noticed is that a small amount of debris tends to pile up on top of the gutters where they turn the corner at the base of roof valleys, but it doesn't get inside the gutter. It only takes a few seconds to wash away the debris from the ground with a garden hose, so it's no big deal.
Thanks, both of you, for your comments. At least I know that there some situations in which these style of gutter guards work.I think I'm going to try the Permaflows because they are sold to homeowners and look fairly easy to install.