OK, get a ladder and get up and clean them out by hand.. or suffer the consquences..
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I installed Gotter Topper several years ago because my gutters would clog completely full three times a year (huge, overhanging, mature pine and leafy trees). It has been totally worth the investment.
I went with Gutter Topper because it was a retrofit type (as I recall, Gutter Helmet required replacement of all gutters and mine were just fine, aside from the huge quantity of leaves/needles/seeds that kept clogging them up), so it was much less expensive.
The alternative is cleaning them all out at least 3 times / year.
Hope this helps,
Norm
I don't know if they sell to DIY, contact them and find out.
I had mine installed by their distributer.
Norm
I've had pretty good luck with 3' vinyl screens that cost 99 cents at (Forgive me Breaktimers!) Home Depot. They work best for hardwoods. The fir needles might get through them, however. But, at 33 cents a foot, it might be worth a try on one gutter to see if it helps. They come in white and brown.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
How tall are the trees? How healthy are they? It sounds like you're in Bob Smalser country. He's our Breaktime tree expert. If you can post pictures, he may be able to tell you something useful.
-- J.S.
Remove the gutters except maybe over the doors. Remove the downspouts. If you leave gutters over the doors, just make them open ended.
Put a 12" thick layer of needle and bark mulch under the eave line for the water to fall onto. No clogs. No mud splashing on the house. No erosion. Problem solved.
The only downside is that if you were depending on the downspouts to get the water away from the house to keep the basement dry, you may have to put some effort into grading to do that job without pipes.
So the trees are 75 ft. tall and 20 ft. from the house. 75 - 20 = 55 ft. worth of tree within striking distance if one were to fall. Have you had an expert look at them to be sure they're in good health? It's possible for trees to look fine to the uninformed observer, and still be in great danger of falling in a storm.
-- J.S.
It's a code violation in all of Washington I'm familiar with to not have gutters if the house isn't grandfathered, which is unlikely...stormwater controls and salmon are very serious business here. In new construction, downspouts are required to run to a catchment system. You may just have to put them back come sale time, if you don't get caught and fined beforehand.
Not to mention 60 inches or more of rain a year around your footings in earthquake country.
There is only real choice...clean them out annually.
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
Edited 5/18/2004 5:39 am ET by Bob Smalser
Even if they weren't a requirement....I get 60 inches of rain a year on Hood Canal....30 miles west of me some valleys get almost 200 inches of rain. You're up there somewhere unless you are in a rain shadow.
Whatcha gonna do with all that to keep it outta your footings and slab? French drain? I doubt it.
I spend 90 bucks an hour for a civil engineer to size my stormwater installations for effectiveness.....sounds like you already did that or a previous owner did...why throw that dough away? Those "dry wells" are infiltration trenches to keep the stormwater from impervious surfaces from running surface pollutants into salmon streams and, in the extreme case, from literally washing away salmon eggs in winter. You need both them and the gutters. What you don't need, is those large DF's...take them down and replant something smaller and more controlable.
Careful taking recommendations from folks who build houses designed for 15 inches of rain.
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
Edited 5/18/2004 12:19 pm ET by Bob Smalser
Some guy at a home show layed a drain pipe in the gutter. I don't know much about the name of it, but it had ribs around it like it could be curved for its real useage. He drilled small holes in it. Don't remember how many or exactly where, but I think they were scattered partly up the side. The end of the pipe poked a bit into the downspout. The idea was that the debris could do whatever.. the water would get thru. Maybe you could mock up trial in the yard to see if it will work. If you are worried that the old needles will stack-up and wick water under the roofing , I saw a house that mounted the gutters lower on the end of the eaves. The water fell a 1.5 inches into the gutter. Looked like it would really work to catch the water and without the gutters or their contents touching the roof.