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My house (in New England) has a lot of large trees (esp oaks and maples) around it. This is great, but the roof is 12-12 and the gutters are a lot higher than my ladder, and I really don’t want to go up there anyway. As a result, my gutters are chronically plugged up. Do any of these leaf-free gutter products work as advertised? I actually have two seasons of gutter junk – fall (leaves) and spring (stringy flower things). Removing the trees is not an option, since I like them and since none is particularly close to the house anyway.
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I had tried to get useful information about the various gutter "protectors" out there, as I have the same situation. There was some web site that claimed to be conducting an evaluation of several kinds back in '99, but they never followed up on it (and never responded to my emails asking for updates) so maybe it fell through for them.
Anyway, I finally just hired Gutter Topper to put their product over my gutters (came with a life time guarantee) because I was taking a risk to my own safety three times a year to keep my gutters clear (tall ladders, working alone). I figured that even if they only sorta worked it would be much safer for me.
Well, in one full year with them so far I have had no complaints. I did find that if a stick somehow got itself stuck in the opening that it would work like a teaspoon and direct water by the gutter and I'd get more water near my foundation, but this has only happened twice and both times it fixed itself within a few days.
Supposedly, if my gutters ever get clogged, they will come out and clean them for me (because the thing is screwed right down it would be difficult for me to do myself).
If you had mainly pine trees it could get a little more complicated, but for deciduous trees like you and I have I am completely satisfied. They did charge kind of alot, but in the long run I feel that it was worth it.
*How much gutter? How much $$?
*We put screens on our gutters when they were installed. As Kerr implied, it keeps big leaves out. But those "helicopter" seeds put out by maple trees stick right up in the holes. The fins eventually rot off and they fall through. I'm sure these would alsoi notwork for pine needles.As I recall, it cost an extra $250 to have the seamless gutter guys add them on our 1,200 sq. foot house.
*oh, shootI was afraid someone would ask for specifics!The info is all at home in a file somewhere. If you really want to know send me an email and I'll fish it up for you.I expect that any proprietary system will seem kinda expensive just 'because', and their price was not outrageous. It was about 50% more than the gutter iself cost when I had it installed two years earlier, but I got that done pretty cheap, I thought.
*> the gutters are a lot higher than my ladder, and I really don't want to go up there anyway. I had the same feeling trying to use my 26 ft. Little Giant ladder. The solution was to buy a 32 ft. Louisville. It's nowhere near as scary if you have enough ladder to do it right.-- J.S.
*Buck up and climb on the roof and trim the trees back if necessary. Use a good tall ladder to get up there, have someone assist you getting up and down and coaching you on what is too close and not to close for the trimming. Spend some time putting in the gutter guards, screen or what have you and you'll get an education on one aspect of home ownership, maintenance and care. Look the roof over too, so that you know what is up there in case there are ever any problems with shingles, flashing, and consider the bright side of checking out the neighbors back yard for where she sunbathes this summer.
*Bill,I hadn't considered the fringe benefits of owning a big ladder!Just to clarify, there's no tree anywhere near the house. Any one could fall w/o hitting it. They're tall though and the wind blows the leaves around pretty well.
*I made a gutter scraper out of 1/4" plywood attached to a 8' long stick. The scraper is smaller than the gutter and allows me to pull the leaves and stuff towards me (pull it under the brackets and use the stick to break up large chunks). I have to move the ladder less and I can clean a longer length of gutter with reaching.When did they start to make ladders so heavy. Did roofing in college and never thought about the ladder weight. Now at 45 a 30' ladder seems to be an unmovable object.
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My house (in New England) has a lot of large trees (esp oaks and maples) around it. This is great, but the roof is 12-12 and the gutters are a lot higher than my ladder, and I really don't want to go up there anyway. As a result, my gutters are chronically plugged up. Do any of these leaf-free gutter products work as advertised? I actually have two seasons of gutter junk - fall (leaves) and spring (stringy flower things). Removing the trees is not an option, since I like them and since none is particularly close to the house anyway.