Gutters

[GrnBay007]

I'm getting new gutters on my house. Would like to know if anyone has any experience, good or bad, with those leaf protector screen things they can put on. Do they work? ....are they worth an extra $400-$450 ? Got a very large pine tree in the front yard and the neighbor has some huge tree that generally fills my front yard with leaves.

....or is the best bet to stay old school and send my son up there to clean them twice a year?

[Joemailman]

I refuse to put gutters on my house so I won't have to clean them. Now that's old school.

[Little Whiskey]

put them on. I wouldn't go with the big fancy kind. i just have the screen type on the house. They work pretty well.

[Freak Out]

Gutters are good...skip the screen thing and make the kid clean them.

[MJZiggy]

My neighbor got the gutter thingies. They seem to work and she recommended them when I asked but my ex got cheap about it anyway and tried to do them himself.

[Patler]

I'm getting new gutters on my house. Would like to know if anyone has any experience, good or bad, with those leaf protector screen things they can put on. Do they work? ....are they worth an extra $400-$450 ? Got a very large pine tree in the front yard and the neighbor has some huge tree that generally fills my front yard with leaves.

....or is the best bet to stay old school and send my son up there to clean them twice a year?

I live among lots of trees; maples, oaks and pines. I had to clean my gutters 4 or 5 times a year. A while ago, I decided it was best that I not climb ladders as much as I did when I was younger. After viewing numerous different types at the Milwaukee home show, and doing my typical over researching of even the most mundane things, I decided to put on these:

http://mastershield.com/index.cfm

They are great! I couldn't be more satisfied.

[red]

if you get a lot of snow and ice then skip the covers. the snow melts a little, turns to ice, the ice packs up the covers, the ice continues to build up until there is too much weight, then you're picking up mangled covers off the ground and climbing a ladder back up to put them on again

despite that, i still love the idea behind them

[Patler]

if you get a lot of snow and ice then skip the covers. the snow melts a little, turns to ice, the ice packs up the covers, the ice continues to build up until there is too much weight, then you're picking up mangled covers off the ground and climbing a ladder back up to put them on again

despite that, i still love the idea behind them

That's one of the reasons I picked the ones I did. They have a deep flange fastened to the roof under the first row of shingle tabs, so as not to be "glaciered" off.

[red]

thats for that site patler, i've never seen that one before

looks decent

[Scott Campbell]

I live among lots of trees; maples, oaks and pines. I had to clean my gutters 4 or 5 times a year. A while ago, I decided it was best that I not climb ladders as much as I did when I was younger. After viewing numerous different types at the Milwaukee home show, and doing my typical over researching of even the most mundane things, I decided to put on these:

http://mastershield.com/index.cfm

They are great! I couldn't be more satisfied.


Too bad Max didn't have those.

[Patler]

Too bad Max didn't have those.

Actually, what happened to Max made me think about my own situation. My wife and kids heard how Max died, and brought it up to me as well. Sometimes it is hard to accept that we have gotten older and less capable, but Max's death made it easier for me on this issue. It took me a couple years to make up my mind about what I wanted, but I may have not even looked into it yet but for the death of Max McGee.

[Zool]

I live among lots of trees; maples, oaks and pines. I had to clean my gutters 4 or 5 times a year. A while ago, I decided it was best that I not climb ladders as much as I did when I was younger. After viewing numerous different types at the Milwaukee home show, and doing my typical over researching of even the most mundane things, I decided to put on these:

http://mastershield.com/index.cfm

They are great! I couldn't be more satisfied.

In a very heavy rainfall, are the holes large enough to let all the water through or do you get some direct flowing over the top?

[Patler]

In a very heavy rainfall, are the holes large enough to let all the water through or do you get some direct flowing over the top?

I have never had any overflow even in the heaviest rainfalls and even in areas of my roof that collect runoff from several slopes. My wife used to laugh at me, because the worse the storm was the more likely it would be that I would go out and walk around my house looking at the gutters!

As you can see, the top is not flat and is said to establish a siphoning effect to actually pull water through it. The heavier the flow, the faster the water goes through. I can't find the specs right now, but it is said to handle huge volumes. I saw video demonstrations with overflow tanks cascading a heavy fall of water onto a roof portion with it installed. Very impressive. All the water went through in the first couple "ripples" of the screen. None even reached the outer edge. The same heavy flows on the helmet type solid covers can break the surface adhesion needed to carry the water through the reverse curve into the gutter

I have worked in several industries that sell equipment for process screens and filters. I understand how surfaces that look very closed can actually pass large volumes through them, even in atmospheric systems that are not pressurized. This thing really seems to work that way. I tend to research things to death, and by the time I decided on these I had no hesitations about any other design being better. I'm not saying I am right, or that others won't work as well or maybe better, but I was convinced these were the ones for me.

My only hesitation was long term clogging. Over years and years, would areas of the filter become clogged? They claim no, that the heavy rainfalls actually serve to unclog the holes. The clincher for me was that if it ever does clog, they will come and clean it or replace it anyway, and the warranty is directly from the manufacturer, not the installer.

[MadtownPacker]

Ha! Even patler gets it from thewife. Proof he is mortal. :lol:

[Patler]

Ha! Even patler gets it from thewife. Proof he is mortal. :lol:

... or that she is! :lol:
(No, you may not tell Mrs. Patler that I wrote this!)

[Zool]

I have never had any overflow even in the heaviest rainfalls and even in areas of my roof that collect runoff from several slopes. My wife used to laugh at me, because the worse the storm was the more likely it would be that I would go out and walk around my house looking at the gutters!

As you can see, the top is not flat and is said to establish a siphoning effect to actually pull water through it. The heavier the flow, the faster the water goes through. I can't find the specs right now, but it is said to handle huge volumes. I saw video demonstrations with overflow tanks cascading a heavy fall of water onto a roof portion with it installed. Very impressive. All the water went through in the first couple "ripples" of the screen. None even reached the outer edge. The same heavy flows on the helmet type solid covers can break the surface adhesion needed to carry the water through the reverse curve into the gutter

I have worked in several industries that sell equipment for process screens and filters. I understand how surfaces that look very closed can actually pass large volumes through them, even in atmospheric systems that are not pressurized. This thing really seems to work that way. I tend to research things to death, and by the time I decided on these I had no hesitations about any other design being better. I'm not saying I am right, or that others won't work as well or maybe better, but I was convinced these were the ones for me.

My only hesitation was long term clogging. Over years and years, would areas of the filter become clogged? They claim no, that the heavy rainfalls actually serve to unclog the holes. The clincher for me was that if it ever does clog, they will come and clean it or replace it anyway, and the warranty is directly from the manufacturer, not the installer.

Great info. Guess I'll be doing some additional gutter shopping in the spring.

[GrnBay007]

Ugh, still haven't decided and I need to by Sunday night. Gutters are going on Monday. Well, I could always have the screens put on later but they give you a bit of a discount when you do both at the same time. I hate making decisions like this for the house!!! :( One thing I never really thought about until someone at work mentioned it is how long I plan to stay at this house. In a perfect world (haha) I could see myself in a different house in 5-7 yrs.

[MadtownPacker]

Why didnt you find some border brothers to do it? Shit you could have gave ziggys email to one.

[red]

says the man who doesn't need gutters on his adobe because he lives out in the middle of a desert

[MJZiggy]

Why didnt you find some border brothers to do it? Shit you could have gave ziggys email to one.

I don't need my gutters done thanks, but I am wondering whatever happened to the Costa Rican named Pollo (I know what it means--yet when I asked him who to write the check out to, he said Kevin???) who tiled my kitchen. The shower needs redoing.

[red]

kevin the chicken

sounds like a reputable tiler

[3irty1]

Or you can get a gutter cleaning robot.

http://store.irobot.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=3334470

[Patler]

Or you can get a gutter cleaning robot.

http://store.irobot.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=3334470

I have one of those! The first model that came out from iRobot. One of my techy kids bought it for me for Christmas a while back. It worked "OK" if conditions were dry, but not very well if the material in the gutter was wet, with matted maple seeds for example. Sticks or twigs could cause problems, too. The biggest issue I had was that it would get caught under some of the nail and tube hangers used for installing the gutters. If the gutters are not straight, as old ones that have supported heavy snow and ice for years and years often aren't, one of the tracks would sometimes climb the gutter wall and it would flip on its side. Occasionally it would get hung up on the roof edge flashing that extends into the gutter, the track on that side would get wedged between the bottom edge of the flashing and the bottom of the gutter.

When it worked, it was really pretty neat; but it was frustrating when it didn't. I tried to make it work for several years, even repositioned some of the hangers, but in the end I quit using it. With my gutter covers it now sits in my shop collecting dust. Maybe the new model is better.

Incidentally, we (my kids included) are a big iRobot family. We have Roombas and Scoobas. The Scooba works great in our kitchen scrubbing the floor.

[GrnBay007]

Why didnt you find some border brothers to do it? Shit you could have gave ziggys email to one.

The border brothers here only do roofing and work at the Mexican restaurants we have.....from what I see. I must say the crew that worked on my sister's roof last fall were some cuties! I had to visit her a few times that week. :) It's weird though because you never see them out and about.....restaurants, bars, mall. Either they stay very secluded or they just work all the time. ?

[GrnBay007]

New gutters (without screens for now...maybe later) and new sump pump installed!! I finally feel safe putting new carpet in my basement! That storm and flooding last summer has put a fear in me. That was VERY costly.

[mraynrand]

Get your mind out of the gutters

[GrnBay007]

Get your mind out of the gutters

You know it's bad when you've had so much on your mind lately that it hasn't been in the gutter!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

[MJZiggy]

Get your mind out of the guttersWhat the hell kind of fun would that be?

[MadtownPacker]

I don't need my gutters done thanks, but I am wondering whatever happened to the Costa Rican named Pollo (I know what it means--yet when I asked him who to write the check out to, he said Kevin???) who tiled my kitchen. The shower needs redoing.

I was talking about them cleaning out your guts not gutters.

[MJZiggy]

I was talking about them cleaning out your guts not gutters. No, I'm not due for a colonoscopy for another few years, but thanks for thinking about my good health like that.