That new gutter guard system I installed last month turned into a bird buffet

I put in those mesh gutter guards from the hardware store thinking I'd never have to clean gutters again. Three weeks later I noticed water spilling over the side during a normal rainstorm. Climbed up there and found leaves had piled on top of the mesh and birds had pulled it loose in two spots to get at the bugs underneath. Now I have to take the whole thing apart to clear out the debris that's trapped between the guard and the gutter. I guess the moral is that gutter guards just change the type of maintenance you do, not eliminate it. Has anyone else had these things cause more problems than they solved?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_lee2d ago

My neighbor swore by those slit-style guards too, but I watched him spend an entire Saturday with a shop vac trying to suck gunk out of the tiny holes last fall. The dirt and pollen just bake onto them in the sun and turn into this crusty paste that seals everything shut. I think with any guard you're basically trading ladder time for time spent on your knees peeling stuff off with a putty knife.

viola1712d ago

You mentioned "water spilling over the side during a normal rainstorm" and that is exactly the problem I was hoping to avoid. But I have to say, I think you might have just gotten a bad brand or installed it wrong. My neighbor put in a different style of gutter guard, the kind with the little slits, and he has not had any trouble for two years now. I know a lot of people complain about them, but sometimes you just have to spend a little more for the better quality ones. The cheap hardware store mesh ones are really just a different kind of headache, not a real fix.