Are Maintenance-Free Gutter Guards Actually Maintenance Free?

Are Maintenance-Free Gutter Guards Actually Maintenance Free?

Gutter guards are known for their ability to block debris from clogging your gutters, or, in other words, prevent excessive gutter cleaning.

There are many pros and cons of gutter guards in general as well as their various types. There is also an entire category of “maintenance-free” gutter guards. We are here to break the myth of whether or not these gutter guards are actually maintenance free.

The purpose of gutter guards is to keep large debris from entering your gutters, and in turn, decrease the amount of cleaning needing to be done. There is no such thing as a gutter guard that is actually maintenance free. We are here to tell you why. For starters, you will always have leaves and random debris that falls onto your roof and on top of the gutter guards that will need to be cleared off. There are three main types of gutter guards and they all have maintenance needs to work to their utmost ability.

• Screens are one type. They are made of wire mesh, nylon, or foam. These are great for larger debris such as leaves; however, smaller debris like seeds and pine needles can easily sneak through the screen’s holes. A downfall of screens is that they may easily become plugged as the debris gets entangled and isn’t easy to be brushed or blown off; therefore, maintenance is needed to keep them clean.
• Fine mesh guards are another type that have smaller holes than screens. They are metal sheets with tiny holes that attach to the roof shingles via tape or small screws and cover the gutter. Their functionality is very comparable to screens; however, they let a lot less smaller debris by. They do still let smaller debris by and need to be cleaned frequently as to ensure the smaller debris does not build up or get stuck in the holes of the mesh.
• Lastly, reverse curve (surface-tension) gutter guards position the water downward while directing the leaves to fall to the ground. Sometimes smaller debris gets into the gutters, but easily washes out the downspouts. These must be installed at an angle that is similar to the roof’s slope in order for them to work. The slope could budge or debris could build up, in turn, needing maintenance.

With these different guards, each of them will need maintenance in some form or fashion; therefore, although they are advertised as maintenance-free and may in fact limit the amount of maintenance needed, they are not maintenance free. For quality service of your rain gutter system or for affordable gutter cleaning, contact the local experts from Gutter Professionals, Inc. today!

 

POSTED ON July 17, 2017 // 0 COMMENTS