Gutter guards/covers
 

Anyone with trees arouund their house or in the woods have good or bad experiences with these? I have read that they can be a waste of money because eventually they need to be removed to clean the gutter and that is more labor because of removal and then cleaning. Also read that in downpours the rain can overwhelm the cover.

I have Leaf Filters and they work well. The salesman that comes out starts with a very high quote but with some discussion and patience the price will drop significantly.

They have been in place for about 4 years and I have not looked in the gutters to see if anything has gone through the filters. I think anything small enough to get through the gutter guards will wash out with a heavy rain.

If only it would rain more! :)

What kind of trees? Pine? Leaf trees? Heavily wooded? Trees hanging over your house? Sorry for all the questions. I have 1 leaf tree in front of house. Nothing else in front. Wooded area out back with pines, leaf trees. Nothing near the house or hanging over. Wooded area is 20 - 30 yards from the back of the house.

On one side a single big pine that hangs over the roof. On the other side nothing.

Prior to installing the leaf filters the gutters would fill up constantly and needed an annual cleaning.

Gutter guards
 

We did this for our primary home - we were able to purchase covers from a big box store (dont remember which) and snap them on ourselves - haven't cleaned the gutters since!! We have many trees around the house - keeps the leaves out.

Gutter guards/covers
 

I, too, have LeafFilters and the gutters are staying clean. In a big downpour, because of the geometry of the gutter layout (not the fault of LeafFilter), I do get some spill-over. I attribute this to the fact that the filter screening itself does reduce the inflow of water to the gutter by the simple fact that it is there.

For that reason alone I don’t cover mine and just clean them

Are you sure that you actually need to have gutters at all ? Some houses don't really need them and some do.

If you want to get the water away from your foundation (due to a wet basement issue) then they're a good thing to have. But, if you have good drainage away from your foundation then they may not be needed at all.

I have Leaf Filters installed. They work as advertised. I was not happy with the installers. What was supposed to be a single day install took two because they showed up so late on the first day without even calling to say they were delayed. I picked up 20-30 screws off the ground that they randomly dropped during install but didn’t bother cleaning up. They were also supposed to fix two downspout issues which they said their boss told them wasn’t needed. Both the salesman and a private home inspector noted the same down spout issues. They refused to make the down spout corrections and said a Leaf Filter technician would be back to complete that work. No one ever showed up and my phone calls and emails went unanswered. Product works….service sucks!


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No gutters
 

I built in 1977, cape style, so no big overhangs. We specifically requested no gutters, and proper French drains and landscaping. We also have Bituthane (Ice and Water Shield) on the bottom 3 feet of the sides, and copper flashing in exposed areas. No problems after 40+ years. I also have nice 30' wood extension ladder for sale. Barely used.

My gutters were constantly filling up with pine needles and debris. I am unsure what they are called but I got them at Home Depot. They are a kind of foam mesh that fits in the gutter. they come in 6 ft lengths and are easy to cut to size. Water flows right through and the leaves and debris just flow right over the top. Cheap, easy to install and work great.

We had them on our last house. We lived on 10 1/2 acres of wooded land. Each year we would just run some water with a hose through the gutters to force out any smaller debri might have gotten in, or insect nests, etc.

Our cottage that we now live in here has no gutters.