Gutter helmets

#1
Freak

Freak

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#1
These gutter helmets seem worthless (and expensive). What have you all found is the best solution to protect gutters on a wooded lot? Anyone?
 
#2
#2
I put the screens on mine, buy them at Lowes or Home Depot. Have worked just fine.
 
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#5
#5
I have a pretty wooded lot and the front gutters have screens on them and the backs do not. When the leaves start to fall the fronts clean out easy. I just get on the roof and blow them off with a blower. The rear gutters take some more effort. I have to basically use my hands and pick the leaves out of the gutters.
 
#6
#6
The current house I'm in came with gutter helmets and they work very well for me. The only problem I've noticed is if a limb falls and dents one then the water tends to come over where the dent is - as luck would have it I have a dented one right in front of the front door.

I'm pretty amazed and how much water they can handle without spilling over.
 
#9
#9
Chop down all the trees, and if there are pine trees you are screwed, we have tried everything at my house and nothing stops the pine needles. We got our money back on one of the gutter guard/helmet systems a few years ago because of needles.
 
#11
#11
volinbham said:
The current house I'm in came with gutter helmets and they work very well for me. The only problem I've noticed is if a limb falls and dents one then the water tends to come over where the dent is - as luck would have it I have a dented one right in front of the front door.

I'm pretty amazed and how much water they can handle without spilling over.
Click to expand...

Can't u pop the dent out?
 
#16
#16
Freak said:
These gutter helmets seem worthless (and expensive). What have you all found is the best solution to protect gutters on a wooded lot? Anyone?
Click to expand...

use a pressure washer to clean them out twice a year

I had them on two houses in Wisconsin, and one in PA, and they didn't work....

So I've not used them in awhile, I usually clean them out in Spring and Fall, or if I noticed an overflow
 
#17
#17
The screen type still let in a lot of fine stuff off the oaks, hickorys, MY NEIGHBORS white pine, and my dawn redwood. Don't get screens unless you're putting on a new roof, get the hinged kind, and the installer really does know how to interface the screen with your shingles.

Paid a lot for mine. I thought to meself "get the screw down kind, neighbor he just bought a roll of that stuff (in a post above) and some gutter clips ... picked it out of his bushes all the time after high winds ... put back all bent up & looking like crap."

So now I have professionally installed purpose made screens and commercial grade gutters ... 3/4 full of tree droppings and pine needles that even a pressure wand won't blow out. ALL those friggin screws have to come out to clean the gutters without tearing up the screens.

Moral you ask? Putting gutter protectors up is an attempt to get out of an odious chore. If you don't have a yard full of mature trees .. fine. But if you've got several trees around twice as tall as your house, whatever system you get .. helmet or screens ... has to be hinged or easily removed to clean out what does get through. Since you're GOING TO HAVE TO CLEAN THEM ANYWAY, just get the downspout screens. Then get out yer blower, or hose, or child for labor, an clean them right anyway.
 
#18
#18
Orangedogsrule said:
The screen type still let in a lot of fine stuff off the oaks, hickorys, MY NEIGHBORS white pine, and my dawn redwood. Don't get screens unless you're putting on a new roof, get the hinged kind, and the installer really does know how to interface the screen with your shingles.

Paid a lot for mine. I thought to meself "get the screw down kind, neighbor he just bought a roll of that stuff (in a post above) and some gutter clips ... picked it out of his bushes all the time after high winds ... put back all bent up & looking like crap."

So now I have professionally installed purpose made screens and commercial grade gutters ... 3/4 full of tree droppings and pine needles that even a pressure wand won't blow out. ALL those friggin screws have to come out to clean the gutters without tearing up the screens.

Moral you ask? Putting gutter protectors up is an attempt to get out of an odious chore. If you don't have a yard full of mature trees .. fine. But if you've got several trees around twice as tall as your house, whatever system you get .. helmet or screens ... has to be hinged or easily removed to clean out what does get through. Since you're GOING TO HAVE TO CLEAN THEM ANYWAY, just get the downspout screens. Then get out yer blower, or hose, or child for labor, an clean them right anyway.
Click to expand...

tl;dr
 
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#19
#19
Freak said:
These gutter helmets seem worthless (and expensive). What have you all found is the best solution to protect gutters on a wooded lot? Anyone?
Click to expand...

Best advice is to get rid of them and put in some French drains, then you won't have any issues.
 
#20
#20
qwerty said:
So you cut it length wise to make it sane depth as gutter. Then, how did you attach it to the gutter?
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Leave it wide enough that you put one end under the lip of the gutter and the other end under the shingles. I did a little gutter work when I was younger and they used a material just like this, except it was metal. Metal would undoubtedly be better, but the mesh pattern was the same.
 
#21
#21
K-Guard are freaking expensive but come with a lifetime warranty that if they get clogged, they'll come fix or clean them.
 
#25
#25
LouderVol said:
Chop down all the trees, and if there are pine trees you are screwed, we have tried everything at my house and nothing stops the pine needles. We got our money back on one of the gutter guard/helmet systems a few years ago because of needles.
Click to expand...

I absolutely despise pine trees. Whether it be sticks, cones, stamens, needles, pollen or sap, they are always dropping something that needs to be cleaned up. Unfortunately, I have at least twenty around my house and a whole forest full of them behind my house. I have found the best way to remove the needles and stamens from the roof or gutters is with a gas powered leaf blower. Once the air gets under the needles or stamens, they just roll up into a ball and blow right out. I would imagine that gutter guards would provide more aggravation than they were worth when dealing with pine trees. I had the plastic mesh gutter guards at my former home and I wasn't overly impressed. They blocked some of the leaves (pin oak and poplar) but fine crud still managed to find its way into the gutters and clog them. Best solution is to clean them a couple times a year with a pressure washer of leaf blower.
 
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