New gutters, gutter guards or no?

I am having to put up gutters on my house (seamless 5k, over sized downspouts). One of the main reasons is to handle water runoff during the winter so it does not drip on the driveway/sidewalk (last two years my sidewalk it literally a mound of ice and is dangerous for everyone). I have read both opinions, that guards are good and others that say don’t do it. I live on a wooded lot. Most of the trees are oaks/maple/birch, and most are 50’+ away from the house.

Anyone have any thoughts here? Do gutter guards allow water to potentially freeze and flow over the top of the gutters in winter?

I already have 3 bids, just trying to decide about the guards.

The three brands of guards that have been provided are Bulldog, Xtreme mesh, and Gutter Rx. I think the Bulldog and Gutter Rx are pretty much the same product.

I’ve never had guards before but wish I did on the stretch of gutter directly under a tree. It clogs all the time in the summer during heavy rains.

Unless I lived in a field I would not go without myself. I have leaf proof guards on my house that I installed on 10 years ago and have never had a problem or had to clean them out. We do have another style at the cabin that works well other then keeping the pine needles out.

Gutter guards are helpful, except that cheap gutter guards, or improperly installed guards are worse than no guards. Personally I like the style of the bulldog/gutter rx ones myself, but that’s more of a personal choice. I would say avoid any of the ones with larger holes, these have a higher tendency to catch things, especially if you have maple trees when those dang whirlys come off and get everywhere.

I had gutters put on our last home, and I decided against the guards due to price and the fact that we didn’t plan on staying in that home long-term. We’re now in a home that we plan to stay in for quite a while. We’ve got a lot of large trees around the house, and my gutters clog constantly. When the time comes to upgrade, I’ll definitely get guards.

hemi, can you get to your gutters easily or are they 2 stories up? If it is by your walk and garage, I assume you can get to them from a latter or the good ole hose and attachment to flush it out and IMO save the money and don’t.

The over-sized downspouts will help and I don’t usually get a lot of leaves in mine but if I do they usually just come right out. Helicopters as well will get flush out.

Have you noticed do you get a lot of leaves on your roof generally or even the last couple of days? If you do, it might be worth it on the higher levels. My neighbor just did the same thing but left the guards off on the levels he can reach with either a ladder or the hose attachment.

in full disclaimer, I don’t have them on my house and only had 2 backups in the last 4 years that I needed to clean out.

I don’t get a lot of leaves but get a million heli’s from the other trees around me.

dbright wrote:

Unless I lived in a field I would not go without myself. I have leaf proof guards on my house that I installed on 10 years ago and have never had a problem or had to clean them out.

+1 on the above. We’ve had the full cap gutter guards for 10 years and I wouldn’t be without them. We have a LOT of maple and oak trees in our area so we get not only leaves in the fall, but a blizzard of helicopter seeds from the maples in the spring. Zero issues in 10 years, haven’t touched them.

They do not freeze up in the winter. I believe this is because if the roof warms enough to melt snow, then the gutter is also warm enough to allow the water to drain without refreezing in the gutter. Obviously, the whole situation depends on proper installation.

By contrast, our detached garage did not get done when we did the house. It has open gutter and I’m up there 4 times a year cleaning them out.

You won’t regret doing it, but IMO you will regret not doing it. If you’re going with a reputable company, the system will work.

Grouse

Thanks all, I am going to go with the guards. The back side of my house is a walkout (walkout rambler) and is a ways up, so it would be a good idea to do them there. I do get helicopters from the maple on the patio, so I am sure they would get in the gutters as well. If I am going to do them there, might as do the other area as it is not much more in the grand scheme of things.

I talked with the installer that I preferred and he said he has the guards on his house that he quoted for me (bulldog). Waiting to hear back from him on when he can fit me in as they are a couple weeks out.

The gutters will be black so I think that will help with concerns about freezing.

We were researching this a few years back. House under multiple canopies of trees. Gutters constantly full. Angled landscape and high gutters make cleaning them out a real risk to my health. Received several quotes ranging from $3K to $8K. Called gutter cleaning service and they quoted $150 to do the whole house. Do this now once maybe twice a year and no more gutter problems. Cost of installing gutter guards would cover somewhere between 5-50 years of cleanings. No brainier for me after figuring that out.

311hemi wrote:

The gutters will be black so I think that will help with concerns about freezing.

Now that is a good idea.

Thee most important aspect of gutters is the installation of proper gutter apron flashing and it should be installed under the ice and water protection. Don’t let them tell you that drip edge or siders edge is ok

I use my Stihl gas leaf blower for my gutters. I can clime on to the roof of the garage and then from there step up to the roof of my house. Works great and done in 10 minutes or less.

Mocha wrote:

I use my Stihl gas leaf blower for my gutters. I can clime on to the roof of the garage and then from there step up to the roof of my house. Works great and done in 10 minutes or less.

I use my stihl blower also. Just heard they make an attachment that fits on the end of the blower that will reach up to about 12 ft. so you can do the gutters from the ground. A friend of mine just bought it but I haven’t seen it yet.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Thee most important aspect of gutters is the installation of proper gutter apron flashing and it should be installed under the ice and water protection. Don’t let them tell you that drip edge or siders edge is ok

ders edge is ok[/quote]

So what are you proposing they do here? House was built 2 years ago.

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I put new gutters on my lake place a couple years ago. My installer convinced me that big gutters with large downspouts was a better answer. He said that tree sap changed the surface tension on gutter guards and leaves got inside anyway and it was harder to clean out.

This weekend I was back on my ladder again cleaning gutters… I think this was the 3rd or 4th time this year. Wondering if I made the correct choice and sorta wishing I had guards.