The water flows over the top, follows the curvature which extends into the gutter, and drops the water into the gutter. They all have one thing in common, the are all basically one long fin. Since that time, many variations have come to market. In the 50’s came a new promise of freedom with the first popularly marketed solid top designs–definitely a step in the right direction. Second Type of Gutter Guards – Solid Hooded Covers No roof valley treatment is used other than a simple splash guard resulting in major overshooting of water onto the ground. Overshoot: Screens with smaller size openings or tight radius bends in the step and trough design, water often overshoots the gutter onto the ground. Maintenance: Frequent maintenance from a ladder to clean gutters and replace screens (often more labor intensive than simply cleaning gutters). In the end, screens don’t come close to keeping you off the ladder and making your gutters virtually maintenance free. And to remove it from gutters once it’s installed, may ruin your gutters.ĭebris: The end result of all types of screens is that they either get dislodged by wind or animals or they hold the debris which dries, becomes brittle and is mulched by the rains clogging the gutter. One additional problem if the product is made of vinyl, in the heat of the summer sun, can collapse into the gutter rendering it useless. Here again, the debris simply gets washed into the horizontal positioned trough which either clogs or admits enough debris into the gutter to clog it.

Then you have screens that with steps and troughs. Some more modern hybrid screens have filters which are reported to work fairly well unless you have inventive squirrels, birds, and raccoons or unruly wind that dislodge the filters rendering them useless. Yet, they end up trapping debris along the roof edge and when you go to clean them, the debris drops into the gutter making cleaning even more difficult because you have to not only clean out the gutter, but fight the hinged screen. Some screens made of metal or plastic have rounded tops for strength and to keep the debris from the front most part of the screen where the water can enter. The spring time rains beat upon the dry brittle debris and mulch it to small pieces of debris that drops through the screens and into the gutter and by late May, corn and other vegetables (and a fair share of weeds) can be seen growing from the gutters. As it lies on the screen, it becomes dry and brittle. The debris stays here until the following spring. Yet, in real environmental conditions, most of the debris simply is blown down the roof and onto the gutter screen. They are demonstrated by dropping a needle that bounces out of the gutter. Some screens made of woven plastic fiber and are glued inside your gutter.

They vary greatly in appearance with newer versions appearing to work better than the older versions. Screens include any product that has openings in its horizontal surface. When it comes to gutter protection there are three basic designs.įollowing is a discussion of the history of the three basic types screens, solid hooded covers, and solid louvered covers.įrom the 1900’s screens have been used to try to solve the problem of clogged gutters.

Gutter Protection – the design makes the difference!

Gutter screens vs gutter guards