Let’s discuss why you need gutters and how you can keep them leaf free
The funny thing about gutters is that most people don’t pay a whole lot of attention to them until issues arise or they become unsightly. Gutters, in fact, play a critical role in protecting a home from water damage. Their sole purpose is to deliver rain water from the roof away from the home, or more specifically, the foundation of the home. Uncontrolled, excessive water coming off of the roof can not only erode landscaping and cause basement leaks/flooding but it can also cause significant structural damage to the foundation of a house. Correctly installed gutters, especially ‘leaf free gutters’, can also protect the surrounding trim and even the body of a home from untimely rot or deterioration.
Gutters most commonly malfunction due to clogging. Leaves and debris can accumulate on the roof or in the gutter itself significantly enough that the downspout outlet becomes clogged as it rains, holding water in the gutter to the point of overflowing. Clogged gutters can actually be worse than having no gutters at all. Water tends towards the low point of the gutter and overflows in a concentrated location. Gutters full of debris and water are heavy enough to put undue stress on the gutter hangers and even the fascia board they’re attached to. As you can imagine, this problem compounds significantly in freezing conditions. Over time the gutter brackets can wear and distort, even to the point of working loose.
Keep them clean: Good
Standard “open” gutters need to be cleaned out multiple times a year beginning in the Spring and continuing into late Fall until the trees in the vicinity are free from leaves for the year. Most homeowners find this task tedious at best – if not plain and simple, dangerous. Oftentimes, getting to higher up gutters or gutters over a lower roof plane can be quite challenging and risky. Oh yeah, the muck that accumulates within the gutter is downright nasty to deal with. You will discover a whole new degree of “stink”! There are homeowners perfectly capable of performing their own maintenance on their gutters. Clearly, some homes are easier than others to maintain. However, cleaning out gutters is a chore that isn’t looked forward to on any given weekend.
Cover them: Better
Gutter guards or covers can greatly reduce or even eliminate this unwanted chore and channel rain water effectively away from your home.
At Home Evolutions VA, we offer multiple gutter guards to meet your needs as well as your budget. Shur Flo Gutter Guards can be installed on any standard gutter (5” or 6”). This is our most economical leaf protection product. We recommend Shur Flo to homeowners with minimal tree coverage around their home due to its limitations. Shur Flo is considered a filtering system and works effectively to keep leaves out of the gutter. The top of the gutter is completely covered by a thin gauge aluminum filter with drainage holes designed to keep leaves out but allow water into the gutter. Because this is a filtering system, the leaves can still build up and still clog the filter over time just like any filter. The upside is that leaves can naturally wash off of the surface during a steady rain, for the most part. The need to “clean out” the gutter is eliminated, but the filtered guard may need to be blown off a few times a year. This is a much easier project, but like ALL leaf filtering products, this is still necessary to achieve leaf free gutters.
Xtreme Gutter Guards are another product that Home Evolutions VA offers to keep leaves and debris out of your gutters. Like Shur Flo, Xtreme guards cover the entire gutter but feature a more complex filtering design. Xtreme guards are a heavier duty, top of the line gutter cover that also can be installed on any standard gutter system. Xtreme guards are made completely out of aluminum as opposed to our competitor’s leaf filters being composed of plastic. Xtreme guards are still considered a “filtering” product but are engineered to allow leaves to more effectively wash off of the surface naturally during a rain shower. The more durable construction of the Xtreme guard ensures that your home will be protected for years to come. Again, like ALL leaf filtering products, Xtreme guards will periodically need to be blown off but the regularity of this chore is significantly reduced.
If limited maintenance is within your abilities and/or is acceptable to you, either of these leaf filtering products will work for you just fine with far less work than cleaning out your gutters multiple times a year. Leaf filtering products are like any filter (air filters, vacuum cleaner filters, oil filters, etc.), they are subject to the filter itself clogging. Unfortunately, there is no perfect gutter guard completely free of maintenance, no matter what any sales rep tries to tell you.
Replace them with K-Guard Leaf Free Gutters: Best
However, there is one leaf free gutter product that will keep you off a ladder and your Summertime weekends free from gutter cleaning for life!
The K-Guard Gutter System is NOT a leaf “filtering” product. K-Guard is a complete hooded gutter system designed to eliminate the need to be cleaned out. Water from the roof can enter the gutter by conforming to the hood and entering in the opening at the front while leaves and debris fall to the ground. The hood sits independently in the hanger in such a way that water can flow into the gutter on the backside of the hood, as well, while leaves wash away. Commercial sized (3” x 4”) downspouts are a part of the system to capitalize on this maximum water flow and anything small enough to get into the gutter itself; the downspouts are large enough to flush it out.
This makes the K-Guard Leaf Free Gutter System the top of the food chain as far as gutter products are concerned. There hasn’t been a gutter design that rivals it in the 25+ years since its introduction. Confidence in K-Guard’s ability to eliminate clogs is why this system boasts a Lifetime Clog Free Warranty. If K-Guard ever does clog, Home Evolutions VA will unclog the system free of charge…for life! Not only is K-Guard unparalleled with regards to its design and performance it has an unexpected feature that surpasses all other gutter products, it looks phenomenal. With a variety of colors and a unique style, Home Evolutions VA receives reviews and feedback regularly expressing customer delight in how a gutter transformed the look of their house.
K-Guard Leaf Free Gutters are offered to Central Virginia exclusively (and proudly) by Home Evolutions VA!
