Should we invest in LeafFilter gutter guards or not at our age?

Colleen

Senior Member
Location
Pennsylvania
As some of you know, we relocated from AZ to PA (our home state) in February. The house needed (s) a lot of renovation and we're in the process of having the kitchen (which has been totally ripped out), the family room (old paneling removed and drywalled and new carpet and paint), and the master bathroom (also totally ripped out and redone). The back porch/patio will have to wait until next summer. The only other thing my 81 year old husband would like to do is have the gutters protected from leaves, etc.

He cannot get on a ladder any more and besides, it's a two-story house. Should we invest the $4,000 for guards? I thought we could hire a clean-out service every year instead. Who knows how long we'll own this house. Any thoughts?
 

I'd go with the service. In my experience the guards don't always work, so you might still need to get them cleaned from time to time. And for $4,000 I would think you could pay for a lot of cleanouts.
That was my thought, too. I just don't want to "over-improve" this house because we'll never get back out of it what we're putting into it. That LeafFilter system is supposed to be highly rated but I just can't justify another $4,000.
 

IMO this is money well spent, although $4000 sounds way too high, I ordered mine online, bought good quality, and hired someone to put them on. I guess price would depend on the type you install. Can't remember the price of mine, they were 4' panels...anyway they eliminated a lot of stopped up gutters.
 
I just had new rain gutters & downspouts on my house after replacing the roof. I asked the owner if I should get those gutter filters. He said "No, because they cause more problems by not allowing water to get in the gutters." And he's in a position to recommend them for extra money.
 
Our next door neighbour has them (previous owners did it) and he says they’re a waste. He still has to pay someone to clean the residue that builds up on the mesh every three or four years.

Not sure if it’s the same company where an older man raves how they will make his house more valuable when he goes to sell. Hilarious.
 
As some of you know, we relocated from AZ to PA (our home state) in February. The house needed (s) a lot of renovation and we're in the process of having the kitchen (which has been totally ripped out), the family room (old paneling removed and drywalled and new carpet and paint), and the master bathroom (also totally ripped out and redone). The back porch/patio will have to wait until next summer. The only other thing my 81 year old husband would like to do is have the gutters protected from leaves, etc.

He cannot get on a ladder any more and besides, it's a two-story house. Should we invest the $4,000 for guards? I thought we could hire a clean-out service every year instead. Who knows how long we'll own this house. Any thoughts?
I depends on how many trees there are and how close. Actually, leaves in the rain gutter are no big deal. If you see gutters overflowing in a hard rain, that's the time to think about it. I cleaned mine out after they overflowed, but I have a single story. The problem wasn't leaves so much but stones from the shingles washing down over time plus there was an old piece of a leaf guard wedged and blocking flow.
 
We live in a dense forest, with dozens of large Oak trees near the house. Keeping the gutters cleaned is an annual task. A couple of years after we moved here, I installed Leaf Guard panels in the gutters, and they did OK....for a couple of years...then the Summer heat and Winter freeze warped them such that they were almost useless. I removed them.

I have a big electric shop vac, and bought some tubes and a curved nozzle, and every Fall I use that rig to blow the leaves out of the gutters. I have to do that every couple of weeks, in the Fall, but it works and didn't cost much. I try to do that after a few dry days, as it covers me with "muck" if the leaves are wet.

A couple of years ago, I bought some Frost King gutter guard rolls from Menard's, and installed those with cable ties, around the gutter supports, onto the gutters on my workshop. That seems to work good, and only cost about $4 for a 20' roll....I may do the same with the gutters on the house.

One of the neighbors spent a small fortune having LeafGuard gutters installed a few years ago, and they seem to work on the leaves, but during heavy rains, most of the water overflows the gutters, and creates a "waterfall" all around their house.
 


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