As a homeowner, the tasks required to keep up the maintenance around your home probably seem never ending. As many people know, cleaning out gutters is possibly one of the most tedious and time-consuming chores among regular household duties.

Over time, leaves, sticks, and other natural debris find their way into your gutters. This can be problematic since it not only makes your home look less appealing, but also makes it difficult for rainwater to appropriately travel to the ground. When you spend more time on top of a ladder or on a roof performing repetitious motions of reaching into the gutter, you also increase your likelihood of a fall.

When your gutters are clogged, the water will typically spill directly off the roof of your house directly onto the ground in front of it. This can lead to flooding and stagnant pools of water around the area. While it can be a pain to clean your gutters every couple of months, this becomes necessary if you don’t have the proper protection over them.

What a Gutter Guard Does

A gutter guard is exactly what it sounds like. These are a protective measure that makes it easier for your gutters to stay free of clutter. If you want to save time cleaning your gutters, then gutter guards might be one of the best home improvement investments that you could make.

During the rainy seasons, guards filter out the clutter so that rain is the only thing to enter your gutters. An excess in natural clutter not only prevents rain from reaching the ground during storms but also causes it to mix with the rainwater and flood your gutters. When you get around to cleaning them, gutter cleaning is even messier than it would be with just the clutter by itself.

What to Consider Before Installing Gutter Guards

There are a few factors to consider before you decide on protecting your gutters with guards. For one, you must determine whether you can install the guards yourself or will need them professionally installed. We offer professional installations that don’t require any prior preparation; we take care of all the work! If necessary, we also offer gutter cleaning services.

For one, the cost of the material needed to guard your gutters matters as well as whether you plan to install them yourself. Having them professionally installed will cost extra, but this might be more practical if you are unsure of your ability to do it yourself.

The type of guard you use will also determine its cost as well as its ease of installation. We use SlimGuard gutter protectors, a thin, grate system that conforms to the shape of your gutter without taking up much space.

Many gutter guards consist of mesh or plastic materials that are bulky. Manufacturers of these types of guards promote them as being effective due to their thickness. While thicker materials are good for keeping out foreign objects, they also make it difficult for water to travel efficiently through your gutters.

Before installing a guard system, make sure that it does not take up too much space. If possible, refrain from using a system that is held together with bolts or screws. While this might secure the guard system onto your gutters, removing the guards and reinstalling them might be more time-consuming than gutter cleaning itself.

Also remember that while a gutter guard will make gutter cleaning significantly easier, a certain degree of maintenance will still be required. Most clutter will accumulate in the valleys or peaks of your roof or on top of the guards or else fall onto the ground instead of in the gutters. This means that while the clutter won’t be accumulated in wet, sticky masses in your gutters, you will still need to brush it off the guards or pick it up off the ground.

In short, a gutter guard installation system may be ideal if you want to save time and energy cleaning your gutters. Before purchasing a system, though, just remember that maintenance will still be required. To minimize this maintenance, make sure your guards are properly installed, don’t impede water flow in the gutters, and are reasonably priced for the protection they offer.