A while back, a reader named Joe posted a review of LeafFilter. He wasn’t having the greatest experience. He came away quite dissatisfied with the product.
Jimmy, a self-identified LeafFilter installer (http://mynewgutters.com) offers the following rebuttal to Joe’s review:
I am a LeafFilter dealer/installer. LeafFilter works perfectly with a metal roof. It is the best gutter guard on the market for a metal roof application. The main reason is that it mounts just to the gutter. It does not need to be mounted to the roof under the shingles like most gutter guards. The LeafFilter gutter guard is the only micro-filtration gutter guard that does not mount under the roof shingles.
I install it all the time on gutters that handle water from a metal roof. It sounds like whoever installed the system [on your home] has a lack of experience. One of two things can be done if you are having a problem with water over-shooting the gutter guard from a metal roof… or any roof. If one of the steps below are taken, it will fix the problem.
First, you could install the service screen/valley screen which is a more porous filter that will handle the extra water flow. 90% of the time, this will fix the problem. Second, if the problem persists, what will need to be done is you will need to have a six inch gutter installed, in turn you will have more of a filter surface to handle the extra water flow. If you have any questions on this give me a call at 877 573 2653.
If LeafFilter is properly installed, and the right steps are taken when a problem arises, it can be eradicated 100% of the time. I believe LeafFilter is they best gutter guard on the market with over 700,000 ft installed personally from our company. We never had a call back we could not fix and we never had a single clogged gutter!
While we admire Jimmy’s desire to back up his product, we at TheGutterClub have a known stance on “clogged gutters”. This is never the issue. The gutters don’t have to clog to be completely useless. Over-shooting water is the main concern with gutter failure, and nobody ever wants to guarantee that this won’t happen.
But anyway, thanks Jimmy for your rebuttal. Please let us know if you would like to share any of your other experiences in the field.
Reader, Mary Beth recounts her personal experience with Leaf Filter and her local installer. She isn’t very happy with the result.
I also had the Leaf Filter installed on my house in the winter of 2009. I live on 5 acres of pine trees. So I thought this would take care of the pine needles. IT DID NOT!. The pine needles do not blow away because it is too cold and wet all winter. I live in the Olympia, Washington area.
I called the company because the system did not work on my house. So they sent out someone to look at them. The day he arrived, we had a cold spell and everything was frozen. So he took pictures. He said he would talk to his boss. I told him I wanted them taken off and I wanted a refund because they did not work. Never heard from them.
So I called them again. They told me that they only guarantee that the gutters will not clog. They do not clog, now they do not work at all. Now all the water just runs over them. So now I have to have them taken off so my gutters will work again. I am now trying to figure out what to use that might work better.
This “no clog” guarantee is quite common with all of the various gutter guard technologies. It’s a guarantee that they can easily make and keep. The problem for home-owners is that the guarantee is almost completely useless! A gutter can be completely clog-free and still not work. A gutter is not working if the rain water is cascading over the top.
When they make a “no clog” guarantee, they only mean the INTERIOR of the gutters. If the filter, screen, curve, or whatever is on top of the gutter clogs up and causes the gutter to utterly fail… this doesn’t count.
Spring is coming fast. Along with the great weather comes lots of rain. Make sure your gutters are in good shape before the first major rain storm, and you’ll be a happy homeowner.
Check out this handy video that explains the proceed such that any gutter newbie can take on the job. It’s basically an advertisement from Lowes, but it still contains some great information and footage.
Cleaning gutters isn’t fun, but the payoff in water damage prevention is huge.
Professional gutter installer Rusty Shackleford offers some comments and advice for gutter guards in general. Some interesting thoughts here:
Here’s the skinny kiddo’s. The reverse curve system DOES NOT WORK! I’ve been a gutter installer for six years now, the last three have been working with leaf protection systems, in particular, K-Guard and Leaf Slugger.
Since November of 2006 I have subcontracted all of the warranty/service work for a couple of the big leaf protection devils… er, dealers…yeah, dealers. In less than a year, I have been to over 600 houses to service protected gutter systems… mostly K-Guard but also topper systems that install on existing ogee style gutters. They all clog!
Yes Joe, K-Guard does let in debris, but it does not flush them out! Have you ever taken the time to watch a gutter drain? There is nowhere near enough velocity in the water to flush the gutter. There is not enough room on a facia board to pitch a gutter enough to push debris out, most of it settles on the bottom of the gutter around the downspout outlet, starting the clogging process.
Most of the companies that sell these products are a bunch of crooks! They are companies owned and operated by SALESMAN, NOT TRADESMEN! They sell their systems for upwards of $40+ a foot! They justify it with a bogus lifetime warranty. All they are doing is selling a lifetime cleanout contract. Yeah, they will clean your gutters… when they feel like it!
Oh Yeah, reverse curve systems overshoot in a moderate heavy rain and do not work well on metal roofs or steep roofs. I have tested several systems out there and there is only one style that works… stainless steel micro-mesh systems. There are only four companies that I know of that produce these systems… they are Leaf Solution, Leaf Filter, Gutter Glove and Mastershield.
Leaf Solution, in my opinion has the smartest design. The one thing that these companies have in common is that they will all refund your money if your gutters ever clog. If these systems are installed properly, they will not clog. You can pile leaves and debris on top of them and they still take in all of the water. Take it from me, I have seen it all and tested it all, my mind really is in the gutter… week in and week out.
Reader Ted submits a short field report of his experience with Gutter Guardian:
We had Gutter Guardian installed on our gutters in 2004 and have had no good result. The perimeter of the house below the gutters has a groove in the ground from rain merely rolling off the gutter guards and gouging out a trench in the ground.
Have called the company many times in a vain effort to repair or correct the problem. Almost want to take the guards out of the gutters and go back to just removing the leaves each Fall. This product is very unsatisfactory. Any comments on what I could do here would be appreciated. Thanks.
I’ve had professional gutter leaf protection system installers tell me I’m crazy for eschewing their $3000 offerings and going for the $50 Do-It-Yourself options from Home Depot. Don’t fall for their crap! I’ve had the Home Depot options installed on my gutters for 1.5 years and here are the photographic results so far.
Fall 2009 - all leaves have fallen, this is what the filters look like
Photo #1 (above) – This is a section of gutter that have been protected by the Home Depot do-it-yourself option for 1.5 years. After the three big overlying Oak trees have shed their thousands of leaves, this is the result. The wind really does keep the filters clean! At this time of year, without filters, the gutters would have been absolutely stuffed with leaves and debris.
Note that we’ve already raked the back yard over there. If we hadn’t, it would be a solid carpet of leaves.
Some of the culprits that conspire to fill my gutters!
Photo #2 (above) – Looking up, we see two of the three very large Oak trees that bury us with leaves each Fall. Notice that all the leaves are gone.
Peering into the gutter from Photo #1
Photo #3 (above) – Here we can see inside the gutter protected by about $20 worth of materials. No leaves or any organic debris. There is only a very fine layer of grit from the roof shingles. Nothing at all to worry about.
Another section of DIY protected gutters - untouched
Photo #4 (above) – This is another section of our gutters being protected by another $20 worth of materials. This was the first section to be installed, and I didn’t do such a great job. You can see how much of a scoop there is to the material after the first section. Big deal though! Even though I didn’t do a great job, this is how the filter looks 1.5 years after installation and at the end of Fall! Surprisingly, there are no piles of leaves stuck to the filters. Only a few small sticks and seed pods.
Inside we find only a fine layer of grit.
Photo #5 (above) – Inside, the gutter is virtually pristine! Only a fine layer of shingle grit.
Do you need to spend $3000-$4000 to have gutters that look like this? No. Don’t fall for the professional leaf protection installer’s sales pitch.
Joe chimes in with another Reader Report, this time we get a little expert advice and then an endorsement of the GutterMaxx Leaf Protection System. Here is Joe’s lengthy report:
The main problem I have found for using ANY cover with your standard open tray gutter is that this type of gutter installation has major flaws.
First of all, it is never installed with a drip edge on your fascia board (thats even if you have a fascia board at all, if not, your troubles are compounded… will touch on later) A drip edge is designed to keep water off of your roof line wood surfaces (fascia board, rafter tails, roof decking) otherwise they will begin to rot, eventually causing you to spend thousands of dollars on a roof line repair. The reason a drip edge is never used with a standard open tray gutter is that the spike or screw has to penetrate it in order to mount the gutter to the home, thus rendering it useless.
Often, we see a gutter mounted directly to the rafter tails with no fascia at all! With this type of scenario, the only surface to attach the gutter to is the end of the rafter tails. In summary, the standard open tray gutter installed on 99.9% of all homes is the cheapest system a builder can put up on a home to get it sold.
Drive around any neighborhood and soon you will see this type of gutter pitching, leaning, falling off etc. So explain this to me. If an open tray is eventually going to cause damage to my home and quite possibly fall off, what good is putting a cover on it? Now you get it!
From what I have seen with many no clog gutter systems out there, is that ONLY GutterMaxx stands tall. It is installed with fascia, with a drip edge, the gutter tucks up under the drip edge and the nickel plated screws that mount the system to the home are below the drip edge as not to penetrate it. The hoods have two ways for the water to enter the system, which causes a flushing effect keeping debris in the stream. And since the internal brackets are elevated, once it enters the stream it is a clear shot out to the downspout.
GutterMaxx in Action
This system is also the only system designed under the premise that stuff will get in! That’s why it works so well… it was designed to handle debris and not try to keep it all out! Listen to LeafGuards ads and you will hear something like this, “Keeps ALL debris out that can clog your gutters”. Really, ALL? In other words our system can stop nature, think again.
If you look into the history of no-clog systems you soon discover that LeafGuard was the first attempt at extruding a gutter on-site with a hood on it. It was designed and patented by K-guard approximately 16 years ago. They franchised it and low and behold LeafGuard was born. K-guard gave the franchise owners a 2-year no-clog warranty. Later, the franchises extended that to lifetime to build a book of business.
After putting the system up for about 5 years they discovered that the system had some major flaws.
It was too small, it actually will fit inside a standard 41/2″ open tray gutter. So installing it with a thick roofing material became difficult.
The design would not allow the use of a drip edge, and we have already seen what that causes. When this was discovered they started to put caulking on the back of the gutter when they installed it. (A short term solution at best)
It clogged! what a no clog system that clogs, heaven forbid, remember the nature issue! When they went out to unclog it because of the Lifetime warranty the discovered another problem.
It was very difficult to access because of the one piece design. Once installed it was like a soda can! And finally,
Damage issues, if the hood was damaged the owner was forced to buy a whole new run of gutter! Yep, a one inch dent could cause the owner to purchase a new 40′, 50′ 60′ etc piece.
Imagine getting a ding on your car door, you take it in to get fixed and the repair place gives you a quote that makes you pass out. Then you learn that to fix the door ding you have to purchase a new hood, the other doors, all the quarter panels, the trunk, everything because its all connected. One piece is great on paper and in theory but in reality – not smart.
So after discovering and dealing with all these design set backs, they went back to K-guard and asked them to design a system to replace the first attempt. They did! the GutterMaxx system was born. Now, it was not called that when it was presented to the LeafGuard franchise owners obviously because it was going to be their new product. K-guard looked at the problems and solved them all because, like I stated earlier, they figured out that you cannot stop nature but you can control it to an extent.
K-Guard in Action - so this is identical to GutterMaxx?
No, the system is not perfect, but what it does along with its crown molding type majestic appearance backed up with Lifetime warranties from K-guard, it is without doubt the best system available to date. Oh! why isn’t it Leafguard? Well, when they found out that they would have to re-tool at a cost of $65,000 per truck per franchise owner plus re-do all their advertising from a one-piece system to a two-piece system, they turned it down. K-guard decided to market it themselves through dealers across the country. Smart choice.
When it comes to price, well guess what, with gutters and so called leaf-free hoods etc, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
Wow! There’s some interesting history there. We can now begin to see how these product are all connected.
We’ve got downspouts that are permanently connected to underground pipes, so if GutterMaxx really is designed to allow some debris into the system, it may not work for us. We need a system that will not allow leaves or large fragments into the downspouts.
We are back with another Reader Report – this time it’s Joe talking about his experiences with the Leaf Filter gutter system. Things didn’t go too well for Joe. Read his report:
Hello everyone. I had Leaf Filter installed on my gutters. My experience was completely horrible with Leaf Filter and I had to work with my local BBB to get the Leaf Filter manufacturer to compensate me for having their product uninstalled from my gutters.
They would not give me a full reimbursement for their product, but I was able to get about 1/3 of what I paid. Every time I see the Leaf Filter being demoed at the home shows by a
certified installer, I approach them and tell them what a disappointing product it was for me. I have a metal roof and I live in the northwest. We get a lot of rain here and it is constantly moist. The mesh filter kept getting clogged with mildew and moss. I tried
to bleach the filter and scrub out the mesh – but I found out from other disappointed Leaf Filter owners that you have to also scrub out the underside of the mesh too. Which means, you have to uninstall the mesh entirely to clean it because it gets clogged from the outside in and the inside out.
In addition, leaves would pile up on the gutter. Because of all of this, water would run right across Leaf Filter and never get into my gutters to being with. Not a good situation for me – especially because my house has a basement.
The Leaf Filter manufacturer told me that their product should NOT be installed on a house with a metal roof because the filter cannot keep up with the velocity of the water (I have a 6/12 roof pitch, which is not extreme). The installer told me that they never knew about this. The installer also told me that they have had so many complaints about Leaf Filter that they will no longer install it and have chosen not to be the regional Leaf Filter installer.
Maybe Leaf Filter is just not for folks that live in wet climates – so I guess your mileage may vary if you live in a drier climate, don’t have a metal roof, and have a roof pitch that is less aggressive than mine (6/12 is the standard where I live).
I would much, much rather clean my gutters twice a year rather than spend the extra money on gutter protection systems. I will never buy another gutter protection system… and when I get too old to clean out my gutters, then I will pay someone else to do it for me.
Is this just one person’s bad experience? If you use Leaf Filter, please let us know what you think. Leave a comment.
Today we have another Reader Report from Kim, a Gutter Club reader, recommends Gutter Helmet, and here is her story:
I looked at Leaf Proof, Leaf Guard, Mastershield, Gutter Guard/Gutter Guardian, and Gutter Helmet, before choosing Gutter Helmet for my home last year.
This is what Gutter Helmet looks like installed
My husband and I chose Gutter Helmet because for one they have been around the longest and they continually improved their product since the 1980’s. Our local branch for Gutter Helmet has been in our city for 19 years and are members of the BBB, National Home Builder’s Association, and National Rain Gutters Association. They were complaint frree at the BBB and their Salesman showed proof of Licensure as well as current Worker’s Compensation and Liability certificates as well as a Bonding Certificate when he was here to give us an estimate.
The gentleman was very business-like, cordial and well-versed with the knowledge of his product he was estimating for us. He showed me the design and even plugged up a sample model of their product so that we could view its performance. I was exceptionally relieved that he did not pressure us into signing his proposal. We were able to discuss it privately with no pressure and we called him with our acceptance. Their price was average of all prices we were given of all the products we considered.
The office, salesperson and the installers were very professional and courteous. Since having the helmets we have had to use a spray nozzle (that was given to us by the installers) a couple times of year to spray off the tree sap that adheres to the aluminum, but it is very simple its like spraying off your car. We were told to do this annually or maybe more if the water isn’t pulling into the gutters and starts to overflow. We were told this up front that this was a maintenance tip that we would have to administer or that their office would do it for us for $79.95 if we needed them to.
I liked the fact that they did not hide any information from us and the product works exactly how we were told it would. I am mostly happy that I don’t have to worry about my husband on the ladder three and four times a year to clean the gutters. It’s dangerous and we are too old to deal with broken bones or maybe even a death when we’d rather spend our time playing golf or my husband loves fishing and we really love having the grandkids. This way we’re safe from injury with the gutter helmets. If our considering leaf protection, I recommend Gutter Helmet.
Unfortunately Kim never mentions the total price for the project, but it was undoubtedly in the multiple thousands. If you’ve got that kind of money to spare, this appears to be a ringing endorsement of Gutter Helmet.
March 12, 2010 3:33pm by admin | 
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