Cheap and Effective

From Pastor Scott in Seattle, WA:

I just installed these a week ago, so don’t have a lot to report [...]

Fall 2009 [...]]]> 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.