From Margarethe:

I had a very bad experience with LeafGuard. The gutters never worked proberly ! Rather than fixing them, the company blamed it on my [...]

I have had Leaf Filter on my home since March of ‘09 and live on a heavily wooded lot in Falls Church Va. I have lots of pines and oaks all around my property. I used to have to go up [...]]]> Reader James writes the following review of the Leaf Filter gutter protection system:

I have had Leaf Filter on my home since March of ‘09 and live on a heavily wooded lot in Falls Church Va. I have lots of pines and oaks all around my property. I used to have to go up on my roof at least 3 times a year to clean out the gutters. Since getting Leaf Filter put on my house I couldn’t be happier. All the water goes right through the screen every time, and the leaves come right off. Also, just a note, when my neighbors gutters came off during the winter, mine stayed on.

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 [...]]]> 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.

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.

Hello everyone.  I had Leaf Filter installed on my gutters.  My experience was completely horrible with Leaf Filter and I had to work with [...]]]> 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.

Leaf Filter in Action

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.

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 [...]]]> 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.