Gutter Covers and Gutter Screens

Basically there are six types of gutter covers and gutter guards. Two of the types are gutter screens and gutter filters.

However, if you look at gutter filters you'll see that they essentially are a gutter screen of some nature. Gutter screens have their openings to allow water into the gutter on the horizontal surface. While most of them are flat, some are not.

Many manufacturers make no claims whatsoever about their gutter screens and sell them usually for less than $1.50/ft. However, some manufactures of the filters (from what I see it is just a new way of referring to screens) can sell for up to $7.00 per foot for just the material and as much as $20 per foot to have them installed.

Of course with the more expensive ones, this is where the manufacturers begin with their claims of maintenance free guttering. These systems might use a micro mesh that keeps out particles as small as roof grit or multi layered plastic upon which they show how a sewing needle will bounce off of it. Their graphic and physical displays make their systems look impervious to debris.

It's refreshing to see one writer, tell the truth about screens. Dennis Montgomery writes, "The idea seems pretty simple, but the biggest problem with some, but not all, screens is that they themselves get covered up with debris and won't allow water to pass through. Many people choose gutter screens because they figure that installing them will save quite a bit of money and/or time. After all, it is far easier to brush debris off of a screen than it is to clean the gunk out of gutters."

Click here for Dennis's full article. What he overlooked, is that depending on the design of gutter screen you choose, i.e. the type of mesh, you may have to remove them to clean the gutter inside because they will still pass enough debris to clog a gutter.

They say the definition of "Insanity" is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. And over the course of twenty years, I've seen inventors try to reinvent the screen type of gutter cover over and over and over again and they are still screens whether they be called screens or filters and will be subject to the same laws of physics. They will require maintenance on the part of a homeowner or a service man to go up a ladder and brush them off, or remove them and clean the clogging gutters.

In a light debris environment it might not be much of an issue, but in a mild-to-heavy debris environment it will be an issue.

In subsequent posts we'll look at other types of gutter covers and gutter protectors.

The one that does keep out all types of debris from getting into the gutter has openings in the vertical surface which, as they might become obstructed, can be cleaned via Gutter Maintenance ("Suit and Tie").