Gutter Covers and Leaf Guards - "Not All Gutter Covers Catch all the Water"

Years ago when homeowners would see a product like the Waterloov Gutter Cover being demonstrated with water running down a roof and onto the gutter protector they would question whether the product would work in a heavy rainstorm. Years later most homeowners don't think to ask the question because there are so many gutter covers and gutter guards on the market. They assume that gutter covers are like hammers in a sense. That is, sure some hammers are more expensive than others, but they will all do the same thing. But this is not true for gutter protectors. They should ask the question! Why?

It's because the larger the radius of the nose of the gutter guard, the more water that the gutter cover will collect. And this is where many of them differ. The Waterloov gutter protection system uses a large continuous round arc radius of 3/8" which is ideal for collecting all the water on residential applications.

But what about commercial applications with rafter lengths of 30' or more?

Answer: Waterloov is the only company that manufactures a 'High Capacity' panel with an even larger radius bend for commercial applications.

The problem is that some gutter guards in the market place in an attempt to increase efficiency of leaf rejection use a radius bend of 1/8". This small radius bend will allow water in mild-to-heavy rainstorms to overshoot the gutter.

Then there are other gutter covers that instead of a continuous arc use a series of sharp bends. The result is that water can shear off from these bends resulting in overshooting.

Before you sign a contract for gutter protection, ask to see the exclusions. If there are exclusions about water overshooting your gutter in the beginning, do not sign the agreement. Sure after the gutter guard is in service for a period of time, it may improve as the surface weathers making it easier for water to adhere to the surface, but you can well bet, it will be a problem in heavier rain storms and you will forever be feeling that you got a second rate gutter cover.

In the next post, we'll talk about collecting water in valleys--something that's basically impossible for most gutter covers.