Gutter Guard Installation in Hardy, VA
A wooded lot, 150 feet of gutter packed and staining, and ten downspouts to flush before a single guard could go on. Then perforated aluminum, chosen for what these particular trees drop.
What we walked into
Gutters doing none of their job
- 150 feet of gutter run, packed with debris
- Standing grime and staining the length of the channel
- Ten downspouts, none of them running clear
- Tree canopy over the whole house, feeding the gutters all season
- No guards on any run
What we did
Clean it out, then guard it
- All 150 feet of gutter cleaned out by hand
- All ten downspouts flushed and running
- Perforated aluminum guards chosen over micromesh for this canopy
- Guards fitted across the runs
- Debris off site, not dropped in the beds
Start to finish
Seven photos, one house.
The first three are the gutters as we found them. The rest are after the clean-out, with the guards fitted.
1 · Before — stained run
2 · Before — packed solid
3 · Before — under the canopy
4 · On site
5 · After — over the walk
6 · After — along the beds
7 · After — deck side
The process
How this one went.
Clean out 150 feet
Every run cleared before anything else happened. A guard fitted over a dirty gutter seals the problem in where nobody can reach it.
Flush ten downspouts
A clear gutter still backs up if the downspout is blocked. All ten were flushed and confirmed running.
Match the guard to the trees
The canopy around this house drops leaves, not pine needles. That points to perforated aluminum rather than micromesh.
Fit the guards
Perforated aluminum across the runs, and the debris we pulled out left with us rather than going into the beds below.
Worth knowing
Guards reduce the work. They don't end it.
The biggest misconception about gutter guards is that they do away with cleaning your gutters. They don't. Debris still builds up on top of the guard, and once it does it clogs them and limits how much rain gets through into the gutter. Plan on cleaning them off once a year at a minimum. That is still far less work than pulling packed leaves out of an open gutter by hand, but it is not nothing, and we would rather say so before you buy them than after.
Before you call
Questions we get a lot.
Do gutter guards mean you never have to clean the gutters again?
No, and that is the biggest misconception about them. Guards need cleaning off once a year at a minimum. Debris builds up on top of the guard, and once it does it clogs them and limits how much rain gets through into the gutter.
Why perforated aluminum guards instead of micromesh?
It comes down to what is falling on the roof. The tree canopy surrounding this home drops leaves rather than pine needles, and perforated aluminum handles leaves better. It lets more water pass through, and leaves slide off it instead of sitting on it.
Do the gutters get cleaned before the guards go on?
Yes. On this job we cleaned out and flushed 150 feet of gutter and 10 downspouts before any guard was fitted. Putting guards over a dirty gutter just seals the problem in where you cannot reach it.
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