Selecting And Installing Gutter Guards | $35 Project! 

My husband went with Leaf Filter. I disagreed and over 8000. later, theyve had to come back 3 times and have yet to fix the problem. Long story short warranty is only if anything gets under guard and you cant see through to check without moving the guard which voids warranty. The salesman lied about everything from price to product. Glad you are educating people on gutter guards. A lot of good advice. Thanks!! Wish id see it earlier. 😢

That broom hack was worth the watch. Thanks for that tip. The mesh version are the gutter guards I have used for years. My first install lasted almost ten years.

That broom hack is brilliant!

Two of my neighbors installed the plastic gutter guards, but they both had terrible trouble with Maple tree seeds sticking in all the holes. The holes are too big to prevent this. I’ve tried some options, but finally decided that standing on my roof (not a steep slope) and running with a leaf blower around the gutters every fall after the leaves have fallen and possibly again in the late spring works best. It only takes ten minutes to blow out the debris.

I had the plastic gutter guards installed. Installed easily. Pretty easy to keep cleaned off. The problem I found is that anything more than a light rain and the rain can’t make it into the gutter even on a brand new gutter guard. The water just flows right over the gutter and straight down to about three feet from the house. On a hard rain the water turns into a waterfall that shoots out 5-6 feet from the gutter. Basically the gutter is doing very little collecting and taking the water to the downspout.

Great video and perfect timing- I am just in the process of installing new gutters all around my house so this information is especially appreciated. It would have been good for you to clarify how the guards attached to the front edge of the gutters but near the end I could see how they snap on.

I bought the black metal gutter guards from Lowes and installed them on my two story house and my garage gutters.I also used small aluminum screws to secure the gutter guards to the gutters. They have been installed now for over 4 years and not problem with clogged gutters or down spouts. Thanks for the video

Have had one that is very similar (diamond shaped openings) but minus the wire mesh. Has worked very well and I'm probably into the tenth year, but not a lot of sun beating directly down on it. Good job on the video.

One of the downsides of the plastic ones you recommend is that if you have a steep pitched roof and a hard downpour rain, the water will run so fast that it runs over the guard past the gutter. That's why they didn't work for me.

This is a great video thanks. I watched and was pleasantly surprised to see you recommend the very kind of Garuda that I used on my last house. I Installed them and three years later they were still in very hood condition and worked great. Honestly I wasn’t sure if the sun would make the guards brittle but it didn’t. I’ll be using them again in the house I’ve just purchased. Thanks for the great video

6:41 - true on the spot "testimonial"!😆 That's an awesome "hack" with the broom. 🤦‍♂️ 50 yrs in, never seen that...probably woulda never thought of it. This'll help me narrow down selection.👌

I just installed the same gutter guards you recommended. I used them on my last home and they really worked great and a good value too. The only problem was it is sometimes hard to clip them to the gutter but I usually overlap them, so there's enough connected to hold them in place. Good tip about the warranty. I bought my house with a five year old roof, so I don't know if the warranty stays with the house or is only with the old owner.

I installed the mesh gutter guards on my house. Major difference. I just get up there every little while with my leaf blower and blow them off. Easy job

I just had a new roof installed using owens-Corning glass shingles. Roof company had to remove my aluminum gutter guards because they were the under shingle design. OC will void the warranty if this design is used. Great video! Thanks

i have a 12/12 roof, been using the screened plastic ones, as well as the wedge inserts, for years, been a HUGE time saver for not having to clean gutters, highly recommend.

Those mesh LB Plastics guards are brilliant. I live in a pine forest where a ton of crap fall off these trees all year long. From long pine needles to little specks of pine cones. And the inverse broom trick is epic. Thanks.

Thank you for the broom trick. I am delighted to know it.

Something I've used to help clean my gutters is a small gardening shovel that fits inside the gutter. If you have a metal one that's great but a cheap plastic one will work too. Very helpful if the material being removed is damp or soaking wet. Also, if there's a large build up of granules or dirt it makes it easier to remove it and not clog the downspout

Nice video, love the broom hack. I'm going to give these a try in the spring.

I've had gutter guards for a few years now. My problem was leaves. That solved the big headache. There is still shingle residue but that is minimal. Only trouble is during a heavy rain (which is common here in Hawaii) By covering any portion of your gutter with anything, it restricts the amount of water that can pass through. Weigh the pros and cons. In my case I'd rather have them than not

I’ve had ones similar to this on my gutters for about 5 years with no issues. Highly recommend.

Great content Scott. Two drawbacks: 01. Here in southern California our sun will degrade the plastic in a few years. 02. The joints between the panels do not seem snug enough and over time due to the elements the plastic will warp at which point the joints will become little gutters holding twigs, leaves, dirt etc. Thanks for a great video.

Thank you for educating us all. 🙏🙏

Boy,!! am i glad I found your webpage"!! your saving me money and I for one am very grateful"!! thank you, Patrick.p

We bought high-end gutter guards and quickly wished we'd just left things alone, because instead of having open tops to the gutters, there were now millions of tiny perforations, the things that kept out leaves and other trash, and in freezing weather they would ice up way before anything else did. The result was that whatever ran off the roof went straight over the iced-over gutter guards and straight down over the edge to the pavement below. When the ground was below 32 degrees F, this produced sheets of ice where we'd never had any before. So instead of having to clean gutters once a year, we now had to salt our sidewalks and front stoop every few days during the winter, and the runoff when that stuff melted was murder to our grass and flower beds adjacent to the sidewalks. No way we'd every do the gutter guards again. In a hot climate this might not be a problem, but for us it's been a dangerous and expensive nightmare.

I have the punched hole plastic guards on my home. They work great, never need to do any maintenance in the gutters, but they fill up with those helicopter seeds that fall out of the trees, and you see hundreds of them sticking up until they decay and shrivel up enough to fall through and wash out when it rains hard.

Thanks for the informative, quick and to-the-point vid. Love you!

Love the broom hack!

Great video. 2 follow-up questions though. 1) How well do these kinds of guards work with pine needles, which are more common than leaves at my Colorado home? 2) How do gutter guards effect ice damns? I have heat tape in my gutters to keep the water flowing in the winter, and I'd be worried that there would be an ice layer on top of the gutter guard that would never fully melt.

Great video. just saved me a crap load of money. going to be doing this next weekend. broom hack was genius!

Had tried these same gutters plastic screens , they last maybe 2-3years, sun exposure breaks them down they become very brittle ,crack, split, and are blown off by strong winds. I replaced them with stainless steel mesh gutter guards, which are installed the same way except they are screwed to top of gutter lip. Sold at Home Depot, they cost more but will last the life of your house. Had a hail storm, had to replace entire roof, but not the stainless steel gutter guards. Garage still has plastic screened gutter guards,(2yrs old), they were shredded. Replaced with stainless steel mesh gutter guards.

I use a Kobalt 80 volt leaf blower with an extension and a U shaped tip at the end, allowing you to walk under the gutter. The leaves blow out in mere minutes. The only cons with this method is, the gutter must be completely dry and you have to rake the leaves afterwards.

I use a gas powered leaf blower to clean out the gutter. A leaf blower gets the gutters squeaky clean and is fast (about 20 minutes). The only drawback is you have to go on the roof but if you're careful it's not a big deal.

I have the recommended ones with the screens. The screens peeled off and now maple tree seeds (helicopters) get thru the holes and fill the gutters. Now it's harder to clean on the spring because I have to peal back the guards to clean. They still work well for the big leaves in the fall.

That broom hack is so good it should be illegal, lol. I live in a 3-street subdivision, in a really small town in Georgia, and I've noticed none of the houses have gutters at all. I've never seen that before. The houses in the area all have really steep pitches to account for the amount of rain we get, so maybe that's why. It could also be the fact that our area is loaded with pine trees, and with pine trees comes pine needles that love to clog everything they touch. The truth is I'd only have to setup two runs in order to keep water away. One for the front, and one for the back with downspouts on either end. All I'd have to do is make sure there's gutters under the gables because we got rain the other night, and witnessed a literal fountain coming off the roof where the gables, and roof met. Doing the entire area of the house wouldn't make sense though, because the pitch is steep enough to cause such a flow that the gutters would essentially overfill at the bottoms of the runs.

This past summer I installed Raptor gutter guards bought off Amazon... no where as easy to install as the slip on plastic stuff, but I'm sure they'll far outlast them. Cost ran around $80 for 48 feet (more expensive now), but for me they're worth it.

Thank you so much for this very informative video. I will do it exactly like that.

The broom hack is ingenious !!!

Thanks for video. I use those plastic guards also. they are junk. However if used with zip ties and an occasional heat gun to flatten them back out , they work ok for the price. The screens fall off of them almost immediately.

You mentioned wiping down the gutters to get them cleaner. Just to add on to that, if your gutters have the grey “tiger stripes” I learned that Totally Awesome gets rid of those really well. Got my gutters nice and white again. Great stuff….

White vinegar cleans the gutters really nice good job it does

This is the exact information and price I wanted to see for my gutters. Hell yeah.

Thank you! This video was very helpful to me.

No Menards in North Carolina so it looks like a close option is some made by Amerimax and sold at lowes and home depot.

BRILLIANT! Thank you for this 🥳

I have a huge oak tree right next to my house. I had to clean my gutters a minimum four times a year. I put the steel mesh gutter guards in and never had any problems with them. Now I only clean my gutters out every 3 years by removing one 3 ft section gutter guard and flushing it out. Plastic works fine but they degrade over time. But I do see the added benefit of having those built-in screens.

Very nice video Thanks for all the information

One thing anyone installing gutter guards should keep in mind. Regardless of what design in moderate to heavy rainfall a lot of water is going to flow over the gutter guards and onto the ground. Not into the gutters and down the downspout. Something that might be a concern if there are drainage issues or problems with moisture in basements or crawlspaces. Good video but having used plastic gutter guards previously I would not go back to them. Prefer the stainless steel and aluminum ones like Gutterglove. The plastic ones are very thin. After a couple of seasons of exposure to the sun they become very brittle and crack easily. Since we live in the northeast we also have to deal with ice and icicles. The plastic doesn't handle either well. They needed to be replaced after a couple of years.

Bucket on a hook so not dumping the mess on the sidewalk. Great idea! The broom trick is good but I've got a 2 story bldg. I use the foam, and it keeps me off the ladders for 4 years w/o doing any cleaning. They are great also because of the black color which keeps the ice/snow melted. My area gets a LOT of freezing rain/sleet during winter. The foam will fill up with dirt, get heavy, and not pass water very well. The foam can be removed and knock the dirt out

Super helpful video. Kudos! Unfortunately, here in Vegas, I'd be lucky to get 3 years of use out of plastic gutter guards. The sun is brutal here. Compounding the issue, is my gutters are on a two-story house, making regular replacement a safety issue and a huge PITA.

I installed this type of gutter guards in 2013 and they're still there working fine. But some of the mesh is gone from the element and i need to replace them this summer. Thank you for all the info.

I just had some installed. Didn't want to bother doing it myself. Cost was $1,200 and they used PlyGem Leaf Relief Gutter Cover System. It's very hard to get to some of my gutters so I just bit the bullet and got it done.

Will be doing this soon.

I don't have gutters. I got a flyer in the mail and called to get a quote. Crazy money! He lowered his price some, but it was more than I would pay. I'm going to search your channel for a DIY gutter install and price the materials. If I decide to do it, I'll get these gutter guards, too. I have a tin roof, so I'll have to deal with that, but it shouldn't be a warranty issue. The previous owner and a neighbor installed it themselves about 7 years ago. Wow! I have a big push broom like that. Super easy! Thank you, Scott. You always cover every detail.

I ended up purchasing the ones you recommended but they weren't a perfect fit for two reasons: my gutters are 4.5" so they were too deep and my run is 40' so they drop pretty low at the end. However, I trimmed them all down to 4.5" and they fit great, snug under the flashing and snapped into outer rail. Thanks again

Thanks for sharing very informative

Hardware cloth, Aluminum pop rivets and a bit of care when installing for the win. Been using the system for years, very cheap and looks just as good if you use common sense when installing.

Brilliant, thanks for posting

Just perfect information I needed! TY

I installed gutter guards for a major company. I removed lots of these plastic guards. They work good for a while. Over time the screen starts to separate from the plastic. Often times they were so overloaded with leaves they had fallen into the gutter and allowed debris in. Try out different guards. The commercial ones I installed are stupid expensive, I cannot believe the price some people paid was over $25 per foot. Maintenance is the biggest tip I can give. Keep them cleaned out. Hire someone if you need to.

I was just thinking about gluing a screen over the downspout holes, And taking off the end caps. That way the junk will get pushed on off to the ground, and heavy rains will keep it clear.

Very well done and informative video. Thank you.

I'm also going to get rid of the S curve in the downspout and fix it to a post at the ground level for stability.

I installed the vinyl mesh a couple of years ago (Southern California) and they lasted through one winter. When summer hit, and I'm in a moderate temperature zone (90°F), they softened enough to droop, and many fell into the gutter. I have 6" gutters, so maybe the 5" is not as susceptible...

Over time the metal ones will resist the elements better, especially if you get a lot of storms. Not to mention regular sunlight exposure over time will degrade the plastic guards, and they will become brittle and crack/break. You may save a few bucks now, but you will have to replace those cheaper ones eventually

Great info, thanks!

In Florida, the starter shingle edge is required to be embedded in mastic to prevent lifting during high winds. I personally would not want to weaken the edge by inserting the guard. I'm looking for other options. Nice presentation!

Thanks for the great info

Good stuff!! Thank you.

considering I was just quoted $800 for a contractor to do a 12 foot run of a gutter guard on the front of my sunroom, I will be DIYing it myself! Thank you for the video :0)

Thanks for the video. I was looking for an inexpensive system and I'm out to Menard's this morning. 😁

Great video, thank you!

Very nice video. Thanks for sharing

Very very good presentation. Great info content and value.

i put in stainless mesh with aluminum bottom edge that has self-stick tape, or you can screw it down and it has a top edge that can slip under roof edge or up against back of Guetter they are strong fine mesh nothing gets in even pine needles i believe it was just a little more than a dollar a foot in a box of around 96 ft enough to do whole house never had to clean them but they could be brushed off with broom or extension brush on long handle i think i ordered them from Lowes a few years ago i put up a little video on you tube with them

Gutter guards work for the leaves and sticks, but unfortunately my spouts still get clogged with Pine needles and mapleseed helicopters. And we have plenty of downpours that would overrun the mesh-style. Other than regular cleaning, I keep a long pole with hooked wire at the end handy so if a spout is plugged up during a storm I can chop up the sludge and wash it down the spout.

I had leaf filter installed. Back of house seems fine but I wasn't crazy about the front. Couple issues that I never had before. I removed the ones in front. Looking to put something in front. I like what you recommended. Thanks.

The broom hack was the bomb

LIKING that reversing the broom to sweep off the debris on top

You're the bomb Well done!!

Leaf blowers work really well to clean first, though they are messy down below.

lovew the broom hack. frank from Oz down under

Thank you for ad excellent video

I had plastic ones years ago and the problems that I found with them is when you would get a bad thunderstorm the wind can sometimes lift them off and blow my way and secondly after four or five summers with the sun beating on them they become very brittle.

Thanks for the options...I have the ones you put in last..the mesh does come loose after a while. As for warranty issues on shingles, I can't imagine something as less intrusive as those guards having an affect on warranty. Let's just say if you have defective shingles under warranty, you have the rest of the roof to complain about rather than just the first row! LOL

Thanks 😊

As much as I want to have a "maintenance free" house, especially the roof (inaccessible for me), we have a neighborhood handyman who charges $40 to clean gutters. 2x per year: $80.... not too bad and you KNOW the gutters are clean, AND he tells you if there's a problem up there.

Good to get an informed opinion on gutter guards! There are a bajillion "solutions", I think I agree the one you cites might be the most optimal. At least here in the midwest.

Thank you sir!

Great video!

Thanks for the good advice. I also subscribed.

Very helpful advices 🙏👍👷‍♀️❤

I think anything is better than nothing aside for those foam inserts but plastic has it's downfalls as well, I give plastic guards about 3 years before having to replace them due to Sun UV's causing breakdown and brittle cracking, not counting large branches breaking them.

Like the broom trick thanks!

Fantastic idea. I usually clean 2 time yearly. Clean and well edited video. Thank you for sharing

I’ve found cleaning any sticks or pine needles is worth the trade off. The water flow is much better with no mesh. Which is the point of gutters to channel water. If any debris is covering the top it will just flow over the gutter. I’ve cleaned a few hundred homes with both. I can quickly take a soft or hard bristle brush and break off the sticks or pine needles into the gutter or off the top. And because there is no mesh using a hose with a gilmour gun is a breeze. But to each there own

You have been an EXCELLENT source of home maintenance responsibilities resource for me. Truthful comments along with common sense tidbits so uplifting for my plans for improvements of my home. Certain plastics exposed to direct sunlight deteriorate over time yet the price/materials of the screened panel does seem best! Excellent tidbit of reposition broom handle to clean top of gutter!!! This educated Army veteran with Industrial Design, B.S. degree does appreciate and stand firm ground attention behind all these "Everyday Home Repairs" website!!! Much gratitude for your info that confirms and/or uplifts projects at my residence. Thank you for your time.

I'm getting brand new gutters installed on my house for the first time next week and the quote was right at $1,200. They added an additional $800 if I wanted to get gutter guards installed along with them. Seeing that that would be too much, I decided to do it myself wants the gutters are installed and will most likely go with the plastic guards that have the mesh screen on them. My mom used those without any problem for many years. I do plan on overlapping Mine by about an inch though.

I put some up. They are good for light rain, but heavy rain the rain goes right over the gutter guard , never makes it into gutter.

Thanks!