Has anyone had any experience with the so called gutter systems that prevent leaves from clogging up a home's gutters? One of the well know products is called Gutter Helmet. I'm thinking about having them installed. Got lots of maple trees in back of my house and every fall I have to climb up the ladder a few times to clear the gutters. Just don't want to be climbing ladders anymore. I've heard some pros and cons and they are pricy. Got a price of $1500 for one product called Clearwater. Got about 104 feet of linear footage of gutters on my home.


[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 10-26-2006).]

Stephen, as you say GH is one of the majors in the business..They are expensive and overpriced..The system works to a degree against leaf entry, but the downside is heavy rains just flow over the gutter..I guess this will find it's way back to my suppliers,,,oh well I never was that excited over the line..

Fran I read that small stuff can make it's way into the gutters even though the gutters are covered pretty well, then need some cleaning anyway. The sales guy did mention but downplayed cleaning. Do you whether they need to be cleaned every few years?

Steve... What ??? you don't believe Arlene ?!?!? (local joke, guys )
...when I had my roof replaced a few years ago, the guy installed a protection system that is thin metal with 'slots' cut into it ... the 'slots' allow the water in but keep the leaves out ... it seems to work pretty good on the leaves, but I recently had some work done and found that the 'pebbles' from the shingles got in there ...
I don't know what other products you've looked at, but I googled 'home gutter protection' and there are a lot of different products out there ... don't know what's available in rhody, of course ...
... how much of the $1500 was labor? ...
t.

Tony I love the comment about Arlene!!! Holy Sisters of Mercy!!! Good question on labor costs, but it wasn't broken down by materials and labor. The pebble problem from shingles was something I never thought about. I've decided not to bother afterall. I tried a search at Bob Vila's site and after reading the pros and cons I figure worst case is that I could pay someone $150 bucks per year to clean them for 10 years. Besides $1500 would almost get me a BOS Pas or would at least be half the cost of one of the new boards on about to be introduced to the US.

Stephen, now you are on the right path..100 feet of gutter should only take 2-3 hours once a year to clean..You can get a handy man for around $50-$60..

Average retail prices are a third labor, a third materials, and a third profit.

Now that I am probably blackballed from the industry...call me[your new handy man]..

Gotta tell ya the guy was a great salesman, he had me until I saw the light of day! Thanks

Coincidently, today, during a break in this rain/wind storm, I had to go out and replace a piece of the shield ... had to clean the leaves out of the gutter ... the rain water was POURING over the side ... but all is ok now ....
t.

Yea, weather was tough Saturday. I was just up cleaning the gutter a week ago so even with all that rain I had no overflow.