Anyone have any experience with gutter brushes? These are full sized round brushes which remain permanently in the gutters, trapping dirt and leaves, which break down eventually and are naturally flushed away.Cost is about $350 for 120 ft. Thanks.
Why would you want to trap anything in your gutters? The scenario you describe is making a compost heap out of the gutter. Extra debris, extra water, extra weight - don't expect extra life expectancy.
Bad idea for a number of reasons.
R
From the experiences of others, they seem to work for some situations and not for most situations. Check around with neighbors with like trees etc. and see what they say. If you live if Florida and I live in Canada, it is not likely my experience would be useful for you.
If you want something that works try Leafguard gutters. Been up at my house for 8 years with no problems. My father had the same for even longer.
How do they do with pine and fir needles?
Bob
i installed some about 10 or 12 years ago, and recently checked on them. There are large pine trees between my client's house and the neighbor's. The neighbors have rooftop planters and my clients have dust in the bottom of their Leafguard gutters. Not muck, not needles, not leaves - just dust. They've never been cleaned.
There are a couple of caveats. The gutter section is taller than a standard K section gutter, so the Leafguards will sit lower than the old gutters. They can develop icicles - something to be aware of if you're planning on putting them on a second floor roof over a doorway.
R
I clean my gutters annually after leaf fall. Every year there is from
1/4 to 1/2 inches of pure 'gunk' in the bottom of the gutter that has to be removed with a spatula. It wont move by any brushes and if left there it will build up every year. Haven't tried the "gutter brush" you are talking about, but if it stays there and doesn't move it won't work in these conditions. I live in the country so get a lot of dust fall in 3 of the 4 seasons.Harry K
I live in the south and they do great with pine tree debris. My father's house on Long Island was surrounded by oaks and they were great there too. The only issues are that they are expensive and in tough corners during the worst downpours you will get some overflow but they act like a sky slope and the overflow will end up far away from the foundation.
I got a bid from leafguard and they quoted between $6 and $7K. That's half the price of my roof!
If I can be assured it would work perfectly, then I would go for it. But I'm not 100% convinced. I believe it will not catch 100% of the water. They guarantee if it clogs, they come and clean it. But there is no guarantee that it would catch water. When the salesman brought in a section to demostrate under a faucet, he slightly tilted the unit so water can flow more easily into the gutter. If he had left me a section and allow me to play it it myself, then it may be different.
I also wonder, if this leafguard system is so effective, why wouldn't they lower the price and license it to more makers, to the point that it becomes the standard gutter on all houses. Surely they would make more money this way.
Something's wrong there. How many feet of gutter and leader do you have? I just had an estimate for one project and it was ~$8 LF installed. Prices will vary around the country, but I can't see any normal house having six grand of gutters.
The system does work very well. The water does hug the curve and it does flow into the gutter. In very heavy rains, or if you have a big valley concentrating the water onto one section during a heavy rain, there will be some water overshooting the gutter, but in general it's not objectionable.
If you're looking for perfection (there are a lot of 100%s in what you wrote), then no gutter system will satisfy you. They all have drawbacks. I'm curious though, what in your house is 100%? Unrealistic expectations won't help in making your choice with the gutters.
You're trading off the inconvenience and expense of gutter cleaning for the convenience of not. There's an upfront cost for the benefit, but the number you received is ridiculous unless you have thousands of feet of guttering. If you did, I don't think the price of the guttering would faze you as it would mean your house has a floor area in the tens of thousands of feet.
The existing standard K section gutter works, is the profile most people have grown up with and is a known quantity. Manufacturing and installing that section provides employment for huge numbers of people. They might not be so ready to relinquish their market share to a franchised competitor.
On a project a couple of years ago, the owner had their roofer reroof the house. The existing K section gutters were old and on their last legs. The roofer offered to replace them with the same profile. I told the owner that the Leafguard gutters were a good system and should be looked into before any decisions were made. The roofer argued against the Leafguards and cited problems with them. I talked to him personally to find out what these problems had been. In the course of our discussion, where he's pointing to birds nests blocking the gutters as a big problem (in an area that gets a fair bit of rain, why would birds choose the wettest location?) he mentioned that they also cleaned gutters when the roofing season slowed down. It turns out the guy was running several gutter cleaning crews and making about ten or fifteen grand profit per week in the few week long season. The guy would be cutting his own throat to install a gutter system that didn't need cleaning.
You should call up some Leafguard companies outside of your immediate area and get an idea if the local guy is pricing himself out of your business. You could also have your contractor call Leafguard and get a price for running off the gutters and dropping them on the job site.
RThey normally bid about 3 times the cost of regular gutters but you get oversized downspouts. Price those into your regular gutters estimate and you will be surprised how high the price goes up. Sometimes there is more than on Leafguard franchise working an area so check the yellow pages. Also the corners are done by hand and really add up. If it is a straight run it isn't as bad but yes the price is high but the stuff does work. Mine are spotless in 8 years.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.