Everyone who lives in a neighborhood with trees is searching for THE perfect gutter screening system. As the pundits say – build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door. Well, to date, no one has built that perfect system. Gutter screening systems include plastic screens, metal screens, rolled screens, flip screens, louver systems, helmet systems, staircase systems and combination systems. Every gutter screening system on the market compromises either its ability to keep leaves and seed-pods out of the gutter or its ability to collect water during heavy rains.
To maximize the gutters ability to collect water in heavy rains, traditional screening products have an open mesh that easily allows water to flow into the gutters. These open-mesh screens also often work well in the Fall with dry leaves. However, in the Spring season – these open-mesh screens become a magnet for the various systems designed by Mother Nature to deliver seed-pods. Maple ‘helicopter’ seeds and Oak ‘spaghetti’ pollen stick to open-mesh screens like Velcro. We have found cleaning the screening system is often more difficult than simply keeping the gutters clean. Traditional screening systems can also be packed down into the gutter by a heavy layer of wet leaves or snow and many of the less expensive products simply won’t stay in the gutter at all and are prone to blow away.
To counter the weaknesses of the open-mesh screening systems, many companies offer some type of “closed” gutter protector. Using a helmet, louver or staircase system as a cap – the bulk of the gutter itself is blocked off, preventing leaves and seed-pods from getting into the gutter. The downside of these systems is that by blocking off up to 90% of the gutter opening, you also reduce the amount of water the gutter is able to collect. This problem is more prevalent on homes that have steep-pitched roofs or roofs with valley areas that collect water on the roof level and channel it to one small gutter area. Many of these systems continue to let small debris enter the gutter and this debris may clog the downspouts over time.