If you've cleaned your gutters in October and found them packed again by Thanksgiving, you already know the problem. For most homes with trees nearby, gutter guards are worth it. For a house with open sky above it, they may not be. Here's how to tell which one you have, and what to look for before you buy.
The short answer
Gutter guards are worth the money if any of these sound like your house:
- Trees hang over your roof or stand close to it.
- You clean your gutters more than once a year.
- Water spills over the gutters during heavy rain, even after a cleaning.
- You'd rather not keep climbing a ladder every fall.
If your house has no trees close by and your gutters stay clear with one cleaning a year, guards are a nice extra, not a must. You'd be paying to solve a problem you don't really have.
What clogged gutters do to a house
A clogged gutter can't move water. The water spills over the front edge and lands right next to your foundation. That's one of the most common reasons basements get wet.
It adds up fast. One inch of rain on a 2,000 square foot roof is about 1,250 gallons of water. Cincinnati gets around 45 inches of rain and snow a year, based on 1991 to 2020 weather records. All of that has to go somewhere.
When gutters back up, the overflow also soaks the fascia boards behind them until the wood rots. It stains siding. In winter, a gutter full of wet leaves freezes into a heavy block of ice that can pull the gutter right off the house.
Why leaf season is so long around here
Most leaves come down from mid-October through November. Oak trees hang on to some of theirs well into winter, so a gutter you cleaned at Thanksgiving can fill up again by January. Then spring brings maple seeds, flowers, and twigs from the first storms.
Where you live makes a difference too. Older neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Norwood, Covington, and Newport have big street trees, many of them decades old. Lots of homes in Colerain Township, Forest Park, and Blue Ash sit on wooded lots. And in newer subdivisions in Mason, West Chester, Fairfield, and Florence, trees that were planted as saplings 20 years ago now reach over the roof line. And if you have pines or spruces in the yard, whether that's in Hamilton, Middletown, or Lebanon, their needles slip right through a lot of cheap guards.
Types of gutter guards
There are four main styles, and they handle Cincinnati's trees differently.
Screens
Screens are plastic or metal sheets with holes in them. They're the cheapest option and they stop big leaves. Smaller stuff like seeds and pine needles still gets through, and some screens lift or bend in high winds.
Micro-mesh
Micro-mesh guards use a very fine metal mesh, usually stainless steel or aluminum, over a frame. They stop almost everything, including pine needles and shingle grit. They cost more, and the top of the mesh needs a rinse or a quick brush now and then.
Reverse curve
These are solid covers that curve over the edge of the gutter. Water follows the curve into a slot while leaves slide off the edge. They handle big leaves well, but you can see them from the street, and very heavy rain can shoot past the slot.
Foam and brush inserts
These sit inside the gutter itself. They're cheap and easy to put in. Over time, though, the debris they catch starts to build up inside the gutter, and you have to pull them out to clean them.
We install Sure Flow gutter guards, which fit onto most existing gutters. During a free estimate, we can show you how they'd sit on your roof and how they handle the trees around your house. Our gutter guards page has more on how we install them.
What gutter guards won't fix
They aren't zero maintenance. You'll clean far less often, but most homes still need an occasional rinse on top.
They don't fix gutters that are too small, sagging, or sloped the wrong way. If water spills over the corners when the gutters are clean, the problem is the gutter or the downspouts, not the leaves.
They don't stop ice dams by themselves. Ice dams form when heat from the attic melts snow on the roof and it refreezes at the cold edge. That's an attic insulation and ventilation problem.
And a guard put on top of a full gutter just traps the mess underneath. That's why we clean the gutters out before we install anything.
Are your gutters ready for guards?
Before adding guards, take a look at the gutters themselves. If they pull away from the house, leak at the seams, or overflow at the corners in a hard rain, it may make more sense to replace them first.
Most homes use 5-inch gutters. A steep roof or a large roof that sends a lot of water to one spot may need 6-inch gutters or extra downspouts. We install seamless aluminum gutters in both sizes, cut to length on site. Seamless gutters don't have joints along the run, so there are fewer places to leak or catch debris.
Common questions
Snow and ice can sit on top of any gutter guard. What guards do is keep the gutter from being full of wet leaves when the first freeze hits, which helps a lot. They won't prevent ice dams, which start with heat escaping from the attic.
Yes, but far less often. For most homes, guards take it from a few cleanings a year down to an occasional rinse.
In most cases, yes. The gutters need to be in good shape, attached firmly, and sloped toward the downspouts.
Some guards slide under the first row of shingles, and some shingle makers don't allow that. Before you buy, ask how the guard attaches to the house.
Before the heaviest leaf drop, or right after a fall cleaning. Getting them on before the first freeze also keeps leaves from turning into ice in the gutter.
Get a free gutter guard estimate
Gendir Roofing is a family business run by five brothers who work as one crew. We clean your gutters, install the guards, and send you before and after photos when we're done. Every job comes with our 5-year labor warranty.
Call (513) 849-3952 for a free estimate. We're available Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
