Is there a solution for gutter clogging

kf4zht

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Guess I got spoiled with my last house being in a clearing 20ft from any tree. The new one has several huge pines around it. I'm discovering that cleaning gutters is my least favorite home maintentance task. But every time I look into gutter guard/block systems they are either badly reviewed, expensive or both. Is there anything that acutally works? Not opposed to doing some maint, but would prefer it to either be infrequent or easy (run a pressure washer along them).

Price is somewhat open and would scale with amount of work. Something I need to blow off 1-2x a year on the cheap end. On the high end they better clean themselves while giving me a BJ
 
Gutters are a pain in the neck.

So are hip and valley roofs:laughing:

I use a blower a few times a year and clear the roof and gutters.
 
Gutter Stuff is what you are looking for. It's the only thing that kept the pine needles out for me. It's kinda like a firm plastic mesh/ sponge that you just stuff in and forget it's there.
 
The sponge stuff is bad because after a few years the sponge breaks down and it also traps dirt and things start growing in your gutters. I have some standard perforated metal caps on mine. They were cheap on amazon. Work good. Had them about 2 years now. In big leaf dropping season leaves will pile up on top in some areas. To clean them is much faster and less leaves than without them. What use to take 90 min now takes maybe 30 once per year. I could probably use a blower but then it will blow some up on the roof and for just a bit more effort I used the hand and bucket method to clean them.
 
leaf guard - sucks.
anything with a fine mesh screen - sucks.

BTDT
 
Are these snake oil?

Edit: They're called rainhandlers

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arse_sidewards said:
I wouldn't know. My house doesn't have gutters. :flipoff2:
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This is the only answer. Pull the gutters off and scrap the them. I stopped doing gutters when I fell/jumped off the roof the last time. You know when you're going to fall off the roof, so you jump only so you can pick how you land? My knees haven't been the same since.
 
Around here none of the foam or covers work. We just use a leaf blower.

Walk the roof where possible, and use gutter attachments or make your own from PVC if they need to be got from the ground. I do it twice a year on my place surrounded by cedar tree
 
My dad loves the gutter brushes, but he is dealing with leaf trees, not pine needles. I could not confirm how effective these would be in your situation, but sharing real feedback for others reading this thread...
homeguide-gutter-brushes-installed-in-aluminum-gutter-system.jpg
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jeepyj said:
This is the only answer. Pull the gutters off and scrap the them. I stopped doing gutters when I fell/jumped off the roof the last time. You know when you're going to fall off the roof, so you jump only so you can pick how you land? My knees haven't been the same since.
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Gutters are pretty important if your basement is below grade.
 
CJeep77 said:
My dad loves the gutter brushes, but he is dealing with leaf trees, not pine needles. I could not confirm how effective these would be in your situation, but sharing real feedback for others reading this thread... .
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Exactly what I've got here. Pine needles still get in, pull 'em out in the spring, quick flush with a hose, put 'em back. Done.
 
my house has these, never had to clean the gutters. work farking fantastic, even in the heaviest rain, water goes in gutter.
Screenshot_20200828-200747_Chrome.jpg
 
Pine needles are a whole different animal from leaves, we get both here and it's almost like naturally occurring carbon fiber the way the tangle together :laughing:​​​​​​

I've pulled those dumb screens off of a few gutters only to find 2-3" of black mud.

I think you just need to go up and blow them out regularly. I don't think any of the fancy shit works with needles.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
Are these snake oil?

Edit: They're called rainhandlers

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I've seen those and forgot about them. Not sure if they work but they are tempting. The gutters are crap anyway and the overall yard is fine if I can just get the rain away from the house a few feet. $4/ft isn't terrible. Plus where the gutters dump aren't great, so to do it right I'd need to bury drain lines

The foam is out. That crap does nothing for needles, they get woven in
 
Very interested in the rainhandler if anyone has real world experience?

I need something across the front of my shop. A 40ft run would be around $180. I like the idea of no downspouts cutting trenches through my gravel.
 
My house is surrounded by pines. When I bought it it had the foam gutter inserts. They were completely clogged with dirt and decomposed crap. I pulled them all out and now blow the roof and gutters off once a month.
 
arse_sidewards said:
There's nothing you can do to control water at the roof that can't be done just as well at ground level
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I guess you could use a concrete French gutter system around the perimeter to prevent foundation issues. But you better wrap the fascia board or use an extended fascia behind the drip edge...or both.
 
Broncokyle88 said:
Cut the trees. All the gutter guard shit is treating the symptom, you want to treat the cause. With a chainsaw:flipoff2:
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This doesn't fix it with pine needles. I only have a handful of pines in the yard, none even close to the house except one thats right off the back porch. I got tired of scooping needle clumps out of the gutters every month so I cut it down. Now I scoop needle clumps every 3 months. No wind area, no pines close to the house.

The needles move around via magic.
 
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