Ask the Engineer on How to Choose The Best Gutter Guards
Posted: Sunday, July 31, 2011
by Richard Kuhns
Stress Management Institute
The best gutter protector to represent would keep your customer's gutters clean and free flowing. The best gutter guard to sell would require no maintenance or servicing from you (the installing company) except for gutters knocked down by storms. Any servicing of the best gutter guard could easily be done from the ground by the homeowner. go the distance of twenty years or more. Find this one and you will have the best gutter guard business opportunity.
Just how do you choose the best gutter cover to sell and represent? Do you go by price? Is it the size of the manufacturer? Maybe design? Maybe by simplicity of installation? Perhaps guarantee?
In this world of gutter guards you do not go by price, ease of installation, or size of the manufacturing company or warranty. The answer is that you go by the design of the gutter guard to find the best gutter cover to sell.
First of all, stay away from gutters that flip to clean as they warp and the hangers freeze. Stay away from dispersal units that replace gutters as they simply do not disperse water in slow rain fall and create a rut around the house. Stay away from detachable downspouts as they are not gutter guards and they do not keep the gutters from clogging at inside and outside joints.
Stay away from screens or filters of any kind. Dozens of different types exist. Simple ones are cheap made of metal or plastic and have various size openings with or without hinges. Some are made of surgical stainless steel micro mesh. One goes inside the gutter as a nylon mesh. One is a spiral brush. With the simple types enough debris gets into the gutter to clog it as well as clog the top of the screen and keep water from getting into the gutter. The over priced ones may not let debris into the gutter but the debris will accumulate on top of the gutter guard to the point that after a couple of years the debris has to be physically removed. A telescopic pole and brush is recommended by one manufacturer to clean the tops of the mesh gutter screen. The problem is that the homeowner can not see the tops of the micro mesh. And since the debris accumulates on top of the mesh it is out of sight. You can bet that what is out of sight will be out of mind to the homeowner and he will not think of servicing it.
Do not fret. Aside from screens there is a plethora of other gutter covers from which to choose. But before we go on, the single fin or rounded nose type with a solid top is to be avoided. Cheaper types use clips which easily dislodge from the gutter requiring maintenance. However, most of these gutter guards do not dislodge. If you Google "Niagara gutter guard" you will see the basic design of this low end type of gutter guard. The solid top is a benefit but in heavy debris conditions leaves and blossoms accompanies the rain water over the fin or rounded front nose of the gutter protector and stick to lower section of the gutter cover gutter protector where the leaves and blossoms of any size can go into the gutter. The reality is that these gutter guards in medium to heavy debris conditions need maintenance meaning that the gutter cover has to be removed and the gutter cleaned. Recognizing the basic problems with this basic design an improvement was made to add a trough to the bottom of the fin to keep large debris from going into the gutter. Unfortunately the trough is located beneath the top gutter lip which means that the debris stays there. Reality is that sufficient debris passes through the openings in this trough which is really a variation of a screen with large openings, and clogs the gutters. The trough can also clog. Another company recognizing the deficiency of the rounded nose type added small sieve openings in its top resulting in making it a screen hybrid. This is not the best gutter protector to sell as in mild to heavy debris conditions you will be constantly needing to service it.
What can be done to improve the design? The answer is that the openings have to be limited in size and above the gutter lip. An improvement on the rounded nose design is a leaf guard with a row of apertures in the vertical front surface located just under the rounded nose. To get the water into the openings and thus into the gutter the openings or apertures would need to have louvers. To see an example of this design, Google "Care-free solid top gutter protector". It is definitely an improvement over the basic fin or rounded nose. This Care-Free gutter guard will definitely limit the size of the debris that can get into the gutter to three fourths of an inch. But look at the juncture where it meets the gutter. Any small debris falling onto the gutter lip can also wash into the gutter. Even though it is not the best leaf guard it is a great option for light to medium debris conditions.
Many of your customers will not require the best gutter guard so it make sense to offer this design for a few dollars less than the best gutter protector. The question is how can the design of the Care-Free gutter guard be improved upon?
If we could find a gutter protector with two rows of louvers we would have a solution. Likewise an improvement would also be to not have any apertures at or below the gutter lip. If you Goggle, "Waterloov gutter guards" you will find an example of this design. Google "Number One Gutter Protector" and you will see another design of a double row louvered gutter cover. Two rows of louvers are common to both designs which exclude anything sufficient in size to clog the gutter inside. No openings are located at the gutter lip of either product.
How about servicing? Any debris that may accumulate on the surface of the louvers is easy to see and likewise easy to remove by the homeowner. In comparison to the micro mesh screens, there is no guessing where the debris might be accumulating. With the single or double row louvered gutter guards, it is highly visible and with a telescopic pole and brush assembly, long enough to reach two and a half stories (longer ones available), the debris can easily be knocked of the front surface of the gutter guard.
In summary the two row louvered design is the best leaf guard to represent. It is easily serviced by the homeowner. This basic double row louvered product has lasted over twenty years meaning that your profits stay in your pocket making this the best type of gutter guard business opportunity.
Richard Kuhns B.S.Ch.E., engineer and inventor. To find out more about the best gutter guards--self cleaning gutters-- please to go http://www.waterloov.com or http://www.NumberOneGutterProtector.com or http://www.carefreegutters.com and see for yourself.
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