With most of the spring flowers, Maple helicopters and Oak tassels fallen, we explore the aftermath of all the debris that has made its way from the trees, to the rooftops, and onto the surfaces of the nine gutter guards we are testing.
Despite heavy rain — as seen in an Episode 9 — most of the debris that was present then has stuck around and baked onto the gutter guards’ surface. It’s not budging. In fact, we have experienced a few weeks without any rain, so what’s left on top of the gutter guards has dried and hardened onto the surface like a thick crust.
Will what’s covering the gutter guards ever fall off or is it here to stay?
In this episode, we’ll explore each of the gutter guards in detail, revealing just how common and troubling the presence of leaves and debris on top of the gutter guards’ surfaces can be. We’ll also show you the water patterns that have formed on the face and bottom of the gutters to highlight what the gutters look like after it rains.
Now that it is dry outside, the gutter guards are revealing a pattern that is becoming easier to understand. Most gutter guards have been inundated with Locust flowers. To add insult to injury, pine needles and Oak tassels are also piling on.
Our lone solid gutter cover, LeaFree, is actually doing a pretty good job keep debris off of its surface. Look inside the channel opening across the front of the gutter guard, and your opinion about its effectiveness may change.
What is of bigger concern is that most of the gutter guards in this test are micro mesh. Micro mesh is considered the latest-and-greatest despite having been on the market for nearly 20-years. It’s becoming evident that not all micro mesh is good micro mesh.
Clean Mesh is doing a better than average job shedding leaves and debris, but it failed the last water test miserably. I mean miserably. Yet it’s a micro mesh system. How do you juxtapose it working reasonably well in one test and failing another?
The embossed diamond pattern micro mesh screen, HomeCraft HydroShield, is supposed to give homeowners a competitive advantage because of its unique screen design. But in this test, you can barely see the screen through all the flowers, pine needles, and Oak tassels.
What kind of a competitive advantage is that?
And then there are the heavyweights: LeafFilter, GutterGlove Pro and MasterShield.
LeafFilter began collecting leaves and debris on its surface as quickly as the Ultimate Gutter Guard Challenge started. It is at the back of the pack when it comes to the build-up of leaves and debris on top of the gutter cover. It has the most debris on it on the south side, and it’s not doing any better on the north side of the garage.
The face and bottom of the gutter holding LeafFilter on the south side shows a lot of debris sticking to the gutter face and water stains on the bottom of the gutter. On the north side, it’s a different story. LeafFilter is actually doing a very good job keeping debris off the face of the gutter and preventing water from forming at the bottom of the gutter, which means most of the water is going inside the gutter guard despite the piles of debris on top of the gutter guard surface.
GutterGlove Pro is doing a whole lot better than LeafFilter from a leaf and debris perspective, yet there is evidence water flowed over the top of the gutter guard in the rainwater Episode 9. You’ll see water streaks and water droplet stains across a decent percentage of GutterGlove Pro’s gutter face and bottom.
And then there’s MasterShield. For whatever reason, MasterShield is working better than anything else for this test. It’s shedding most leaves and debris with only a small percentage of debris sticking to the screen surface. It seems to be absorbing most of the water, too. We definitely saw water dripping from the drip edge in Episode 9, but there’s little evidence of water hitting the face of the gutter and dripping from the bottom of the gutter on both the north and south side gutters.
It evident that there’s a lot of variation within the micro mesh gutter guard category. We’ve learned enough so far that we’re seeing patterns emerge. A few micro mesh gutter guards are working well, others are holding their own, and a few more are doing okay in some tests and poorly in others.
If these tests are any indication, the marketing hype behind some of the products might not be supported by results from our real-world tests, so it’s in your best interest to do your homework before buying anything.
If you’re in the market for gutter guards and are seeking confirmation as to how well gutter guards perform “in the wild,” this is a great episode to watch and learn from. Episode 10 and the last few episodes will go a long way in helping you make an informed and educated decision about what may be the best gutter guard for your home and budget.
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