Many of the Locust flowers, Maple tree helicopters, and spring blooms have fallen from the trees, and summer is just around the corner.
In this episode, we’ll look at all 12 gutter covers, including Consumer Reports best gutter guards, LeafFilter and GutterGlove Pro, to see how they’re performing after the big rainstorm that you saw in Episode 8, Smothered and Covered: Which gutter guards performs best in rainstorms? The gutter guards were covered with debris and pelted with rain. Some gutter guards worked well, and a few failed spectacularly!
Now that the rains have passed and it has dried out, have the Locust flowers blown off the top of the gutter covers?
In short, the answer is, “no.” It’s evident that it’s going to take a lot more than a crazy rainstorm to dislodge the Locust flowers from the tops of the gutter guards.
What you’ll notice is that the flowers have begun browning, turning from the yellowish-green color they were when they fell off the tree. It doesn’t look like they’re going to leave the gutter covers anytime soon. This could spell disaster for the systems that didn’t perform well in Episode 8.
In September 2010, Consumer Reports ranked LeafFilter and GutterGlove Pro top picks for professionally installed and do-it-yourself gutter guards, respectively.
We’re wondering, what were the reviewers at Consumer Reports thinking?
In this episode, you’ll see just how poorly LeafFilter and GutterGlove Pro are shedding debris. One is doing better than the other, but both are disappointing , especially considering LeafFilter has proclaimed itself as “America’s #1 rated gutter guard” for more than a decade.
Even more disappointing is HomeCraft’s HydroShield (we refer to it as Diamond Mesh). If you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t realize that there is a gutter guard located under the mound of Locust flowers.
MasterShield, which is represented on both the south and north sides of the garage, looks completely different than the other gutter guards and continues to impress us.
The metal reverse curve gutter guard, LeaFree, is mostly free of Locust flowers on the cover, but you’ll see how those flowers were drawn into the mouth opening of the gutter guard when it rained. This is one of the big knocks of solid gutter covers, and Episode 8 shows exactly what happens when small debris attaches itself to water.
Clean Mesh is running a distant 2nd on the north side gutters, in terms of debris on its micro mesh screen, but it was a major disappointment in the rain test.
There is so much hype in the marketplace with many gutter guards claiming to be “best.” The Ultimate Gutter Guard Challenge 2021 is getting interesting because there are massive performance differences between the top and bottom systems despite them looking similar.
As they say, “looks can be deceiving.” It’s especially true with gutter guards. The tests are showing us that just because it’s micro mesh, doesn’t mean that it’s any good.
Are you surprised by how LeafFilter and GutterGlove Pro are performing? What about MasterShield? Had you even heard of MasterShield prior to seeing the Ultimate Gutter Guard Challenge? How long do you think it’ll take for the Locust flowers to blow off the gutter guards’ surface?
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