As the old adage says, if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s exactly what happened with the original MasterShield gutter guards installation at this home in Loveland, Ohio, on the outskirts of Cincinnati.
Old Guard vs New Guard
The homeowners, Beverly and Alan, had previously purchased LeafGuard and MasterShield gutter guards only to determine that neither system worked properly. They were so unhappy that they even paid to have the MasterShield gutter guards removed, after having done the same thing with LeafGuard a few years prior.
By the time we got the call to inspect their gutters, they were seasoned veterans and unhappy owners of two popular gutter guard systems.
As we previously pointed out in our article, What Gives Gutter Guards a Bad Name?, if you buy and install the best gutter guard for your environment and it is not installed properly, it’s as if you have the worst leaf guard system.
In other words, any cover for gutters that is installed incorrectly either will give you suboptimal performance or it will simply fail. In the case of this Cincinnati-area couple, it was a combination of the gutters not being sloped properly — horizontally — to drain water towards the downspouts and not being positioned correctly — vertically — on the fascia boards to provide adequate forward slope to drive leaves and debris from the roof, off of the gutter covers.
Don’t Make these MasterShield Mistakes
Since we didn’t install the gutters, we don’t know if the 6″ gutters were installed by the same company who installed MasterShield or if the work was completed by two different companies, but both jobs were botched (a common occurrence).
Whatever the case, the gutter over the front garage doors was overflowing, which means water was pooling between the high point, to the left of the side door, and at the right end of the garage where the downspout was located.
Once we identified the issues, we had to convince the homeowners that MasterShield was the best gutter guard for their home. Since MasterShield hadn’t been installed properly the first time, we emphasized that it was an installation problem not a gutter guard problem.
This wasn’t an easy task. Alan, a retired engineer, asked lots of probing questions. Beverly, managed a sales team for many years and had her antenna up, sensing any sort of BS I may have been lobbing their way. But as it turns out, I matter-of-factly laid out my case for why resetting the gutters was the key to ensuring the leaf guards would work properly. The engineer was satisfied with my answers to their questions.
I was prepared to walk away from this opportunity, knowing that I left their home having provided them the best recommendation and prescription for their ailment.
MasterShield vs Valor: Which is the best gutter guard?
Our competition for this job was another gutter guard called Valor. While I was familiar with Valor, I hadn’t seen it in action, so I told the homeowners that I couldn’t comment on its performance. They told me that one of the things they didn’t like about it was that it installed relatively flat within the gutter.
I chimed in that they’d end up in much the same spot as MasterShield had been on the last installation, a gamble they were unwilling to take.
As it turns out, they called back a few days later saying that they were prepared to proceed with the project. Apparently, the previous company had installed white MasterShield gutter guards on their clay colored gutters. This was another reason they were disappointed with the first implementation.
Their gutters didn’t work, their gutter guards didn’t shed leaves and debris, and the gutter guards clashed with everything on their house. When I told her that we would color-match the gutter guards with the gutters, she was pleased!
After the installation was finished, Beverly said, “[MasterShield] looks way better than any of the other gutter guards we’ve had. We are very pleased, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
We reset all the gutters and made sure the downspouts were draining properly
Our gutter guard installation team spent one day resetting all the gutters on the house and another day installing MasterShield micro mesh gutter guards. As you will see in the video, there are no longer leaves on the roof and on top of the gutter covers. We were able to pitch the gutters correctly and drop them on the fascia boards so they had an adequate forward slope. “It’s better than me getting out there with a step-ladder and a big long broom trying to sweep off the gutters,” Beverly said.
A Callback 2 Years Later
They called us in 2021, two years after the installation, and asked if we’d stop by to remove a splash guard over the side door to the left of the garage doors. I was unaware that we had installed a splash guard as there was no reason to do so, but Beverly asked the guys to do it and they did. As it turns out, she told me that she could no longer climb the ladder to remove the leaves and debris that lodged behind it. I stopped by and removed the splash guard for them. It gave me a chance to catch-up and hear from them how everything was working.
Beverly said that the gutter guards have worked way better than Alan and she anticipated they would, and she concluded by saying, “I still can believe how well it went.”
Location: Loveland, Ohio
Completion Date: November 2019
Gutter Guards: MasterShield
Color: Clay
Project Cost: ~$4,000
