We’re finally beginning to see debris moving of the gutter guards surface. Last week we took a deep dive into all of the systems. This week, we’ll show you much of the same, but pay special attention to the mid-tier micro mesh gutter guards from GutterLove, GutterGlove Easy-on, and HydroShield. If Menard’s is in your market, go ahead and add Clean Mesh to your list of products to watch.
GutterLove/LeafLock is clearing up on the south side of the garage. For a minute, it looked like the bits that had broken away from the locust flowers might lodge into the screen, but, as you’ll see, that’s not really the case. While there is still a fair bit of debris lingering on the screen, water is still passing under the debris and making its way into the gutters.
HydroShield, also on the south side of the garage, is still fairly well covered with debris. The embossed diamond pattern of the screen is supposed to prevent leaves and debris from clinging to the screen itself, but it’s evident that claim is hype and not reality. Of the 6 gutter guards located on this side of the garage, it continues to fair worst — both in terms of debris on the gutter guard’s surface and the amount of debris that has collected on the face of the gutters from water flowing over top of the gutter guard surface — at this point in the test.
As we transition to the north side of the garage, you’ll see that MasterShield continues to do well; LeafFilter continues to struggle with debris on its surface; and LeafSolution is starting to see daylight after having been well covered.
Moving down the line to the more porous and DIY micro mesh screens, GutterLove is consistently covered with remnants from the locust flowers and pine needles. It may be fairing a bit worse on the north side than the south side.
Gutter Glove Easy-on micro mesh gutter guard is showing signs of life where the debris has cleared almost entirely away from various spots on the screen while other areas are still covered with debris. Easy-on is a DIY gutter guard available from Costco, so this is what you might expect in a tough environment when you install it yourself. Unlike GutterLove, the face of the gutter is littered with bits of debris off the top of the gutter screen. This is indicative of water flowing over the top of the guard when it rains and brings some of the debris with it, where it deposits and sticks to the face of the gutter.
The last system of note on the north side gutters is Clean Mesh. Available online and and at Menard’s (likely under a different name), this system continues to impress in terms of its ability to shed leaves and debris, but it has been less impressive with its ability to handle rainwater.
If you’ve made your way to the end of the video, you’ll learn that the Top 3 winners of this weeks challenge are the same as last week’s winners.
If you look at the mid-tier systems as a subset of the overall population of the gutter guards we’re testing, we’ll give the nod Clean Mesh, GutterLove, and GutterGlove Easy-on, in that order, for its ability to shed debris at this point in the test. While Easy-on appeared to do a better job managing the debris on top of the gutter screen than GutterLove, it allowed more water to spill over the gutter screen and dirtied the face of the gutter. Clean Mesh beat both systems for its ability to shed debris, and has consistently ranked well overall in this regard, but it, too, has issues managing water flow. GutterLove does a better job managing water than either Clean Mesh and Easy-on, but it fairs worse in managing the debris that Clean Mesh and it performs similarly to slightly worse than Easy-on.
We’re beginning to see fractures in manufacturers marketing messages and performance claims. It also is becoming evident that not all micro mesh systems perform the same. While products may look very similar, they may, in fact, perform quite differently in the exact same environment.
Please leave your comments and questions below and we’ll be happy to get back to you.
