Gutter Guards

Gutter guards go by a lot of names: gutter covers, gutter screens, leaf guards, leaf protection, and covered rain gutters. They all do the same job. Covered rain gutters are simply regular gutters with one of these guards installed on top. A guard sits over the top of the gutter and lets rainwater in while keeping leaves, twigs, seeds and other debris out, so the gutter keeps draining instead of filling up and spilling over.

No gutter guard is truly zero maintenance. Depending on what grows over your roof, you will still need to brush debris off the top of the panels from time to time so water can get in. Where gutter guards help is the ladder work of scooping out a packed trough, and most of the overflow that rots fascia boards, stains siding, and soaks the soil along your foundation. They protect your home and cut down on how often you need a full gutter cleaning. If your gutters are already full, we clean out the existing gutters first so the guards go on over a clean, flowing gutter system.

Gutters Made Easy offers more than one gutter guard system, from aluminum covers to stainless steel micro mesh, and we match the products to the debris that actually lands on your home.

The best gutter guards for your home are the ones built for the debris that falls on it, and in Central Texas that varies a lot from one street to the next.

• Live oaks. Small leaves fall all spring, along with pollen tassels that mat into a felt. Micro mesh handles this best, because screens with larger openings let the tassels straight through.
• Cedar (Ashe juniper). Short needles and berries slip through coarse screens and pack into the trough. Fine mesh is the answer here too. Hill Country lots get the worst of it, and we wrote about it in detail for steep cedar lots around Canyon Lake.
• Pecan, red oak and other big leaves. Larger leaves sit on top of almost any guard and blow off once they dry. Screens and perforated covers work well and cost less.
• Pine needles. Pine needles spear into a coarse screen and stay there. Use mesh or a solid cover.

Roof pitch matters as well. On a steep roof in a hard Texas downpour, water moves fast, and a guard has to let it in at the front edge instead of letting it shoot over. That is part of what we look at before recommending a product.

Gutter guards are worth it for most homes under trees, but they are not perfect, and it is better to know the tradeoffs up front.

• Guards still need an occasional brushing, especially after oak pollen season.
• Fine debris can build a mat on top of mesh that slows water down until it is brushed off.
• On steep roofs, some covers can let heavy rain run past the gutter.
• They cost more up front than a once-a-year cleaning.
• Cheap snap-in screens can sag, blow loose, or trap debris underneath.

Most of these come down to choosing the wrong product for the house. Matching the guard to your trees and your roof takes care of the rest.

The price of gutter guard installation depends on the total length of gutter, how many stories we are working on, the type of guard, and the shape your gutters are in. Screens cost the least, perforated aluminum covers sit in the middle, and micro mesh costs the most and lasts the longest. If your gutters are sagging or leaking, it usually makes sense to fix them first so the guards go on a sound system. If you need new gutters anyway, adding guards at the time of gutter installation saves a second trip.

You can install a basic snap-in screen yourself on a single-story house. Mesh systems take more care, since they need to be fastened and set at the right angle to the roof, and second-story work means long ladder time on the roofline. We give you a free quote after we look at the house, so you can compare it against doing it yourself.