Gutter Guards Vs. Gutters Without Guards

Gutter Guards Vs. Gutters Without Guards

Your roof gutters are an essential part of your roof system and, in fact, your home exterior as a whole. This is especially true when you live in an area given to any substantial amount of rain storms, as roof gutters help to funnel water away from the roof and the house. It’s for this reason that many homeowners install gutter guards to help protect their gutters from becoming too clogged by debris. But investments in home improvement are always worth considering carefully. Are they really beneficial to your home? Let’s break down the difference between a home with gutter guards and a home without them.

Debris

The point of gutter guards is to keep debris from clogging your gutters. Gutter guards are designed to sit on top of your gutters and but with holes venting so that water can seep into the gutters but debris cannot. This will also protect your gutters from become scratched or damaged by branches or debris. If you have nearby trees, this can be a good idea.

Maintenance

Keep in mind that you’d still need to do maintenance in order to keep debris from piling onto your roof. If your gutter guards are neglected, the debris that piles on top could make your roof vulnerable to mold or algae. But maintenance is required even without gutter guards in order to remove debris from your gutters. The difference is that with gutter guards, you simply have to brush the debris off the surface, rather than digging into the gutters. You may have to clear your gutters out once every couple of years, but this is significantly less than you might without gutter guards.

Ice And Snow

Gutter guards will not help to prevent ice dams, because ice dams tend to form on the roof, not in the gutter. THey do, however, help to remove melted snow off your roof. As snow melts, it will slide down the roof and make its way to the gutters, from which point it will be funneled into the downspout and away from the house. This is true, too, of unguarded gutters, but gutter guards help to make sure the gutters are not clogged when the water moves towards that point.

Are gutter guards the right option for your home? Mainstream Home Improvement offers perforated aluminum gutter covers to be truly effective. Contact us today to learn more about our gutter covers or to get started on your installation with a free estimate.

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