Just Me Again....
All that laborious reading (my first message above), and I guess I just need to know this: How can I tell if I need to start over with new gutters, or if I just need a gutter cover system???
Miss Mary

I have 30" soffits, just took the gutters off and no more cleaning. What size soffits do you have?

To tell if you need new gutters, look at the ones you have. Are they bent, leaking or too small? If not, just put covers on them. I used the ones from Home Depot. I clean out the gutters once every 3 years or so. The guards have been up for about 15 years. Now they have ones with screens built in so smaller debris stays out.
Ron

Hello, you did not indicate the pitch of your house; is it steep or conventional. A conventional pitched house you can safely walk on it without needing safety equipment. Also do you have a Traditional house, or when which has gabled sides: a Traditional house is essentially a rectangle or box, with a roof. If it's gabled, there is a part of the house (such as the garage) which is right angles to the rest of the box. As a result, a gabled house will have valleys between the 90 degree roof lines which channel into the gutter.

Also,typical seemless gutters are made of steel; they will sooner or later rust out. If you clean the debris out once or twice a year (if you have trees) and if they are pitched correctly (so there is not an inch of water sitting in the gutter for months at a time inthe winter) your gutter may last 30 plus years, but may also rust out in as little as 15.

I have old growth Douglas Fir about 60 feet behind my house and the storms come from that direction. I have had to clean my gutter as often as twice a year as the years have gone buy (I have lived in this house 21 years).

Neighbors are replacing their gutters due to rusting out. I live in the maritine Pacific NW where it rains or drizzles 8 or more months a year.

My gutters were looking awful (algae growing). I thought about painting the gutters black, but I realized I'd be replacing them anyway if my neighbors experience was a clue.

I had inexpensive screens inserted (Home Depot). They did infact keep needle debris from clogging the gutters, but about 10% of the water would drip off the gutters in front of the garage. I enter through this area and the drips were obnoxious.

I decided to research the various gutter usytems. Many of the feedback seems to have been written by marketing people, you can tell there is one out there that wants everyonce to only consider a stainless steel micro filter system (wouldn't work for me, as would grow algae and the screens need to be pressure washed or scrubbed with detergent). Plus, with the needles and debris resting on the screens, water will still cascade over the entry points of the house.

I decided on the Leaf Guard. I know that economically, better simply to pay someone twice a year to clean out the gutter and blow off the roof. Prices have gone up and mowadays its $125 to clean out the gutters so $250 a year.

The Leaf Guard is expensive ($3000 to $5000) typically but is made of thick aluminum (won't rust out). Also comes in about 12 colors (the seemless steel gutters are typically, white, pimer, or brown). If I went with a steel gutter; I'd have to have it painted. Anyway, I have the money so I went with the Leaf Guard (there is a Helmet Guard suystem; but this is attached to the roof edge, plus I'd still have a 21 year old steel gutter).

Anyway, I have a traditional house with a standard pitch and with driving rain, it works as advertised without the obnoxious run off of water I experienced with the vinyl screens I had tried.

I chose the coral grey (charcol black) finish and it is very attractive; it belend in with the roofline and is not noticible at all....I went with the optional cleanout screens at the bottoms of the downspouts, and during a heavy rain, when I remove these and look, the water appears as tap water, the screens are clean of debris so looks like the reverse curve system is doing what it is supposed to. One of the competitors makes fun of the Leaf Guard system as the original patent (not made by Leaf Guard) was applied for in the 1890s. They were not stupid then and all the modern machines we take for granted were made first in the late 1800s.

If you have a steep pitched roof or with valleys easpecially near the entry of your house, the Leaf Guard (or any other leaf proof system) may not be to your liking.

Just expect to pay $250 a year to keep things clear (or do the work yourself). If you can stand heights, you can walk along the edge of the roof and use a leaf blower when the weather is dry....I got tired of doing THAT.

Nicest ad I've seen yet on the forums.

I've also used the guards from HD, had them on for 3 years now, notice some seeds get through but not enough to clog, yes, I get the drip down the neck sometimes but only when snow is melting, installation was somewhat a pain but cost wise was great.

Hi Mary,

It could be as easy as installing some kind of open mesh screening over the opening -- it's hard to advise without a visual. Someone on the oldhouseweb forums had this same delima and their post elicited quite a few helpful responses:

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15541&hilit=gutters+replace

Perhaps it would help if you posted a picture of your actual gutter and ask for feedback based on that? Good luck!

Here's that link from the post above

Here is a link that might be useful: gutter advice