I wanted to share with you why I’m trying your Leaf Guard® product, as well as my experience with a competitive product (note: my primary issue is pine straw, not leaves).
About 5 years ago, after several episodes of basement flooding in one summer, I purchased a ‘glove’type stainless steel mesh product that could be applied to my existing, standard-sized gutters. At the time, this product was the #1-ranked product in the Consumer Reports® review of this type of product and it was the least expensive on the list. What a great deal! Right?
Welt, for 3 years there was no flooding. Then, last summer (2013) I had 2 flooding incidents, and this year I had 3 incidents. When I went onto the roof to investigate, I could see that the mesh of the gutters was easily covered by pine straw, (see pictures 1 and 2, on page 2). NOTE: my roof has a very gentle pitch.
Secondly, …. 30-40% of the mesh was clogged by very small particles of organic matter, roofing material and even mould! (see pictures 3 & 4, on page 3).
I suppose I could periodically go up on the roof with a hose and a stout brush, but the whole reason I bought the mesh-type product was to: –
- keep me OFF the roof, and
- keep the basement from flooding.
On a real house over real time, the ‘glove’-type mesh product failed on both accounts.