Gutter Leaf Guards

Gutter leaf guards are meant to keep leaves off gutters. This is because the leaves block the water in the gutter making them overflow. Gutter leaf guards are not only made for leaves, they keep off debris and any other objects that fall on the roof. In addition, they prevent the debris from rolling into the gutters or people's yards.

There are various types of gutter leaf guards. These are gutter screens and surface tension models. Gutter screens are characterized by a mesh that acts as a sieve, which is a barrier to the leaves and debris. Rainwater flows past the mesh ensuring the gutters are always clean. Gutter screens have different sizes of holes and this allows the user to choose the right size they want. Gutter screens with large holes are suitable for larger debris and sticks while smaller holes are ideal for leaves and small stones. Gutter screens are not that effective. However, since they do not have the small holes that prevent small debris like sands, they restrict larger debris and big leaves. Another problem is that they need constant cleaning of the restricted debris. This is because if the leaves and the debris accumulate, the holes are closed and they restrict water from flowing past the debris and this causes overflows on the roof. Cleaning the gutter screens is not tiresome, more so during a sunny day when the debris that has collected on the mesh is dry.

Surface tension models are gutter leaf guards that close the gutter opening completely and are close to the roof surface thus they are named 'surface'. They leave a small opening that only allows water to flow through and this makes the surface tension models better than the gutter screens. They have circular rims that are curved backwards and this makes the debris and the leaves that are restricted to roll over to the edge where they accumulate while the water flows through. This is a better method of guarding leaves and debris since the leaves do not collect at the entrance of the water and so there will be no overflows on the roof. The surface tension models too do not restrict the tiny debris like sands and thus there is no a perfect gutter leaf guard. The surface tension model leaf guards are easier to clean since the elevation ensures that debris is collected automatically. Some of the surface tension models are elevated to a greater angle and this drops the collected debris to the ground.

The shape of the roof determines the kind of gutter leaf guard that one uses. The slanting roof is ideal for the surface tension model since the slight elevation allows the restricted debris and leaves to roll over and collect in one place while the gutter screens are ideal for the flat roofs since they catch all the debris that falls from above the roof.

The surface tension models are more expensive than the gutter screens and this makes the gutter screens more common since most people prefer the cheaper gutter leaf guards .