"I've tested most of the products on the market, but have decided to keep only one on my home: GutterFilter.
Finally, someone has made a product that really works!"
We all hate climbing up and cleaning out rain gutters, but we hate that clogged downspout even more -- or that neat row of maple trees growing on the edge of your roof.
Rain gutters have the additional problem in that they fall between the cracks of the trades.
Roofers don't really like working with them and will rarely come out for maintenance, general contractors find them too small a job to bother with and handymen often just don't know about a lot of critical elements like size, slope and drip edges.
So I set about testing rain gutter inserts. GutterFilter is an open weave mesh that looks like a foam pad, it works much like the shingles on your roof, but lets the water through. Water goes through like it wasn't there but it is strong enough to keep its form.
It sits high in the rain gutter totally covering all entry into the rain gutter. The lower portion is cut away in a triangular shape to give it strength while giving a free flow path for the water to the downspout as you can see in the first photo above.
There are various sizes and shapes to match your gutters. When the roof is wet, debris stick to the top of the filter as they do all over the roof but when things dry off the debris blows off just as it does off the rest of the roof.
With time the sun turns the top of the filter grey but it keeps on working, as evidenced by their lifetime warranty against clogs when it is installed correctly.
No, it is not available as a DIY item in the stores because part of what makes it work is being installed properly and the fellows at GutterFilter know that if there are already problems with the gutters themselves, their filter won't work either.
So they specialize in gutter maintenance and installing their quality filters. Finally someone took up rain gutter maintenance as a trade! This is what I have on my house.
Read the full review at Ask Jon Eakes.
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Jon Eakes has over thirty years of experience in home renovation and improvement. He has hosted shows on HGTV & CJAD 800AM radio, and authored books on the subject.
