Gutter guards?

[deadwing]

I need to have some repairs made to my gutters.  One downspout is disconnected, another has some sort of plant growing out of it, one section is prone to leaking, and there might be birds nesting in another area.  I don't have trees directly over my house/roof, but there are some massive trees across the street that I get wonderful shade from - and less wonderful fall leaves.  Are gutter guards worth it?  Is there a style or brand that tends to be better?  

[lessel]

We lived in a ranch on a basement w/no gutter guards and it was NBD to clean out the gutters a few times a year because we could put up a short ladder and do it from there. Since then we've lived in 2 story houses were accessing the gutters to clean them is a bit more precarious, so the gutter guards are super useful.

I will say, make sure your attic is all buttoned-up and you don't have any critter issues. We have a squirrel situation and remediation/installation of an exclusion system is extra $$ because they have to disassemble the gutter guard and replace it as part of the process. Would have been a good bit cheaper if the gutter guards weren't a factor.

Also, I tried to get some spot gutter repair done once and found it difficult... most companies wouldn't touch spot fixes and just wanted to quote full replacements.

[deadwing]

Jul 14, 2023 14:08:40 GMT -5 lessel said:

We lived in a ranch on a basement w/no gutter guards and it was NBD to clean out the gutters a few times a year because we could put up a short ladder and do it from there. Since then we've lived in 2 story houses were accessing the gutters to clean them is a bit more precarious, so the gutter guards are super useful.

I will say, make sure your attic is all buttoned-up and you don't have any critter issues. We have a squirrel situation and remediation/installation of an exclusion system is extra $$ because they have to disassemble the gutter guard and replace it as part of the process. Would have been a good bit cheaper if the gutter guards weren't a factor.

Also, I tried to get some spot gutter repair done once and found it difficult... most companies wouldn't touch spot fixes and just wanted to quote full replacements.

This is good information - thank you!

I live in a bungalow with a finished attic, so I'm confident I don't have any critter issues there.  My first floor is more than 3' above ground level, so even though the gutters are at the top of the first story, they're still too high to do with my 6' ladder.  And the disconnected down spout is next to a picket fence where the ground is not level.  I am not comfortable trying to fix that just because I'm afraid of falling and impaling myself on the fence.

The leaky section, however, is on my garage.  It's a pretty small gutter and I wouldn't be opposed to completely replacing that section.  I'd actually be pretty happy to have the gutter gone for a week, so I can scrape and paint the eaves.  Everything else is vinyl, except for the eaves of the garage.  The gutter is in the way of repainting easily.