It’s one of the most common asked questions when homeowners are considering installing gutter guards; Do Gutter Guards Work? If “work” to you means significantly decreasing the amount of maintenance needed to keep you gutters clean and eliminating the need for interior gutter cleanings; then the answer is yes. If your idea of guards working is a 100% maintenance free solution, then we can’t answer that with yes. When we hear clients express dissatisfaction with how a guard product works, we’ve found that it is generally because they were promised unrealistic outcomes.

re Gutter Guards Worth It?

Have you heard “never clean your gutters again” “100% maintenance free gutters” or anything along those lines? If you have, chances are that needing to do any sort of gutter maintenance after hearing these claims is quite honestly maddening. Since these unrealistic expectations were not met, it’s easy to assume things like “my gutter guards failed”. Because the truth of the matter actually is that your gutter guards haven’t failed you, your salesperson did!

There are many companies and products claiming to free you from ever worrying or needing to maintain your gutters again. But, this promise is just not something we as a gutter installers can guarantee, as no product is truly 100% maintenance free.

The idea with gutter guards is to significantly decrease the amount of maintenance needed, and to eliminate the need for 1-3 (or more) interior gutter cleanings a year. While, we have many clients who have not needed any maintenance after guard installs for over 10 years, we cannot promise that this will be the case for every situation. A common maintenance practice that may need to occur after installing guards is a quick brush off of the top of the gutter covers.

Our Solutionist- Danny

This idea of a sales person failing rather than your gutter guards, was brought to our attention by one of our Solutionists who hears these sort of statements in reference to gutter guards failing on a regular basis. The reason why a “failed guard” falls more heavily on the sales tactics, is because unattainable expectations are often set. This is ultimately leading to disappointing results – giving gutter guards a bad reputation.

If you’re like most consumers in this day and age, when you consider a medium to large project for your home you typically research online reviews. When searching, do gutter guards work, or best gutter guards, or even gutter guard reviews, things can quickly spiral out of control with an overwhelming amount of information on both sides of the spectrum. You’ll see anything from “this is the best investment I have ever made” to “a total waste of money, did not function as advertised”. So, who do you believe and what is the answer to this burning question of do gutter guards work and/or why are my gutter guards failing?

Gutter Guard Choices

In the world of gutter guards, there are many different product choices to choose from as well as installers. This is great, because there are many different circumstances they will be needed for. The unique qualities of a home can dictate the best type of guard to solve your issues. One of the most common concerns Danny hears from clients inquiring about gutter guards is “I have read a lot of negative reviews”. When sourcing your negative reviews, it is important to really breakdown the substance of it. Do the reviews say “these are not maintenance free” or “these did not work as promised and required more maintenance than I had hoped”? Because if that is the case, these reviews aren’t inherently bad. It goes back to the above statement referring to what was promised at sale.

If a 100% maintenance free experience was promised, then it would be easy to assume that these reviews make sense based on their expectations. A promise to “never have to clean your gutters again” should be a red flag. Sometimes, when something sounds too good to be true, it is. Sort of like a wrinkle-free shirt. While it will have  less wrinkles than a cotton shirt, there is still likely to be a wrinkle or two. This especially depends on the activities performed while in the shirt. No product is perfect. Therefore, it’s not fair or truthful to make promises guaranteeing that your situation will never require attention again.

Your Sales Experience Here At Brother Gutters

During a gutter guard sale, we make sure to take a look at what issues the homeowner is facing. Specifically in terms of the types of trees and debris causing the issue. Is it only large leaves, or small pine needles? Or is there a pest or bird’s nest issue? Depending on the answers to these questions, not only will the product recommended vary, but so too will your results. If your home is surrounded by an extremely dense tree population that excessively sheds pine needles year-round, you are likely to fall in the category of clients that need to occasionally have guard maintenance done.

At The Brothers Gutters, we strive to set each customer up with the ideal guard. For we address each situation they are confronted with, while providing them with realistic expectations. This is the reason we offer more than one guard option. Taking the time to provide an honest evaluation with each client allows us to realistically explain how gutter guards work. We can explain what to expect, and offer the best solution for each unique home. We want you to understand your option, but also why that option is the right choice for your system.

Do Gutter Guards Work?

So, the answer to the burning question of do gutter guards work, is yes. The answer to are gutter guards maintenance free is possibly. This separation of these two questions makes all the difference. In determining if you feel that your gutter guards failed you, or if indeed you feel satisfied with the results.

Gutter Screens Are Worth the Investment

A gutter guard installation is a great investment. They significantly decrease the amount of maintenance your gutter system needs each year. As well as prevent potentially damaging interior clogs. If you think your home could benefit from installing gutter guards, contact us today for your free estimate. We will help to determine the best solution for your unique home. We will also provide you with a realistic understanding of what to expect for your guard system.

Contact us today for your free gutter guard estimate.

The post Do Gutter Guards Work? Let’s Get Real appeared first on The Brothers that just do Gutters.

Prevention is the key to the problem of frozen gutters. It is much harder to thaw them out than it is to just keep everything flowing all along. If you are a Langley resident, you know how rainy and colder months in British Columbia can affect your rain gutters. In order to avoid having to repair or install a new gutter system, here are some expert tips to keep your gutters from freezing during Langley’s coldest months:

Check Your Rain Gutter Slope

When properly installed, gutters have a slight slope leading to the downspout. This ensures that water quickly moves out of the system. However, you shouldn’t assume that your gutters have the right slope, even if they did when they were first put on the house. They can settle with age, be knocked to the wrong angle by storms, or even suffer from improper installation. If the result of any of these things has caused your gutters to become flat, water will be able to pool within them and freeze.

The easiest way to find out if your gutters have the right slope is to have them inspected by a professional help for gutter repair and maintenance. If you already know that the slope is wrong, you can skip the inspection step and proceed directly to getting gutter repair in Langley. The repair crew will refasten the gutters so that they have the proper angle for good drainage.

Keep the Gutters Clean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaves, twigs, and other debris will eventually form dams if allowed to remain in the gutters. This allows water to pool and freeze. Have your gutters cleaned out every fall to prevent this problem.

Check our previous blog post and learn how to unclog a clogged gutter.

Take the Snow off of Your Roof

An abundance of snow on the roof, especially after a blizzard, can overwhelm your anti-freezing measures. In blizzard conditions, the gutters themselves can be filled with snow long before any salt could melt it. Then, you need to manually remove the snow before it partially melts and refreezes into ice. A roof rake makes it possible to do this job from the side of the house, instead of walking around on the roof. Other tools work well for clearing the gutters.

dd Insulation to the Roof

Insufficient roof insulation allows heat to leave the house and melt the snow that’s on top of it. This allows liquid water to flow into the gutters even on freezing cold days. Since the gutters aren’t exposed to the house’s heat like the rest of the roof, the water then freezes.

If you add enough insulation to stop the snow on the roof from melting on cold days, you will end the biggest winter source of liquid water. A bit may still melt and get into the gutter system, but it won’t be nearly as much as comes from a poorly-insulated roof. Then, most of the water will enter the system on days where the overall weather is above freezing. This ensures that it will remain liquid as it traverses the gutters.

Use a Heated Gutter Cable

The direct application of heat is a time-honored way of preventing and getting rid of ice, but you’ll need a special system to do it in your gutters. Gutter cables are meant to handle exposure to water, cold, and sunlight. If you don’t want to have to go up to your gutters after every snowstorm, or to keep putting rock salt in them, give these cables a try.

Like any other product, some cables are better than others. Be sure to read the reviews on big online retailers before choosing a brand. Even if you buy from some other site or a physical store, a good set of reviews can point you in the right direction. You can also find out prices this way, so you can better decide whether or not you want to pursue this option.

Does Rock Salt help?

Salt is quite corrosive to certain metals, especially steel. Make sure that your gutters will not have an overly-negative reaction to either salt or salt water before using this method. The same kind of salt that prevents and removes ice from your driveway can work in gutters, but it can also damage your gutters, corrode concrete and impact your landscape. We would recommend using other solutions.

Why Bother to Prevent Gutter Freezing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When gutters freeze up, they can cause many problems. The biggest danger is to your roof. Frozen gutters do not allow water to easily leave the edge of the roof, and this causes it to pool and freeze right there. That, in turn, creates ice dams. The water trying to come down the roof behind an ice dam cannot get to the ground, and instead backs up under the shingles. Eventually, this results in roof leaks.

The weight of frozen water in the gutter system can also be a problem. It can cause the gutters to pull away from the house, damaging the connecting points on both the gutters and the house itself.

Make sure you add gutters to your home maintenance and winter plumbing checklist to avoid gutter issues during the colder months in Langley.

Contact Professional Help

If you need professional help to get your gutters at the proper slope, have heated cables installed, or to take any other anti-freezing measures, contact our gutter company located in Langley for assistance. Here at Weatherguard Gutters, we are standing ready to help you do everything possible to protect your gutter system.

Weatherguard Gutters provides gutter repair service, new gutter installation, and maintenance services. Our crews use safe practices, including the use of manlifts, so you don’t have to worry about our people slipping off of ladders or having other accidents. We also offer the best warranty on parts and labor in the area, deliver fair pricing, and promise quick turnaround on your job.

If you’re in Langley, or anywhere in the metro Vancouver area, contact us at Weatherguard Gutters today. We’ll make sure that your gutters stay free of ice this year and in the years to come.

The post How to Keep Gutters from Freezing in Langley’s Colder Winter Months appeared first on Weather Guard Gutters.

The vast majority of houses have rain gutters, but many people don’t think too much about them. Because of this lack of attention, it’s easy to mistakenly ignore them if they become clogged or damaged. Some even think it’s a fine idea to just pull them down and be done with them. Is this really a good way to deal with gutters? Read on to learn how rain gutters work and why they are necessary.

Why Are Rain Gutters Necessary?

When it rains, every 100 square feet of your roof accumulates and drains 60 gallons of water per inch of precipitation. Many roofs are about 2,300 square feet. That means they will be shunting off 1,380 gallons of water for every inch that falls on them.

Without gutters, those 1,380 gallons of water drop straight off of the leading edges of the roof and go into the ground at or very close to your house’s foundation. This interferes with the ground’s ability to support the foundation, and in turn, that can lead to shifting, cracking of the foundation, and foundation undermining. It can also cause cracks in basement walls and damage to your house.

Foundation damage is extremely expensive to repair. It typically requires lifting the house on jacks, doing the work necessary to fix the problem, and then carefully setting the house back down. This lifting can cause other latent structural problems to appear, especially in the walls of the house. Unfortunately, ignoring foundation damage only lets it get worse, so if the house is to be kept indefinitely, repair must be done when damage occurs.

Damage to basement walls not only weakens the structure of the house, but allows leaks. When a basement leaks, mold soon finds the wet materials perfect for incubation. Then, you end up with a mold problem as well as a water issue. Even worse, water that leaks in typically does not go away nearly as fast as it came. This allows the mold to keep growing even when it is dry outside.

How do Gutters Work?

Gutters are placed at the leading edges of the roof. There, they collect the torrents of water that come from the roof during rainstorms, and direct them to a safe area for discharge via downspouts. In many cases, this area is simply far enough away from the house to avoid foundation damage. However, many people now have their downspouts aimed into rain barrels or into hoses for distribution to their gardens. Rain barrels allow the water to be saved for drier days.

As you can see, how gutters work is simple. Even so, they are very important for protecting your house from damage.

The Importance of Maintaining Your Rain Gutter

Maintaining your rain gutter is essential for preventing a wide variety of problems, not all of which are at ground level. A cracked or rusted rain gutter will drip down from any gaps, and if it is close enough to your wall, this will leave ugly stains all down the side of the house. If its fasteners are in a similar state, it can fall down suddenly as well, potentially injuring anyone or anything that is beneath it.

Clogged gutters pose even more problems. The rainwater can’t get out properly, so these gutters fill up with water. Some will spill over the side, but there’ll still be a full gutter below the water line. That puts weight into the system that the gutter’s fasteners were never meant to hold, so they may fail and let the gutter fall down without warning. Alternatively, one or two fasteners will fail, leaving the damaged gutter hanging askew.

If gutters are left clogged long enough, the fallen leaves causing the blockage will rot and turn to humus. This doesn’t clear the clog, but it does provide the perfect environment to germinate the seeds and fern spores that have landed in there. Wild plants growing from the gutters may not look all that bad, but they gain a huge amount of weight as they grow. A full-grown tree weighs many tons, so you can see that a sapling will quickly end up weighing enough to tear a gutter off of a house. If there are multiple plants growing up there, it will take even less time for their growth to add up to a catastrophic amount of weight.

The Right Time to Get a New Gutter System

Like any man-made thing that is constantly exposed to the weather, gutters eventually wear out to the point that replacement is in order. Look for large numbers of leaks, widespread corrosion (including in the fasteners), and similar problems. Also check to be sure that your downspouts go at least 10 feet from your house.

If your gutters are in an overall poor condition due these problems, it’s time to go ahead and replace your gutter system. The exception is the downspouts, which can be replaced separately from the rest of the system.

When Are Gutters Not Necessary?

While some say that every house needs gutters, there is one situation where many say that they’re not absolutely necessary. That is when the house is built on piers. A “pier foundation,” as it is sometimes called, elevates the house off of the ground and uses relatively thin, deep posts to give it stability. This foundation system is often found in mobile and manufactured homes as well as old site-built ones. Houses in flood zones may also use piers, regardless of whether they are manufactured or site-built.

Even with a pier foundation, you may find that it’s a good idea to have gutters. This is because some soils are prone to shifting if they get too wet, and this can cause the piers to move. If you have this type of soil, the answer to “are gutters necessary” is yes.

To get an estimate for gutter maintenance, repair, or replacement, contact us here at Weatherguard Gutters. We’ll be glad to help you keep your house safe.

The post How do Gutters Work and Why are They Necessary? appeared first on Weather Guard Gutters.

The gutters on your home can be difficult to clean, especially when you don’t have the tools you need to clean them correctly. It’s hard to reach your gutters and soffits with just a ladder and hose, which is why pressure washers are used by professionals to get your gutters cleaned or by using a professional gutter cleaning service is recommended.

A pressure washer can help eliminate chemical residue, mold, grease and any other contaminants from your rain gutters.

To protect your home and surrounding foliage, there are a number of steps to take when you are going to pressure wash your gutters on your own.

Protect Your Foliage

When you are going to use soap to clean your gutters and soffits, you will want to use the low-pressure nozzle and give your gutters, soffits and surrounding foliage a good soak. This will rinse off a good amount of debris and give your soap a chance to work.

After cleaning your gutters, rinse your foliage once again to get rid of any soap residue.

fter the First Rinse

Use detergent to get the dirt and grime off your soffits and gutters. Pay attention to the detergent you are using and dilute the detergent as directed.

Cover your soffits and gutters with detergent and let it soak for about 15 minutes. Pay attention to avoid getting water into your soffits, as this can lead to mold and mildew growth.

Remove the Dirt and Detergent

Once the detergent has broken up the dirt and loosened it, use the high-pressure nozzle and rinse your soffits and gutters thoroughly.

Make sure the detergent nozzle is off so that you don’t add more detergent to your home while trying to rinse it off. You will want to use the low-pressure rinse one more time on your home and foliage after rinsing off the detergent to get any remaining particles.

Use a Gutter Cleaning Attachment

You don’t have to get up on a ladder with a pressure washer to clean your gutters. You can use a gutter cleaning attachment instead, which is a much safer way to clean your gutters.

When you don’t have the equipment you need, it can be easier to have a professional come and clean your gutters instead.

If you need to have your gutters cleaned, contact us today at Weatherguard Gutters to get a free estimate. We have been serving homes in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland for more than 25 years, and we are ready to help you with all your gutter needs.

The post Why a Pressure Washer is Essential To Clean Your Gutters appeared first on Weather Guard Gutters.