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A co-worker is fed up with cleaning their gutters. They have tried every kind of gutter protection system and none of them are practical.
I was looking online for a rain dispersion system I saw years ago. Instead of gutters, it was a series of plastic pieces that looked like giant chicken feet. The water flowed over them and broke up into droplets that scattered away from the house.
I can find are the louver type dispersion systems. Does anyone know whether the chicken feet things worked and are still available?
Anyone have real experience with the louvered types? I looked around on the internet and while lots of people had opinions and theories about how they would or would not work, very few people had any actual experience with them. Do the completely fail if there is wind? How do they hold up in the winter? Do they disperse the rain enough to prevent it from running down into the foundation? (obviously, this last will depend in part on geography, hardscape, drainage tile, etc.)
My house is paved on 3 sides with a giant deck on the back. No need for a gutter. Pulling up to 4 of my 5 entrance doors is done via asphalt. It's much nicer than cement or grass. Under the deck is a flat stone sidewalk which one day will be made an indoor area.
Well, I don't know of anyone who "enjoys" cleaning gutters. But there are those that get paid to do it.
Rain louvers are only good for light to moderate rain. With the changing weather climate, inclimate weather seems to be more severe- meaning torrential rains are more common. The locals call them "turd floaters". The rain hurls off the roof so fast and with so much force it literally flys right over/past the louvers, helmets, etc.
Anyway, the answer to the problem is not the gutter, gutter guard, screens, louvers, you name it! It's the foliage!!! Get rid of the trees and problem solved!
Now, for those of you who are going to contemplate some diatribe about "killing trees" and other environmental bushwa- fagetabouit! IT IS "THE SOLUTION" to the problem.
A co-worker is fed up with cleaning their gutters. They have tried every kind of gutter protection system and none of them are practical.
I was looking online for a rain dispersion system I saw years ago. Instead of gutters, it was a series of plastic pieces that looked like giant chicken feet. The water flowed over them and broke up into droplets that scattered away from the house.
I can find are the louver type dispersion systems. Does anyone know whether the chicken feet things worked and are still available?
Anyone have real experience with the louvered types? I looked around on the internet and while lots of people had opinions and theories about how they would or would not work, very few people had any actual experience with them. Do the completely fail if there is wind? How do they hold up in the winter? Do they disperse the rain enough to prevent it from running down into the foundation? (obviously, this last will depend in part on geography, hardscape, drainage tile, etc.)
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Thanks.
As a person with 5 years of gutter installation experience I can honestly say that there are zero solutions to gutters clogging. There are temporary "fixes" that last a little while like gutter mesh, those silly gutter fillers that look like brush fibers, the gutter caps, gutter helmets, etc....
Mesh, brushes, etc... catch debris and clog. Then it's an even bigger problem to clear.
Anything that completely covers the gutter sans a small gap in the front with the hope of using surface tension to control water movement have never lived anywhere that it actually rains. This might work in a very light drizzle, but they don't work in parts of the world where it actually rains. Rain picks up enough momentum if there is enough of it that it will shoot over the louvers and right onto the ground, completely negating the purpose of a gutter.
There are only 3 solutions to avoiding a clogged gutter.
Clean it, remove the trees, or don't install it.
I have a lot of trees around my property so my gutters like to clog. My solution was to build a backpack blower extension that allows me to reach over into my gutter from the ground and blow out the debris. I do this every time I cut grass (or once per week in the fall/winter) and that ensures that nothing sticks. Because once leaves get wet it's a royal pain to blow them out.
Those pressure washer nozzles are gimmicky because most of the debris ends up in your downspouts and clogs those. They don't remove the debris but instead just change its location.
I have a lot of trees around my property so my gutters like to clog. My solution was to build a backpack blower extension that allows me to reach over into my gutter from the ground and blow out the debris. I do this every time I cut grass (or once per week in the fall/winter) and that ensures that nothing sticks. Because once leaves get wet it's a royal pain to blow them out.
What he said. I don't have pics to upload unfortunately but I can easily tell you how I did it. And, there are youtube videos that can also help.
I bought a 10 ft section of 2" schedule 40 pvc pipe. I also bought a 1.5" to 2" rubber adapter/coupler with hose clamps that fit over the extension on my blower. Clamp that to the pvc and the blower. At the end of the pvc pipe I added a 45 degree elbow, a 6" piece of pipe, and another 45 degree elbow angled at about 45 degrees from the straight piece of 10 ft pipe. This allows me to lean the pipe into the gutter and blow at an angle instead of straight down. I took two large 2.5" band clamps and added a simple gate pull handle to the pipe to give me something to hold onto when in use.
I can clean out the gutters on my house and detached garage in about 30 minutes now.
What he said. I don't have pics to upload unfortunately but I can easily tell you how I did it. And, there are youtube videos that can also help.
I bought a 10 ft section of 2" schedule 40 pvc pipe. I also bought a 1.5" to 2" rubber adapter/coupler with hose clamps that fit over the extension on my blower. Clamp that to the pvc and the blower. At the end of the pvc pipe I added a 45 degree elbow, a 6" piece of pipe, and another 45 degree elbow angled at about 45 degrees from the straight piece of 10 ft pipe. This allows me to lean the pipe into the gutter and blow at an angle instead of straight down. I took two large 2.5" band clamps and added a simple gate pull handle to the pipe to give me something to hold onto when in use.
I can clean out the gutters on my house and detached garage in about 30 minutes now.
Now, for those of you who are going to contemplate some diatribe about "killing trees" and other environmental bushwa- fagetabouit! IT IS "THE SOLUTION" to the problem.
Then I would tell your co-worker to stop bellyaching about cleaning the gutters!
You can't have your cake and eat it too!!!
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I don't have pics to upload unfortunately but I can easily tell you how I did it. And, there are youtube videos that can also help.
