Gutter Guards?

[toast2266]

Our gutters clog up with a ton of pine needles this time of year, and unless I'm on the ball about cleaning them (which I'm generally not), the needles sit there until spring. Then, when the snow melts off the roof, it makes a mess since the gutters are essentially non-functional.

I know there are a lot of products on the market that supposedly fix this problem by covering the gutters and not allowing needles in. Do any of them actually work? Any positive or negative experiences with specific brands?

[Stealth Radness]

I'm a contractor and I've seen a number of types of these- the final tally of how good they are depends upon the precise situation, but IMO the worst kind are ones that fully close the gutter and don't allow you to get into it- I've seen moss grow inside the primo models, yet the lids are clamped on so tight you can't remove the guards without removing the gutters from the house. Bad trade off. I've seen ones that come off with a few screws, probably they keep a lot of leaves out but you still need to get the guards off to give them a good cleaning at some interval. I generally prefer to come up with a good cleaning system & save $ otherwise spent on gutter guards for skiing. Sometimes when you poke your head up on your roof you see something else that you shouldn't ignore as well.

[Shorty_J]

I bought some cheap-o slide-in sections at my local Canadian Tire. They keep the big stuff out of the gutters really well (pine needles included), but I still need to get in there and scoop out some mucky mud once a year or so... but the panels come out and go back in pretty easily, so it's not to tough.

Sorry... can't find a link to the product, but it's basically a 6 foot section of plastic mesh with plastic screen material on top... clips right in to the gutters and under the shingles... easy.