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Gutter Guards around Portland Oregon

After the gutters have been cleaned, you may wish to greatly extend the time between cleaning by installing gutter guards.

Gutter guards are installed between the roof and the gutter edge. The type that you need depends on several factors. These include: trees nearby, winds, roofing material, pitch of roof, area of roof per linear foot of gutter and rainfall.

Installing the wrong filters may have kept out leaves, but allowed needles and other fines through that clogged the downspouts. These were removed, the gutters cleaned and proper gutter filters with mesh were installed.
Photo by Brad Lewis

Using the wrong type of gutter filter can allow needles to clog your guttes and only keep out the leaves. This causes extra expense when cleaning the gutters because the filters must first be removed, gutters cleaned and then new appropriate gutter filters must be installed.

The clean lines of properly installed brown gutter filters leaves the house attractive

No gap between gutter filters that would allow debris into gutters
Photo by Brad Lewis

It is important how gutter filters are installed. I notch the filters and overlap the ends. As can be seen in the following picture, there are not gaps even when the filters expand and contract through temperature changes. This maintains a clean appearance while preventing leaves or needles through.

Clean cut corners maintain the beauty of your home
Photo by Brad Lewis

On corners and elbows in the gutters, the gutter filters are cut to lay flat, be effective and look nice.

Needles cannot get through the UV stabilized fiberglass mesh
Photo by Brad Lewis

The gutter filters I use keep out not only leaves, but also needles and other small debris.

Also, where the filters receive intense heat, they may be screwed into the gutter to prevent warping and hold them in place in very gusty areas. I use stainless steel screws so there are not rust streaks after a couple years.

Gutter filters protect your gutters from filling up while allowing rain water to go into the gutter.

On wet days, the debris from the trees and upper roof comes to rest on the ridge of the filter. The water seems around and through the debris, through the filter, into your gutter and down the downspout.

As the weather turns dry, the debris resting on the filters dries out and is able to blow off in the wind.

The gutter filters I use keep out leaves as well as needles and most pesky tree seeds.

Shingles and gutter edge are too close together
and wrong angle to properly install gutter filters
Photo by Brad Lewis

There are some instances when gutter guards may not be installed. If the roof pitch is too great, then the gutter filters cannot be fitted. If the shingles are too close to the outside gutter edge, there is not enough room to fit them in. Also, if the outside gutter edge is not below the edge of the shingles, they should not be installed unless the gutter is lowered first. You don't want water to flow back under the shingles.