LESLIE: Gutter Cleaning 101 with Ken in Delaware. How can we help you today?
KEN: I have a little weed problem.
TOM: A weed problem?
LESLIE: Growing out of your gutters.
KEN: And it’s – yeah, well, the weeds are growing in the gutters.
TOM: Yeah. This would be a clue, Ken. Your gutters are talking to you. They’re saying, “Ken. Oh, Ken. It’s time to clean us!”
KEN: Yeah. And I’ve been looking at some of these gutter covering kind of things that they keep – I have pine needles. So, it’s difficult to get something to keep them out of it.
TOM: Right.
KEN: And if I don’t clean them two or three times a year, then that’s it.
So, I guess the advice I’m looking for is what’s your experience or advice on the gutter helmet-like products and where – which are better and which are worse and what to look for.
TOM: You know, the reverse-curve type, which is the gutter helmets and others that are similar to that, work very well except that I have some concerns about whether or not they have – when they get in a situation where there’s a lot of water running down the roof all at once, like heavy, heavy rain, even maybe a steep roof.
But I think the best is the mesh type. There are a number of mesh types out there. Gutterglove, I think, is one of them that works very good. And what happens with the mesh is that they never really ever clog; they’re made from a really super-fine, stainless-steel mesh with – they have – where they have like maybe 100 holes per square inch. So the water does go through them but there’s never anything that’s open enough for those pine needles that you talked about to kind of stick there. Does that make sense?
KEN: Yes. In fact, I had, laying here on my desk somewhere and I can’t find it, one of the pamphlets from one of the ones that has a microfiber-type mesh. And it’s a stainless steel of some sort. And they’re due to come out next week and give me a quote but I wanted to check with you guys to see – and girls – to see – got to give the tip of the hat to the lady – what your opinion on it was and what to look out for.
TOM: Well, I’ll tell you what. Online at MoneyPit.com, there’s an article that I wrote called “The Cost of Gutter Guards: Are They Worth It?” So if you just got to MoneyPit.com and you search on the topic of gutter guards once you’re on the site, you’ll find that story.
And we go through a discussion of the reverse curve, the mesh, the bottle-brush type. There’s nylon types, there’s foam types. Pretty much lists them all out there with some links through the different manufacturers so you can really get a good overview of all the gutters that are out there – gutter guards that are out there – and try to determine which one is best for you.
KEN: Excellent. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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