Will my gutter covers be maintenance free?

by | Aug 6, 2013

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a totally maintenance free gutter cover system. All gutter cover systems require maintenance depending on the design, type of debris, roof type and style.

If your gutter cover prevents roof grit, dust, and pollen dust from entering the gutter, usually a fine mesh media (screen) is used to trap the fines. They can plug on top depending on the media size and your specific application. Generally once a year or more you will have to clean the top of those screens where the fines accumulate.  If  they are not cleaned in the rainy season, algae will generally form over the top of the fines and begin to gel which will prevent water from entering the cover in those areas.

Our cover is a perforated metal cover that allows these fines to be washed into the gutter with water and evacuate through the downspouts. We keep out debris that actually clogs the gutter system and is larger than the holes on the cover.

In most cases due to the open area design and mill finish surface of our cover most debris left on top of the cover will blow off during normal winds.  Due to the design of the product it promotes airflow inside the gutter and will allows debris sitting on top of the cover to dry out quicker and release itself from the top surface.

The only exception to this is inside turns where two roof sections form a valley.  Debris builds up in those areas and it is difficult for the wind to evacuate the excess from that small area.  Occasionally dust and pollen dust can stack up behind the debris pile and pack hard allowing water to flow over the top of the debris pile and shoot onto the ground below. If this occurs simply use a broom or wisk broom and remove the debris and hose the cover off to clean off the packed pollen dust.  This maintenance should only take a few minutes to perform. We recommend taking a few moments to look at these areas once or twice a year (late fall and again in mid-winter)

We suggest that once a year when your roof maintenance is performed you should blow off all areas of your roof surface during this process anything sitting on your cover will be blown off along with it.

The only other possible maintenance on any gutter cover is if tree sap sticks to the cover. If this occurs it could allow debris to stick to the cover preventing it from blowing off of the cover surface. You may have to power wash that area to remove the sap.  No matter what brand of cover system you have sap will cause problems if not cleaned.

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