Gutter Filter

I take care of my landlady's house, and also have a customer whose house I just painted. I really need to clean my landlady's gutters at least monthly due to all the trees around. My customer had vinyl gutter guards installed years ago. They consist of a corrugated vinyl with holes in it, that supposedly work. After being all over the house I noticed a lot of these sections were installed incorrectly, shoved under the bottom course of shingles but not under the starter course. I attended to various problems that seemed to be caused by this installation. Although the gutters were mostly clear, a couple downspouts were clogged. However, in a downpour, the rain just cascades right over these gutter guards, and the roof pitch is gentle.
I saw this gutter filter on This Old House, and wonder if anybody knows anything about it? I wonder if there are other manufacturers and if it can be purchased to do it yourself. It's like the material they put in race car gas tanks. Most gutter guard systems are a ripoff price in my experience.


http://www.gutterfilter.com

I have seen those, not sure how well they work, but look pretty promising. I like those, looks like the Brillo Pad stuff. At least you can pull them out if you ever need to clean them out.

They also have the gutter helmets http://www.gutterhelmet.com/ and quite a few other covers, but harder to clean out if they do get clogged since the opening is only for water and not debris.

I had new windows, siding and gutters installed on my house two years ago. I was my own general contractor and hired subs of my choosing. Quality of product and installation was what concerned me the most. I researched the gutter caps quite extensively. In the end my choice was Alcoa "Leaf Refief". See: http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/news/wha ... relief.asp
The product works well. No overflow of water in heavy rains. It comes in two lengths, 3' and 6'. The shorter length is marketed to the homeowner, the longer to professional installers. It needs to be installed correctly with square drive stainless screws. There is a clear flexible seal that diverts water away from the facia board. It took some stern lecturing and a threat on non-payment for the gutter contractor to put it on correctly. It was not what they normally sell. They prefer a vinyl product. In the end they did it right and the VP of the company agreed the Alcoa product was better than what they normally sell.

My brother in law is a roofer, he told me about the leafdefiar brand, said it works well, the only problem they have is with a new roof, the pebbles from the shingles can clog the sponge. When I checked price, it was around $7/ft.

I have given up on Gutter-guards years ago. I never found a product that worked great for me. You still have to get up there and clean them twice a year, so I just get on my roof and scoop the leaves out, by hand. No problems if I do it in the Fall, after the leaves have all fallen. And again in the spring, to clean up anything fallen in the gutter over winter.

I've tried those inserts at the parents. One problem is after a year or two there's a buildup of mud/dirt/crud/shingle granules/etc under them that is impossible to clean without removing them.

They've got really heavy tree cover (Oak), I think those inserts would fair much better in a normal setting.