Gutter Guard - DIY, Simple and very low cost
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2021
- www.edibleacres.org
I think we may have a solution to having to clean out our gutters during every down pour of the summer and I wanted to share!
I had left over 1/2" hardware cloth and tried cutting a 6" length and folding it partially over at around 2-3" and it fits with nice spring compression between our new metal roof and old gutters. I suspect 1/4", 1/8" or 1/2" hardware cloth cut roughly between 6-8" depending and folded based on specifics would be a baseline solution to most gutters. No modification of roof, none to gutter, just cutting and folding so it sneaks in under a bit of compression. Easy to sneak out before depths of winter I suspect. I will make ours 4-6' long so they can be easily managed to put in and take out, I think little gaps or overlaps should be just fine.
Let me know what you think and we'll update once the whole house is done and we've had a monster dump of rain (and leaves!)
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I've been roofing for 42 years. Your solution is as good as anything out there. If you have any problem with the screens moving, a couple 1/2" self tapping sheet metal screws in the bead of the gutter will keep it in place. Customers often ask my advice on this. My answer is they ALL stink. No matter what, you are occasionally gonna get crap in those gutters. The more elaborate the system, the harder it is to remove to clean. I suggest what is called a ball screen. It only protects the downspout, but only takes a second to clear. Clean your gutters twice a year. Early summer, and early winter. That way the pollen(in summer) and leaves(in fall) are finished before you clean them. Make sure your gutters drain properly. You should have an outlet at no less than every 30'. If you live in a high rain area, you may want 6" gutter and 3x4" spout. I haven't seen a decent snow guard for a corrugated roof, but I'm sure they're out there. Look into it. Might save you buying new gutters after the next big snow storm. Thanks for sharing your solution. It's way better than spending $.50-1.00 a foot for a product that only works marginally.
Super great notes here, thanks! I ordered the inserts for the downspouts actually, looking forward to getting those in position once they come (realized I could have made them after ordering :).
Appreciate all your experience here.
Seems like it would be pretty easy to use the guards to secure nichrome wire up there to help melt the snow that does dam up.. Would probably cause a lot of headache if you had to remove the guard to clean it up, but otherwise is there any reason not to try something like that to melt off the ice that would normally want to collapse those gutters?
Great comment here. One of the biggest problems with these things up north is that the screen creates nucleation sites for water freezing, and what ends up happening is these freeze faster than they otherwise would, and then the icicles droop over and fall on people, or pull the gutter off due to lever-force, etc. I haven't met a single person up north who put something like this in and didn't remove it the season after they installed it. Sean's "design" here may actually be better than commercial products, because the hole size is MAYBE large enough to prevent freezing - or at least may delay it a bit. Just something to consider.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy I did a makeover in Boston(I'm in D.C.) couple years back. Was up there 7 weeks putting on a copper roof. I got a chance to see different ways of doing things. My favorite is the wooden gutter. It's a beautiful piece of millwork that is screwed to the rafters, right thru the facia. It'll never come down. They fabricate a lead outlet, treat the wood with linseed oil when they clean the gutter, and NEVER use screens. I loved it.
Well, that saved me some money on a product that doesn't work. Thanks.
Oh you kept your promise and brought us along!! Awesome 👌 👏 👍
"Before I go buy new things I look through what I have.."
Oh if only we all did this
Hilarious dramatic reenactment!
Lol for a sec I'm like... Not sure how spraying water up like that helps clean the leaves
I REALLY looking forward to seeing how effective this is at keeping stuff out of your gutters!
Witness here the power of The People, with generous presenter and generous commenters. Supremely useful content! The best of UA-cam! Gratitude!❤️🙏🏼
I have been using it for over a year now. I guy who had bought the 'original' stuff (plastic and expensive) donated me his leftovers. It was a start, but not enough for our house. I also happened to have some pieces of cloth laying around. I did exactly what you did to work through all the gutters and it works perfectly! As I said: It's there for over a year now and it works great!
Awesome to read your experience, thank you!
The ending was 😁😁😁 We use to live in eastern Washington state (6 feet of snow during winter for some winters)...we were looking into doing something similar for our gutters. We talked about placing a type of pool noodle & wiring on top of gutter but we sold our home & moved. We're on raw land, clearing @ a snail's pace & already have posts in to start work on installing a roof over our travel trailer to start rain water harvesting (have our water tank)....so thanks for the video.
Hope this system can work OK for ya :)
Have the same problem out here in Colorado just with different trees lol. At 65 we need to find a solution and your rite on time with this video , thank you. Looking forward to hear how well this works. Winter snow and ice is what were not sure about what kind of wrench that throws in the works. God bless y'all
We have a 5/12 roof and you've got a 7/12 roof pitch that helps with the leaves sliding off a bit better smh back to the drawing board of ideas
Yeah, I could imagine needing to remove some/all of this come winter.
I just bought some hardware cloth. Looks like your idea is the economical way to go
It occurs to me that it would probably be best to bend the hardware cloth so that the upper wires are running across the gutter, perpendicularly, instead of parallel to the length of the gutter. This should make it easier for debris to slide over and down off the roof. If the upper wires run lengthwise, they are more likely to catch debris.
Super grand note here, I checked them after you mentioned that and see what you are saying. I have a bunch more to make and it should be quite easy to change that pattern so I will... Thank you!
I don’t understand what you mean. Can you explain a bit differently??
@@doitwithgrace3850 If you look at one side of the hardware cloth, some of the wire making it up will be slightly raised and some will be slightly below that. @FXM is saying make sure the raised part is perpendicular to the run of the gutter, otherwise it will create slight ridges where things can catch. Another way to say it is those ridges on the wire should be parallel to the direction water and debris is running off the roof
@@doitwithgrace3850 "Hardware cloth," as it's called, is not actually woven like real cloth. The way hardware cloth is made, all the vertical wires are on one plane, and all the horizontal wires lay across them, on a different plane, offset by the thickness of the wire. They are then welded together and galvanized. So you can think of it like each side is a set of parallel ridges at right angles to each other. For roof debris to run off with the least resistance, the ridges on whichever side of the hardware cloth is oriented upward should line up with the direction of flow down the slope and off the roof, perpendicular to the orientation of the gutters.
@@edibleacres I've got a garage I'm planning to add gutters to, for collecting water for the garden. I have several trees that drop leaves and needles everywhere, so I will definitely need some gutter protection. I'll look forward to hearing how this method works for you. Seems like it should work well. Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful home and excellent use of materials on hand. Love the dramatic reenactment 😂
This seems like a great idea. And I had put in a flat plastic
One but ended up taking it out.
Looking forward to seeing your future results
See my reply above. Those plastic ones are some of the worst. The sun will warp them, and the mesh screen they put in them is too fine. The water shoots over them.
I'm in the exact same situation on one side of my house. I literally have weeds growing in my gutters as we speak, and like you I have to manually clean the gutters at least 3 times during the season.
A leaf blower works great, but I'm so tired of doing it especially after falling off a ladder back in 2011 and breaking a hip and shattering my wrist. I've been a bit paranoid about climbing up there ever since.
I saw a house recently where the homeowner used some type of chicken wire on the gutters, and after checking the ridiculous prices of manufactured gutter guards I've decided to go that route as well.
Thanks for the video. 👍
The one area that I committed to this approach has been working really well, I hope it does the same for you!
A customer recommended this concept to me a few years ago and I did exactly what you are doing. It works to a point! The large leaves definitely don't clog up the system as much as they did. However, the small siltier stuff (I have asphalt shingles) slips in and still gives me issues from time to time. It's definitely an improvement over no guard at all though!
Good to know, thanks
Have you considered adding a smaller filtering wire gauze underneath the large one. Double layered, top is larger holes, bottom is smaller holes? Just a suggestion.
P.E.A.C.E
Very helpful content as always ! I don't have extra on hand and it's always been pretty expensive ( here in western WI, where things are generally as affordable as most of the middle of the country is ) so I may still use the store-bough plastic guards when we get our gutters up, esp. as we'll probably have to buy plastic gutters and they'll probably be made to fit , snap right onto them. People here get rid of chicken wire for free or cheap, but only tiny chunks of hardware cloth/wire if ever.
would like to see a 6-month follow up on stability! I know gutter-guards are a huge business.
I think your new metal roof might add to the sturdy holding of the hardware cloth, vs. most other peoples situation with asphalt shingles.
We'll see, I'll sharenotes
Learned. And laughed. I like the curve it takes naturally, should sweep the big leaves off for you.
The dramatic re-enactment slayed me. 😂😂😂 keep up the great work team!! 👍
Cute reenactment..love the red riding hood look!
Clever!
Also. Big fan of the dramatic reenactment
Wow, really needed this idea . Thanks!
It looks encouraging to have a screen big enough to keep out the biggest problem leaves but allowing some through. My Dad had this foam/steel wool texture like stuff installed many years ago, and it was a nightmare, filling the holes with asphalt 'shingle sand' and filling the gutter with ice in winter - but there weren't any leaves. LOL Your system seems better as long as your freeze thaw pattern doesn't cover the whole thing with ice and allow all the roof snow melt just to roll over the gutter.
The winter will be a whole other set of variables we'll have to navigate.
I just spent 2 days pulling out hardware cloth from the previous owners. They'd rolled it up & wired it in. Kept leaves out but let in dirt, spores, seeds, etc, so the gutters were completely full of yuck & no way to clean them. Glad yours are removable. It's been a nightmare for us.
Your video is the best I have seen so far, and more of what I was thinking I wanted to do. Someone else screwed the wire mesh on the edge of the gutter; which seems like more of a time consuming "pain" and not very easy if you did have to get into the gutter for some reason. I think a small overlapping piece over the downspout would also be a good idea (for us) as we have crows that drop walnuts on the roof which sometimes jam up in the downspouts, although with less roof area getting to the gutters chances of that are much slimmer...
I think the basic idea offered in this video is functional and decent and I hope folks improve on it massively!
That looks just like the gutter on my screened porch (metal roof) and I am very keen to try this. Also, I inherited a bunch of tools and I thought the tin snips was a very lousy garden clipper for several years.
Ha!
Great idea! I need this also and am very interested in seeing how it works. Bought gutter guards are very expensive. Also interested in how you like your new metal roof as I'm considering one. Thanks very much for sharing this info
I've had a metal roof (which looks like traditional shingles) for about 15 years and love it
Great video! Also, off topic, but you have a very calm and relaxing voice 😊
Thank you
I think it should work quite well 💦🍁🍂☔️ Your new green roof looks really good. 👍 It blends very well with the nature around you.
We love the roof. Some seriously heavy rains coming in lately and it's so nice to know the house isn't soaking it in...
I loooooove the re-acting bit. What a match for my humor
That should work great. Looks nice too.
Thank you! I can't wait to try this!
Good luck!
Good idea, hope it works
I have a feeling you'll get one layer of leaves over the hwc and then the water runs over the roof->leaves->ground.
Consider that leaves slide over the roof because the water under them lubricates them.
Have the cloth filter that water away (+ be rougher vs. sliding motion) and it might stop the leaves dead.
Good point I'll have to see how it performs.
Thats happened with most gutter guards we've tried. We even tried the black triangular spongy type that inserts into the gutter. It also clogs witj leaves. There is no replacement for protecting the downspout from clogs, and cleaning the gutters throughout the year.
Love how you did this but I can't seem to find the follow up video reviewing the end result of the filter over your gutters...
Stopping leaves getting into gutters is an eternal quest.
We have tried all kinds of wires and mesh but leaves just end up stuck to it and the water goes over. I think if i ever replace the gutters I’ll go for the ‘half pipe’ style that is just round and huge. It should let a lot of stuff flow with very little water and not sit on a flat bottom and rot into sludge. We have a ‘rain head’ to stop anything big getting into tanks but the sludge is the bigger problem for us. It looks nice and solid.
1/2 pipe gutters are easier to clean and if you go with 1/2 round style, don't get the 5", get 6". Water flow is way better in a 1/2 round gutter trough. People need to get a broom stick or extendable pole and configure a 5 dollar mirror on the end. Check your gutters 2 or 4 times seasonally and you can rinse your gutters clean. If you wait too long to rinse thoroughly the water flow will be inhibited too much to do seasonal rinses. Most importantly is to ser the conditions first using a mirror took or getting up there to take an actual look. Sorry for people who have 2 story homes. My suggestion is not as easy, safe or even practical.
The dramatic reenactment was hilarious, thank you for the laugh.
Awesome! I will try this.
This is a game changer!
No joke I got a gutter guard ad before video started 🤦🏻♀️
Good idea and the holes in the wire will let the wind through so hopefully won’t dislodge it ✔️
We'll have to see but I think this can be a nice solution.
Great idea. I think it will work great!
I have leftover 1/2” cloth laying in my shed from a chicken coop build. Had gutters installed on house and already getting clogs with every storm. May give this a try.
Hope it works great for you!
I have observed that when there is a bridge to keep the snow from filling the gutter it does not fill with ice so that it can't drain. The snow slides off the metal roof so should leave the gutter empty for any remaining melting snow to drain.
I would believe so, but something we'll have to watch closely.
And windy days! Will they fly away, might need to be secured, but fantastic first stage idea
They are folded/pushed in under pressure so fingers crossed it works well
thank you!
Great job
Nice idea
Great idea
I love this!! Thank you!
Hope it can be helpful to you
I’ve got a very similar gutter guard that was installed by the previous owner using a prefab product. It’s probably closer to a quarter inch hardware clothe but works great in terms of keeping debris out. The only downside is the when we get really heavy rain the water can run right over the guard and over the side of the gutters, even when they aren’t overflowing. I’m thinking that since you are using a wider mesh that might not be as much of an issue. Interested to hear how this works out for you. I also like that you’ve got the new metal roof- what’s the expected service life for that? I’m guessing you went metal to prevent tar and other materials from contaminating your water collection systems as the roof ages. Would definitely be interested in hearing some discussion around that if you think it’s worth while.
Great notes, thank you! We went with metal because we met someone who does roof metal installation! Made a nice relationship and now we have this super grand upgrade. Hopefully I can get the gutters worked out in a good way, too...
A reason to not let metal rub on metal roof is that becomes a rust point in future if they scratch.
For filtering water to your tank use a 5 gallon paint strainer attached to the tank opening with a tie wrap. I've been doing this for years.
Thanks, definitely need to upgrade our pre-filtering a bit to simplify. Good note
That was great
Though it's not related to your gutter guards, have you ever had any trouble with your gutters regarding snow or ice? I'm in zone 4a of the New Brunswick (Canada) snow belt. I've noticed that a lot of houses here don't have gutters. Some say it's troublesome to have them in snow heavy climates. There are also houses that have and use them without any trouble.
We will see after the upgrade to roof metal, I suspect it will be much much better,
Actually I have tried it with 1/4 inch mesh. They seem to catch almost everything. While letting the rain water through. I did have to paint them anticorrosive aluminum or white as these can readily rust if left unattended. To secure them I simply placed ziplocks (longest size) at 2 meters intervals (or shorter) and overlap them to cover the entire gutter length.
Seems like a really good solution you've developed
I don't see any reason it shouldn't work great. Sasha's having all the fun. Can I get a turn with the hose?
LOL
different types of metal touching can lead to accelerated corrosion of the least stable metal. could be the roof-metal.
It's steel to steel. He should be okay as log as the galvanized coating on the screen lasts.
Good note, I'm hoping it works ok
@@edibleacres Gutters are a never ending problem. Everyone wants a fail safe, do it once method. It just never works that way. If gutters can fudge up, Mother Nature will figure out how to do it. The best defense is diligence. Go look at them BEFORE it rains. I wish you well. Like I said, your homemade screens are as good as anything commercially produced.
Brilliant! maybe a followup video with some helpful comments would be nice ! Thanks
We'll share notes as it evolves.
I hope the outer edge of your gutters is lower than the home side. I had it the other way around. Once had a tremendous hail storm that clogged up the gutters and water drenched the ceilings 2 yards into the home, along with windows very wet on the inside. I'm curious how your solution works out during winter.
Yikes. that sounds very tough :(
I've cleaned gutters as a job. I like the idea but this will not work if you have a needle type tree but will work for broad leaves. An even smaller mesh is ideal. The less debris that goes on the better. Alternatively, you could add window bug mesh on top. Cheers
I'm wondering 1) if you can add screen for filtering smaller stuff like leaf guard? 2) does hardware cloth rust? If so perhaps spraying it with rustoleum or coating with a plastic dip paint might work. It would still be less cost than the professional version.
Hardware cloth resists rusting for a crazy long time.
Great video! I noticed they sell 19 and 23 gauge hardware cloth. Do you know what gauge you used for your application? Thanks.
I don't know which, but the 'default' so maybe the lighter one (23?)... If the price isn't super different you may do well to get stronger material so it lasts longer...
I feel like someon's asked but its been 2 years since this video. how did it hold up? maybe a video link?
Still working well, good reminder to do an update video!
dramatic re-enactment LOL that was great
I have tried this years ago. It worked. However it became a headache when trying to remove debris that went under.
I am thinking to put it again but this time will cover all sections and not just parts under tree.
That makes sense. ALso if they are shorter sections that go in then you can remove one area as needed to address an issue in one spot...
How do you like your metal roof? Is it noisy during heavy rains?
We love it! It isn't noisy, even though we thought it would be. Nice surprise to be sure.
Has there been an update to this video?
Nope, but that implementation, where I did set it in motion, has been working great since the video was made
Add a screeh like for the flies
Any updates to performance?
I don't have the link with me at the moment, but if you look back to some more recent videos, probably November or December 2023 there is an update video about how it works. Basic idea is at work pretty nicely for how simple it was
I am sure the idea at the end was to put some water on the roof, not you?? Hysterical!! 😂😂😂
Sasha was running the hose so.... :)
How did this work out?
Quite well!
Hello! Any update on this? Thank you
The area we put them on and left them has worked very very well.
@@edibleacres thank you
Slike rhe idea
Will the hardware cloth rust over time?
That is possible but so far it hasn't at all
@@edibleacres thank you
my Cape Cod is surrounded by sugar maples. Yeah.... And brilliant me designed a front porch roof that has inside gutters in an L shape so in order to get to them, you've got to climb onto the roof to clean. But, if I had the smaller grid metal it would probably handle even the damnable whirligigs that turn into saplings every year.
Sounds like a situation that would do well to have a system somewhat like this. Good luck!
Biggest problem. Is people don't put anoth fall on their gutter's. And to small down pipes. 90 mm should be minimum. Your mesh idea is the best. For any small debrey getting through just cut your down pipes and put a t piece inspection cap in and glue a fine mesh on a very sharp angle. So the water can go through. And just unscrew your inspection and the rubbish will fall out. 👍
Great note, I'll see if we can get the time to add that layer. Maybe one upgrade a year :)
@@edibleacres just found your channel. New sub. Do use have the 6 inch 150mm half round gutter there ?.
🤗😎
If you care to know
Those are metal shears not snips.
Thanks!
Was kind of thinking Sasha enjoyed that🤣🤣
Oh yeah.
"Work out the kinks", LOL and your working with rolly polly wire... was that supposed to be funny.
I laughed 😀
There is usually a cheaper and more ingenious way... And BTW, here is another use for milk crates. :)
Warning. You may want to remove the gutter guards before the snow falls. You could wind up with ice dams and water going up under your steel roof and rotting the wood under it. Good luck.
Good note, thank you!
@@edibleacres Definitely going to second this one. I know from personal experience. Ice will freeze faster than if they weren't there (the finer the mesh the bigger the problem this is), and the resultant ice bypasses the gutter and falls on people, or breaks the gutter off. Definitely keep a close eye on that.
Years ago, I visited Colonial Jamestown. This is when I figured out that gutters and spouts are a hustle invented by some roofer. Oh, they're necessary in urban areas to control water flow. But if you are in a detached home with a steep roof(won't hold snow), and a good eave overhang(protect the foundation), than all you need is a masonry walkway where the water hits the ground. Wanna clean your gutters? Take a broom outside and sweep the sidewalk.
Does make it hard to collect rainwater though.
@@AJPemberton This is true. When a customer wants to collect rainwater, I suggest using half round gutter and round spout. It's easy to contrive a system where the spout can swivel so that you can divert water to yard or cistern. Hard to do with rectangle pipe. Unless you are in an arid climate, one gutter should catch all the water you need.
I have a house with no gutters. It is fifty years old. Been here thirty years and had to worry a little about the drip line on the parts where there is no concrete patio, driveway or walkway. Fill the drip line in with lawn clippings and clay mud from the back yard. Fill the holes in the back yard with yard waste and used potting soil. I would put gutters on if they would clean themselves. Don't mind digging in the mud now and then.
@@watermelonlalalaI like your style. I don't know your lawn, but medium river rock works real well. Plays h--ll on the law mower if you're not careful, though.