Gutters overflowing what’s the best method of protecting from leaves

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Eva888

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#285775 17-May-2021 13:40

Went out to the covered verandah while it was raining and there was a deluge equal to a waterfall pouring out over the gutters onto the deck and causing a mini flood. Amazing amount of water.

Climbed up and unblocked the down pipe from leaves of the tree that overhangs close to it and which I don’t want to get rid of as it shields from the Southerly. Luckily it was easy to get to on a stool and standing on the rail.

What’s the best long term solution to stop this happening. It’s a long gutter with down pipe at one end. I’ve seen the narrow mesh at Bunnings and spiral brushes that I think go inside the down pipe, or do they go in the spouting, unsure. Any advice on best approach appreciated.

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#2708428 17-May-2021 14:06

The spiral "whiskers" go in the roof gutter, they hold the leaves "up" so they don't get trapped in the bottom of the gutter.

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/browns-gutter-whiskers-gutter-filter-6-pack-h-900mm-w-105mm-d-105mm-black/p/121711

Bung

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#2708456 17-May-2021 14:28

I've not found anything that really saves you having to clear the gutters regularly. Anything that stops leaves seems to clog up. To make cleaning easier I've changed some gutters to external brackets and put downpipes at both ends.

duckDecoy

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#2708458 17-May-2021 14:35

It does depend on the type of tree and what is dropping into the gutters.

We had a lot of ti tree and some pine needles blocking our gutters and the whiskers were basically useless. If it is larger leaves then it might be OK.

We also tried one that sits in your gutters but had a hump (different brand but similar to this https://www.bunnings.co.nz/whites-staymesh-ultra-gutterguard-1m-plastic-5pk_p3040976 ), the needles and ti tree droppings used to get trapped behind the hump and stay sitting against the tin roof which wasn't ideal, ie they didn't wash over the hump an out of the gutter, so we ditched it.

So if your tree droppings are small in size I don't think the ones above are a great idea.

My neighbour installed a very thin mesh, it is screwed into the roof and the gutter. Worked very well as they experience the same trees as us, but eventually it filled up with stuff and they had to unscrew it to clean it out which wasn't ideal. It was many years before they had to do that though. Something like this https://guttersolutionz.co.nz/metal-gutter-guards.html

timmmay

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#2708462 17-May-2021 14:49

I've used Gutter Boss for the gutter under a tree for my shed which seems to work fine. If you want it done really well you can get companies who do a really nice job, they put a mesh from the iron roof over onto the edge of the guttering so almost everything like leaves just rolls / blows off. I saw it at a mall once at a temporary display.

tripper1000

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#2708465 17-May-2021 14:56

Regular cleaning and/or cutting back/down the trees is the only real solution to leaves clogging gutters.

Any kind of leaf filter system still clogs up.

You can make the down pipes last longer before clogging by putting verticle cylinders of rolled up chicken wire down them and sticking up level or higher that the gutter top. Many people lay chicken wire flat in over the down-pipe outlet, but this has the opposite effect to desired, just facilitating faster clogging up.

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#2708474 17-May-2021 15:10

wellygary:

The spiral "whiskers" go in the roof gutter, they hold the leaves "up" so they don't get trapped in the bottom of the gutter.

We bought a new house that had whiskers in the spouting and TBH it was hopeless. The whiskers don't fill up the whole cross-section of the gutter and a lot of leaves get down the sides of the whiskers, rot there and you still get sludge in the gutter.

I ripped ours out and replaced it with the correct size/profile of gutter foam - which matches our guttering profile and does fill the whole cross-section at the top of the guttering. The top of the foam is level with the lip of the guttering and just below the edge of the galv iron roof. Unlike the whiskers' half-true claim that leaves sit on top, dry out and blow away, the foam really does work like that. The foam is 'open-cell' so water passes easily through it.

I'm not saying foam is perfect but works much better than the whiskers. It's been there about 3-4 years - I guess I may have to lift it out and give the guttering a clean at some stage but we're not near that point yet. Important to get the correct profile.

https://www.gutterfoam.co.nz

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#2708494 17-May-2021 16:05

Bung: I've not found anything that really saves you having to clear the gutters regularly. Anything that stops leaves seems to clog up. To make cleaning easier I've changed some gutters to external brackets and put downpipes at both ends.

I'm interested. Can you explain what you did?

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#2708495 17-May-2021 16:06

Looking for ideas.

Have a 2 storey house and the fence is almost under the gutters.

So I can't get any ladder up there to clean.

Help!

Jase2985

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#2708499 17-May-2021 16:14

timmmay:

I've used Gutter Boss for the gutter under a tree for my shed which seems to work fine.

this stuff is cheaper

https://sunnyside.co.nz/product/guttersmart-foam-guard/

I used it in my gutter, on the side with the pohutukawa, the top of it gets clogged after a few months but takes about 5 mins to clean, the gutter its self is pretty clear, the other side of the garage just gets the odd leaf on it which tends to just blow away in a strong wind, which is good.

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#2708506 17-May-2021 16:22

As others have said, depends on what you're actually getting in the gutters. Bigger leaves, most things will work. Fine stuff (pohutakawa, looking at you) is harder.

The whiskers are quick and easy to install, but less effective than some things and relatively expensive. I prefer the roll of mesh that you fold into the gutter, but is a pain to install if you have internal plastic clips. Like @bung, I'm switching over to external brackets to make installation and cleaning easier (and I like the look). As part of that, I'm also fitting one of these Marley Curve things but have had Various Project Issues crop up with that "quick and easy" job so haven't finished the install yet.

But nothing will solve the problem completely, and detaching the downpipe and washing out the gutters with a hose is pretty straightforward if your access is okay. Bunnings also has a narrow gutter scoop thing that makes cleaning out the muck easier.

Eva888

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#2708532 17-May-2021 17:08

My leaves are medium size with flowers sometimes. Not Pohutakawa...they live in the other side of the house and are also a pain. The howling gales don’t help keep leaves on the trees up here.
Some great ideas that I hadn’t heard of before so thanks for those. The foam also sounds interesting. I like the idea of something that you can sweep across the top of with a long curved broom while standing below and the foam sounds a bit like that. Also the wind would blow them away. Have to go out soon so will have closer look later at the links, but many thanks for the responses.

Eva888

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#2708561 17-May-2021 19:30

Really like the foam wedge idea. Will depend on the shape of our gutters and if they have a lip for the foam to sit under. If weather fine enough will check shape tomorrow. Wondering if wind would make it take off.

Jase2985

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#2708653 17-May-2021 20:08

the link i posted shows popular marley profiles and the fitment. i can confirm it fits snugley in stormcloud and wont come out easily.

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#2708725 17-May-2021 22:22

One method that I've seen and probably works well (depending on leaf size) is to have a diverter system on the down pipe.

Like this https://productspec.co.nz/en/product/curve-leaf-diverter/51677/ or this

https://www.marley.co.nz/products/rainwater/rain-harvesting/rainhead-diverters/ positioned either directly below the spouting dropper or further down the wall with the down pipe outlet dropping onto the mesh.

They are self cleaning though you will have to pick up the leaves from time to time. They should stop having to climb onto the roof to clean the gutters. Though I suspect a lot of spouting isn't fitted with sufficient fall to get the water flowing at a rate to carry the leaves along to the dropper.

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mattwnz

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#2708745 18-May-2021 00:16

Gutters are a PITA IMO. We had an old house that didn't have them, and instead there were pebbles on the ground. Didn't really cause any issues and no gutters to clean out. I don't think this is permitted in NZ on new houses, although no gutters seems more common in the US. I have seen other building with chains instead of downpipes, to direct water down, so they don't have to worry about leaves so much.

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