What Are Gutter Guards? (And Are They Worth It?)

A gutter guard is a gutter protection system that covers your gutters to keep debris out. Gutter guards can slow the buildup of miscellaneous debris, but no gutter guard is 100% effective. Read on to discover more about what are gutter guards, the advantages and disadvantages of gutter guards, the best gutter guards on the market, and whether or not they’re really worth it.

ADVANTAGES OF GUTTER GUARDS

Avoid Clogged Downspouts

Clogged downspouts can make water overflow and pool in your gutters and, in some cases, on top of your roof, which may lead to leaks or other water damage. Gutter guards can minimize this potential and ensure that water makes it away from your house and won’t seep into your foundation or basement.

Easier Maintenance

Gutter guards and gutter cover systems also make it much easier to maintain your gutters. While regular maintenance is still necessary, implementing gutter guards makes cleaning out a small amount of dirt and debris or leaf build-up easier than cleaning out tons of waste you’ll get from completely exposed gutters.

Improved Aesthetics

By preventing organic matter from piling up over time, things won’t grow out of your gutters as consistently as they would if a gutter guard system were not in place. Your gutters will look cleaner, more streamlined, and the outside of your home will be much more aesthetically pleasing.

DISADVANTAGES OF GUTTER GUARDS

Warranty Issues

Some types of gutter guards can negatively affect your roof’s warranty depending on how installed. Guards attached to your roof shingles with nails or other hardware can void your roof warranty, putting you at risk of having to cover the damages.

Covered Gutters Can Slow Water Flow

The more covered and protected your gutters are, the slower the water flow will be. Debris will get into the gutters no matter what, and though the amount will be less, the wrong type of gutter guard could actually trap more debris. 

Negative Affect on Appearance

Though a gutter guard system can stop leaves from getting into your gutters, debris can still accumulate on top of the guard. When this occurs, your home will look worse than if you never installed the system in the first place.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GUTTER GUARDS

Mesh Gutter Guards

Do you deal with clogged and backed-up gutters? Gutter guards can help! What are gutter guards? We have everything you need to know in this helpful blog.

Do you deal with clogged and backed-up gutters? Gutter guards can help! What are gutter guards? We have everything you need to know in this helpful blog.

Do you deal with clogged and backed-up gutters? Gutter guards can help! What are gutter guards? We have everything you need to know in this helpful blog.

A mesh gutter guard has holes that block debris, but water can still flow through the gutter system. Mesh gutter guards are durable and will block out most debris, and should rarely be removed for cleaning. The debris collects on top of the guard and flows off the roof’s side. 

The issue with mesh gutter guards is that they are one of the most expensive leaf guard options, though the functionality seems more than worth the cost.

Micro-Mesh Gutter Guards

Micro-mesh gutter guards are mesh gutter guards with smaller holes that ensure that virtually no debris can get through the guard. Since these guards block the most waste, justifying a micro-mesh gutter guard purchase is easy. 

Micro-mesh gutter guards need to be professionally installed, and you should be sure about the quality of the option you choose; however, for the most part, micro-mesh gutter guards will not disappoint. 

Reverse Curve/Surface Tension Gutter Guards

The reverse curve/surface tension gutter guard will allow water to flow around the guard and into the gutter. The gutter guard allows water to pass through while blocking debris from entering the gutter.

A reverse curve gutter guard must be professionally installed and roof shingles need to be lifted for installation, which may cause some damage. In addition, surface tension gutter guards are visible from the ground, which may be unpleasant for the overall look of your home. 

OUR GUTTER GUARD RECOMMENDATION

With several gutter guards on the market, finding which brand or brands of gutter guard is the best is challenging. While we know you’ll choose what’s best for you and your home, we’d recommend Leaf Slugger. 

With Leaf Slugger, you pay one time and a certified professional will install high-quality aluminum gutter covers on your home. Leaf Slugger knows the damage poor gutter maintenance can cause, so they’ve designed three guards to protect homeowners from leaky roofs, mold and mildew, and mold buildup. 

Leaf Slugger offers three unique products for your gutter guard preferences, each designed to make your life easier and keep your gutters free of debris at a reasonable, one-time price.

CLEANING GUTTERS

Even with gutter guards in place, your gutters still need to be cleaned regularly. Your gutters should be cleaned twice a year or more, depending on the area in which you live. 

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to have your gutters cleaned every spring and fall. Clean your gutters in the spring to help get rid of any debris in your gutters from winter storms, and fall, to remove leaves and debris that have accumulated from the summer. However, if you live in a tree-heavy area, seasonal gutter cleaning up to four times a year may be necessary.

Get Great Gutters With Werner Roofing

If you’re considering a gutter guard for your home, Werner Roofing would love to help! We’re one of West Michigan’s premier roofing installation experts, and we’re happy to answer any of your roofing and gutter questions and provide the best recommendations and services in the area. For more information give us a call at 616-844-5382, or leave us a message online today. 

If you’re purchasing a new home, you want to ensure it’s in the best possible condition. When you get it inspected, there’s a collection of requirements and codes that it must meet. If you notice that the home doesn’t have gutters, you might wonder, “Does a house need gutters to pass inspection?” We’re here to tell you everything you need to know. 

Does a House Need Gutters To Pass Inspection? 

In short, the answer is no — a house does not need gutters to pass inspection. Gutters aren’t code-mandated, so a home inspector is unlikely to call out missing gutters. However, if the inspector notices damage to the property that could be due to the lack of gutters, they may recommend that you install them.

Legislation doesn’t require gutters, but they can help protect your home from various problems, including soil erosion, rot around the base of the house, or damage to the foundation. 

Do Home Inspectors Check Your Gutters?

During the home inspection process, the inspector should examine the gutter system (if you have one). They’ll look at the gutters, downspouts, and water flowing away from the foundation. Here’s what they’ll be keeping their eyes out for:

• Debris clogging the gutters, preventing proper water drainage
• Evidence of overflow from the gutter system
• Secure gutter piping that’s sloped to ensure water can flow freely
• Leaks caused by damage, cracks, splits, or rust
• An adequate number of downspouts
• If downspouts discharge onto the roof surface
• Damage to the foundation from the downspouts

How Can I Tell if My House Needs Gutters?

When you’re house shopping, you’ll notice that not every home has gutters. While gutters aren’t required to keep a home up to code, they can be a fantastic investment that can help protect your house. 

If you’re wondering if your house needs gutters, several factors come into play. Here’s what you need to evaluate: 

• • Overhang – Typical roof overhangs used to protect from rainfall are 16-18 inches wide. If your overhang is less than this, consider installing gutters.
  • Climate – If you live in an area that doesn’t experience a lot of snow or rainfall, gutters might not be necessary. The amount of water falling along and off the roof isn’t significant enough, and water damage is unlikely to occur. 
  • Eave flashing – If your home already has eave flashing, that could be enough to protect it. If it doesn’t, you could have bare wood exposed, and water could rot your roof. Adding eave flashing or gutters will prevent this. 

• • Slopes – Implementing a gutter system is a good idea if your home sits at the bottom of a hill or other upward slope. Without gutters, rainwater could build up around your foundation instead of moving away from it. 

Werner Roofing Is Here for All Your Gutter Needs

Do you need help preparing for your home inspection, or do you have repairs to make post-inspection? Werner Roofing is here to help!

Our Werner Roofing team can come to your property and evaluate your roof’s condition at no cost. We’ll make recommendations for maintenance or repair and provide you with a free estimate to get your roof in tip-top shape. Give us a call today to schedule a roof inspection, repairs, or, if need be, a roof replacement by dialing 616-844-5382 today. 

You might be surprised to discover that not all gutters are the same size. Coincidentally, choosing the right-sized gutter is the best place to start when purchasing new gutters, so we’ll tell you about standard gutter sizes and how to pick the proper selection for your home. 

What Are the Standard Gutter Sizes?

For residential gutters, the standard size is 5 inches. Homeowners can also opt for 6-inch gutters, which hold significantly more water. Gutters 5 inches wide are 3 ½ inches deep, while gutters 6 inches wide are 3 ¾ inches deep. 

While 5-inch gutters are the standard size, some homeowners opt for larger ones. 6-inch gutters are more expensive, but they can handle large amounts of water and are less likely to get clogged. 

What Size Gutter Is Best for My Home?

In most cases, 5-inch gutters will best serve a home. If you’re wondering if your home will benefit from 6-inch gutters, there are a couple of factors to consider:

• The square footage of your roof
• The pitch of your roof
• The geographical area you live in

Follow these steps to figure out the proper gutter dimensions for your home:

Calculate the square footage of your roof:

• Measure the length and width of each area of your roof.
• Multiply each length and width to determine the square footage of that area.
• Add those square footage measurements together to get the total square footage of your roof. 

Calculate the pitch of your roof.

• Hold a level horizontally, with one end touching the roof’s surface.
• Measure 12 inches along the level from the end that’s touching the roof.
• Then, measure the space from the roof to the bottom of the level. 
• This number will be your pitch. 

Multiply your roof’s square footage by a number determined by the roof’s pitch:

• Pitch of 0 – 3 inches: no multiplier
• Pitch of 4 – 5 inches: multiply the square footage by 1.05
• Pitch of 6 – 8 inches: multiply the square footage by 1.1
• Pitch of 9 – 11 inches: multiply the square footage by 1.2
• Pitch of 12+ inches: multiply the square footage by 1.3

Use the resulting number to choose the right-sized gutter:

• If your number is between 5520 and 7500, 5-inch gutters are best. 
• If your number is higher than 7500, 6-inch gutters are best. 

Lastly, consider the geographical area that you live in. If you don’t encounter a wet season or intense rainfall, 5-inch gutters should suffice. If your area is known for intense downpours, you could benefit from installing more oversized 6-inch gutters.

Need Professional Help With Gutters?

Installing high-quality gutters is one of the best ways to protect your home from water damage. Improper gutters can result in flooded basements, wet ceilings, and rotted roof sheathing. If you don’t want to tackle this challenging project yourself, contact an experienced roofing professional. 

At Werner Roofing, we know that no roof is complete without a gutter system to help control and direct water flow safely off your roof. We provide full-service gutter installation and repair to ensure your home’s exterior is always in excellent condition. If you have questions about your gutter system or think you might need a repair or installation, don’t hesitate to call Werner Roofing. We’re here to help!

Give us a call at 616-844-5382 or contact us online today for your free, no-obligation quote.

The Gutter Installation Process: A Helpful Step-By-Step Guide

Gutters tend to be one of those universally disliked features of any home. While they serve an important purpose, very few homeowners relish the idea of cleaning out gutters, let alone getting them replaced. 

Just like every other area of your home, gutters take a bit of maintenance, and eventually, they do wear out. If your rain gutters and downspouts need updating, here’s what you can expect from the gutter installation process by a high-quality roofing professional. 

What To Expect From the Gutter Installation Process

The average lifespan of a gutter system is about 20 years – if you keep up with exceptional maintenance, you might be able to stretch that out. If your gutters are getting close to that 20-year mark, you might be thinking about what it will take to get those old gutters replaced.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to what you can expect from the new gutter installation process.

Step 1: Remove the Old Gutters (If You Have Them)

Before you can put new gutters on, the old ones have to come off. The first step in any gutter installation project is to carefully remove the old gutters and downspouts from a home’s eaves and fascia brackets.

If you’re still looking for the right roofing contractor to complete your gutter installation project, it’s always good to ask how they plan to remove your old gutters. They should be able to tell you what steps they’ll take to minimize any potential damage to your eaves. 

If you’re building a new home or adding gutters to a house that didn’t previously have gutters, you won’t have to worry about this step! Your roofer can move right to Step 3 of the process. 

Step 2: Check for Any Damage

If your home does have existing gutters to remove, the next step is to check for any damage behind the old gutters. Depending on how long the old gutters were on your home, your roofing professional might find rotted boards or unusable pieces of fascia. These will have to be replaced before your new gutter system is installed.

A quality roofer with years of experience will inspect your eaves and fascia, making any necessary improvements before moving on to the next step of the gutter installation process. 

Step 3: Measure and Prepare

Once troublesome boards have been replaced, your roofer can take proper measurements of your home. With the old gutters off, it’s easier to measure precisely where new gutters should go, how far the gutters run, the best downspout location, and what angle your roofer will have to connect the gutter corners. 

The measurement process is one of the most important parts of installing gutters. The more precise your roofer’s measurements, the better your installation project will go, and the better the performance you can expect from your new gutter system. With measurements in hand, your roofing professional can prepare all the materials for your brand-new gutter system, including downspout outlets and corner pieces.

When it comes to gutter installation, a lot of work can be done before attaching the new gutters to your home. Your gutter installation pro will measure and cut your new gutters according to their measurements, assemble any necessary corners, and make sure they cut out the appropriate holes for your new downspouts. 

Step 4: Install the New Gutters

Now that your gutter materials are all prepped and ready to go, your roofer will do the actual gutter installation. This process will take a few crewmembers but can generally be finished in a day or so, depending on the size and height of your home.

Most reputable gutter installation pros will use special screws to affix your gutters to the fascia boards of your home. Screws are better options than nail heads because they keep the gutters more secure.

Step 5: Install Downspouts and Downspout Elbows

The downspouts are the last piece of the system to be installed for seamless guttering. Since your gutter installation pro will have pre-cut holes for each downspout, the installation won’t take too much time, but it is critical.

Your downspouts are responsible for carrying precipitation down and away from your home, where it can’t damage your foundation or flood your basement. Make sure your roofer installs downspouts and elbows that are appropriately directing water and precipitation out and away from your home to prevent future problems. 

Step 6: Cleanup

What’s the last step of gutter installation? Cleanup – of course! Like many roofing projects, a gutter installation can get messy. Quality roofing professionals will work hard to make sure your home is left exactly the way they found it. They’ll remove any leftover gutter pieces and components and use a large magnet to pick up as many dropped screws and metal pieces as possible.

Werner Roofing Is Here for Your New Gutter Installation Process

Do you need to invest in new gutters? Werner Roofing can help! As one of West Michigan’s premier residential roofers, we’re happy to install a variety of gutters on new and older homes. Give us a call at 616-844-5382 or contact us online today for your free, no-obligation quote.

At Werner Roofing, we believe that gutters are one of the most important parts of a roofing system. But, as a homeowner, you may realize that your home doesn’t have any — which may cause you to worry that it’s missing some much-needed protection from the elements. 

Whether you just moved into a new house without gutters, or you’ve been living in one for a while, here’s all the information you need to know, including what gutters are, why your home might not have them, and common signs you should get them installed. 

Does Your House Really Need Gutters? 

All that said, gutters seem like a beneficial feature to have — but does your house really need them? The short answer is: probably, but not always.

For many houses, having no gutters can lead to a whole slew of problems. For others, it doesn’t make a difference at all. It all depends on factors like the build of your home, the location of your home, and what kinds of water-related issues your home experiences. 

What Are Gutters, and What Do They Do? 

Before you decide whether you should install gutters right away or leave your home the way it is for a while, it’s first important to understand what gutters are and what they do. 

Simply put, gutters direct rain away from a home. They catch water from rain and melting snow as it runs down the slope of a roof. Then, gutters direct that collected water into a downspout, or drain, where it’s safely directed away from the home, preventing costly exterior damage. 

Gutters work to do a number of things, like: 

• Prevent a home’s foundation from eroding
• Prevent a home’s basement from flooding
• Prevent water damage to a home’s siding and exterior
• Prevent the growth of mold and mildew
• Protect nearby landscaping

3 Reasons Your House Might Not Have Gutters

Another key component in figuring out if your home needs gutters or not is determining the reason why it doesn’t currently have them. That might clue you in on whether gutters are necessary, or if there’s a valid reason your home was built without. Here are three common reasons your house might not have gutters:

1. Your Roof Has a Steep Slope

If your home’s roof has a very steep slope and long overhang, it might already be working to sufficiently direct rainwater away from your house. Steep roofs allow rain and snow to slide off more easily, and if your overhang extends more than a foot past the side of your home, you’re unlikely to experience much damage from the displaced rainwater. 

2. You Live in an Arid Environment

You don’t see many homes with gutters in places with arid climates, like Arizona and Utah. That’s because there isn’t much rain to protect those homes against. While these places may receive a few heavy rains per year, it’s not enough to warrant the installation and upkeep that gutter systems require. 

3. Your Home Is Very Old

Gutters weren’t always as common as they are now. In fact, they weren’t commonly installed on residential homes until the mid-1900s. If your home was built a while ago — say 75-100 years or so — it’s possible that they just weren’t installed because that wasn’t what builders did. 

After learning why your home doesn’t have gutters, you might have more of an idea on whether you need to install them or not. For instance, if your roof has a steep slope and/or you live in an arid environment, it’s likely you won’t need them anytime soon, if ever. However, if your house doesn’t have gutters simply because it’s very old, it may be time for some important upgrades. 

3 Signs That Your House Doesn’t Have Gutters, But Should

If you’re still unsure about whether your house needs gutters or not, your best bet is to speak with a residential roofing contractor you trust. They’ll give an honest, professional opinion about whether your home could benefit from them or not — and they’ll usually provide that consultation for free. 

In the meantime, however, make sure to look out for these three signs that your house doesn’t have gutters, but should: 

1. Your Basement Floods

If your basement floods once, you might write it off as a fluke. But if your basement floods more than once, even just a little bit, you probably need gutters. 

A home with no gutters enables water to pour directly down from your roof to your foundation. Any small cracks or pores in your foundation can let that water into your basement, which causes flooding. With gutters, that water can be effectively directed into a downspout and away from your home, preventing more devastating, costly damages to your living space. 

2. You Have Rotted or Moldy Siding

Rotted or moldy siding is a key sign that water isn’t being pushed far enough away from your home’s exterior. Instead, it’s rolling down your roof and onto the sides of your home. Then, that water becomes trapped behind the siding, causing rotting and mold that can negatively affect your home’s structural integrity, appearance, and health. 

Installing gutters can alleviate this problem. See, most of today’s siding products are able to take water head-on, but not from above. So, by using gutters to capture water that’s coming from above, all areas are protected, and your family can stay safe, dry, and healthy. 

3. There Are Troughs in Your Landscaping or Next to Your Foundation

Noticing wide or deep divots in the ground next to your home, or in your landscaping? Those troughs or divots are caused by the constant pour of water onto the ground from the height of your roof. They’re both a sign that you’re getting a good amount of rainfall or snowmelt, and that you need gutters to direct it further away from your home. 

In this circumstance, gutters are a necessary solution. They’ll help eliminate those troughs and divots, leaving you with a more picturesque yard and a stronger, longer-lasting foundation. 

Get Expert Gutter Installation from Werner Roofing

Is your house missing gutters, and suffering because of it? Contact Werner Roofing. Our team offers expert gutter installation services to ensure your home is equipped with the gutters it needs during this rainy season, and many more to come. Give our team a call at (616)844-5382 or contact us online for a free, no-obligation quote.