Shopsmith Forums

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https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=5815

I am having a new roof installed on my house this week. I decided it would be a good time to have some new Leaf Guard gutters installed as well. Now regular gutters are between 3 and 4 dollars a foot so at 18 dollars a foot I think the price of Leaf Guards are asinine. Well at least I did until I got a price from Gutter Helmet at 36 dollars a foot.

Guess I'll just keep cleaning them out twice a year.

My purchase of a Shopsmith has expanded the honeydew list considerably.

I now have to get the house ready for sale in case we decide to take the plunge, with one of our criteria being a BIG workshop. :-)

So now I have to fight with myself -- work on woodworking project today, or tackle the honeydew list in order to get a bigger workshop.

paulrussell wrote:My purchase of a Shopsmith has expanded the honeydew list considerably.

I now have to get the house ready for sale in case we decide to take the plunge, with one of our criteria being a BIG workshop. :-)

So now I have to fight with myself -- work on woodworking project today, or tackle the honeydew list in order to get a bigger workshop.

Since the SS caused an expansion of the honey do list I would think there are woodworking items now on the list. Seems to me ya should be doing both!;)

paulrussell wrote:So now I have to fight with myself -- work on woodworking project today, or tackle the honeydew list in order to get a bigger workshop.

WHO wood ya rather fight with?:eek: KEEP MOMMA HAPPY.]

Recommendation - Put on your shoulder pads and TACKLE THAT LIST!

mbcabinetmaker wrote:I am having a new roof installed on my house this week. I decided it would be a good time to have some new Leaf Guard gutters installed as well. Now regular gutters are between 3 and 4 dollars a foot so at 18 dollars a foot I think the price of Leaf Guards are asinine. Well at least I did until I got a price from Gutter Helmet at 36 dollars a foot.

Guess I'll just keep cleaning them out twice a year.

Hi Mark,

As an installer of gutters for more than 30 years, I might have a couple of worthy thoughts for you.

I will begin by saying that my thoughts are my own opinions, thereby reducing the chance of lawsuits, but they are based upon a long history of experience.

Knot only are those leaf protection systems way over priced, but none of them function the way a home owner wood want them to. It has been my experience that there are no systems available that will knot need periodic cleaning. The question is]Leaf Filter[/U] system really does what it says: Properly installed, it keeps 100% of debri out and only lets water in. Another product, which is a material that looks porous like a sponge, but does not hold water like a sponge, will fit inside your gutter and effectively prevent a large amount of debris from clogging the gutters. I see problems with these systems too, though. When debris sits on top of these systems, water sometimes flows over the front edge of the gutter instead of into the gutter. Another problem with them is moss can grow on top of them.

I have installed a few different leaf protection systems and have never been satisfied with the results. If you ask me, they are all a waste of money. My recommendation is to buy regular gutters and clean them yourself or hire someone to clean them for you. That is the most economical and realistic method to keep your gutters clean. If you really want to spend some extra money, go with the product that looks like a sponge; it will keep a lot of the debris out and reduce the number of cleanings required, and when you need to clean them, they will come out of the gutter easy and go back in easy too. And this product is knot nearly as expensive as most of the others.

Again, these are just my opinions.

One of the oddest installations that I ever did was to install new gutters on a house and then use un-bent gutter coil (flat sheet) to tuck under the roofing and cover the gutter completely. The owner was required to have gutters on his house, but did knot want to clean them out. I hope this has helped you.

Thanks Tim for the good advice. I have a lot of leaves in the fall and a lot of helicopters in the spring from a large maple. Also stuff off of a water oak that resembles small balls of tumble weed. I guess I'll just keep cleaning them myself as you suggest. I just spent $800.00 dollars having these trees trimmed so maybe that will help also.

mbcabinetmaker wrote:Thanks Tim for the good advice. I have a lot of leaves in the fall and a lot of helicopters in the spring from a large maple. Also stuff off of a water oak that resembles small balls of tumble weed. I guess I'll just keep cleaning them myself as you suggest. I just spent $800.00 dollars having these trees trimmed so maybe that will help also.

Hi Mark
Your mention of the maple helicopters hit a sore spot. When we arrived home from Az in late April we found that the warm wet winter here created a perfect storm for the little guys. It seems every one that hit the ground is coming up. There were 1" high maples in thousands in our flower beds, gravel areas, driveway, planters, hanging baskets and yes, even in our eves troughs. We have them beaten back now but it was a fight.

Thanks Tim for the info on leaf guards. I will stop considering them and stick with my semi annual cleanout.

Paul M

mbcabinetmaker wrote:Thanks Tim for the good advice. I have a lot of leaves in the fall and a lot of helicopters in the spring from a large maple. Also stuff off of a water oak that resembles small balls of tumble weed. I guess I'll just keep cleaning them myself as you suggest. I just spent $800.00 dollars having these trees trimmed so maybe that will help also.

Hi Mark,

A good way to clean out the gutters is to use a leaf blower, especially when it is a reasonably dry day.